THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



for the egg- type bird, as the reader will see when I relate an incident 

 that occurred during the show in Inglewood, which was held in March. 

 A gentleman had entered a White Leghorn hen that he had trap-nested 

 a year up to the previous November, and had her record with him. 

 The hen scored (as near as I can remember) two fingers abdomen, two 

 fingers out of condition, and Vie-inch pelvic bone, and according to the 

 rules of the show I wa*s obliged to give her credit for 78 eggs her first 

 laying year when, according to his trap-nested record, she had laid 180 

 eggs. He said she had been sick and had just commenced to improve 

 shortly before he sent her to the show, and he wanted to prove whether 

 or not I could tell how many eggs she had laid her first laying year. 

 I told him I could not tell how many eggs she had laid, but I could tell 

 how many she could have laid if she had been fed and cared for right, 

 barring accidents and sickness; that her capacity was 190 eggs her first 

 laying year. He then showed me her record, which was 180 eggs. 



In the autumn of 1911 George D. Holden, ex-president of the 

 American Poultry Association, judged the fancy and the writer judged 

 the utility birds at the Pajaro Valley Poultry Show, held at Watsonville, 

 Santa Cruz County, California. In judging that show full credit was 

 given each bird, both male and female, as to what they were capable 

 of doing, whether in meat or eggs, and for prepotency, without any 

 regard as to how their owners cared for them or, in other words, without 

 regard to their condition. And the owners of the birds who were inter- 

 ested in knowing were instructed how to rectify any deficiency there 

 may have been in the birds. It seems to me this is the best way to 

 encourage and develop the poultry industry. I am sure the American 

 Poultry Association could formulate a code of rules that would greatly 

 aid in judging utility poultry and thereby add greatly to the interest 

 of our poultry shows; in fact, I am advised that such a proposition is 

 being considered at the time I am writing this (July 25, 1913). . 



CHAPTER XVI. 



STAMINA IN POULTRY. 



When I came to California and told the poultry-raisers that I was 

 going to take their birds and in the course of time breed a flock of 200-egg 

 hens from them, they declared it could not be done. They said if it 

 was possible to breed up a large flock of 200-egg hens, their progeny 

 would be so weak I could never raise them, and that their eggs would 

 be so misshapen and thin-shelled they would not be marketable. I 

 replied that perhaps they were right, but I saw no reason why I could 

 not do so here, as I had bred up one lot in the Eastern States and another 

 lot in Minnesota. Both lots were Leghorns, and I thought it would 

 be easier to develop Leghorns in California than in Minnesota, and I 

 have now demonstrated in California that the following can be done: 



1. The 200-egg hen is a fact and not a theory. 



2. That she can be bred and fed to lay as perfect an egg as 



any other class of hens. 



3. That her eggs are as fertile and will hatch as strong chicks 



as the hen that does not pay for her feed. 



