22 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



that that color changes quite remarkably as to whether she 

 has laid many or few eggs. By noting the degree of change 

 in color of those shanks we can estimate quite accurately the 

 productive power. There are five degrees in this change of 

 color, — pink or white, cream color, lemon, light orange and 

 orange, — so that when a hen of any of these breeds has been 

 dormant for any length of time the color or pigment comes 

 back until they are full color; whereas, if she has been lay- 

 ing a long while and has laid many eggs she has laid that 

 color out. 



The third characteristic is the color of the ear lobe. The 

 Connecticut Experiment Station a few years ago discovered 

 the fact that by noting the appearance and disappearance of 

 color pigment in the white ear lobe of varieties of fowls that 

 have that colored ear lobe, they could estimate whether or not 

 a hen was laying, and, in a degree, how many eggs she had 

 laid in a year, if observations were made at the right time. 

 We have noted that characteristic among our four, and we 

 classify each bird as to whether she has enameled white ear 

 lobes, and if she does she is put down as No. 1; light cream 

 color. No. 2; light lemon. No. 3; lemon. No. 4; light orange. 

 No. 5; and this is so reliable in the case of pullets that if you 

 go into a flock of Leghorn pullets and notice the color of the 

 ear lobe alone, you can tell with surprising accuracy whether 

 this pullet has laid a few eggs, or is just going to begin to lay, 

 or has laid many eggs, or has not laid any eggs at all. 



The last characteristic is the moulting characteristic, as to 

 how a hen moults, particularly when she moults. We have 

 defined five degrees of moulting. Go into any flock of hens 

 and pick them out and undertake to score them on their 

 moulting characteristics and you will find one hen that has 

 not moulted at all, and another that is all through moulting, 

 and then there will be gradations between those two which 

 we have classified as follows: No. 1 is the bird that has not 

 moulted at all; that indicates that she is still laying. No. 2, 

 new body feathers 1 inch long indicate that she is starting to 

 moult. No. 3, new body feathers 3 inches long indicate that 

 she has started to moult still more heavily. No. 4, moulting 

 nearly complete, and for a complete moult. No. 5. 



