THE CALL OF THE HEN. 99 



can find hens such as described here, you will have hens with the mother 

 instinct. They will not be too lazy to take proper care of themselves 

 and their chicks, nor will they want to lay so soon as to neglect their 

 chickens. The nearer you can get to procuring the above type of hens 

 the better success you will have raising chicks with them. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



SELECTING THE STOCK FOR RAISING BROILERS. 



A great many of my friends have requested me to write a chapter 

 on how to raise broilers, but as there are so many excellent books on the 

 market that describe the process of the feeding, caring for, and raising 

 of broilers a great deal better than I could do it, I will confine myself 

 to the selection of the breeding stock only. The writer has raised Light 

 Brahmas and White Plymouth Rocks for years, and has experimented 

 with them to get the greatest amount of meat from the smallest amount 

 of feed; to get the greatest weight of meat at three months old in the 

 White Rocks and the greatest weight of meat in the Light Brahmas at 

 maturity. In the process I have run up against two distinct proposi- 

 tions: One was a success from a commercial point of view, and the other, 

 while not a financial success, was a success from an epicurean point of 

 view. I will describe the financial proposition first: 



We will select a pen of hens from our favorite breed, or from Wyan- 

 dottes, Orpingtons, Plymouth Rocks, or Rhode Island Reds. The hens 

 must have large prepotency; they must be six or seven fingers abdomen 

 and their pelvic bones should be 5 /s of an inch thick, in good condition. 

 Now you have hens that should lay twelve dozen eggs their first laying 

 year, and they are a paying proposition. Do not breed from them the 

 first year, but wait until they are over one year old ; then mate them with 

 a mature cockerel or young cock with large prepotency, with abdomen 

 four fingers deep or more and pelvic bones from 1 inch to 1}^ inches 



FIG. 51 The dry-mash hopper we use, closed. 



