80 



THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



FIG. 43 Showing how to hold bird between knees after you become proficient 

 in testing head while bird is in sack. 



The next thing that comes to mind is the question, "What is a poor 

 layer?" That all depends on the price you get for the eggs, the price 

 of feed, houses, etc. I raised poultry in Todd County, Minnesota, in 

 1886 and 1887, and sold good lumber at the saw-mill for $5.00 per 1,000 

 feet. Wheat was about 1 cent per pound, and wheat screenings for 

 chicken feed could be had for the hauling. It is very evident that a 

 poorer class of layers might have been kept at a greater profit when sup- 

 plies were at that low price than can be profitably kept when supplies 

 are as high-priced as they are at the present time. So the reader can 

 see that the matter of the profitable hen is a local matter. At this 

 writing you can buy nearly two bushels of wheat in some parts of Minne- 

 sota for what you will pay for one in California. I was told a few days 

 ago that you could buy twice as much oats at the present time in Minne- 

 sota as you can in California for the same money. 



When studying Charts 44 and 45 we see there are certain figures 

 lined ^ off from the rest; this is for the purpose of aiding the reader at a 

 certain time each year to select the poor layers from the good ones without 

 using the charts, thereby saving the time necessary to look over the 

 chart and classify each hen. 



Charts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, as the reader will learn by bearing in 

 mind the following instructions, need be used only to determine the laying- 

 score of the individual hen. 



The first figures underlined in Chart 44 are in the column indicating 

 three fingers abdomen, from Vie-inch pelvic bone to 5 /ie-inch pelvic bone. 

 The second are in the column indicating four fingers abdomen, from 



