114 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



trap nesting in a large flock is an expensive task, to do it by 

 the watchfulness of a practical keeper will add to the ef- 

 ficiency of the whole plant ; and it must be done, if we would 

 succeed, — we must dispose of the drones in our flock. 



But not every hen is a drone in the hive ; some earn gold, 

 if their eggs are not golden. " Old Beauty, " one of the home- 

 liest hens on our farm, is such a one. In 1902 she was hatched 

 on my brother's farm in April, and for one year served faith- 

 fully in a large flock of pullets. In May, 1903, we purchased 

 her to set, and for two months she gave attention to this work, 

 then began laying. Knowing that an old hen is of little value 

 as a layer, we determined to sell her when she began to moult. 

 August, September and October passed, and she continued to 

 lay. November 10 found the old hen moulting; but before 

 selling her December came, and on the 12th she laid, and con- 

 tinued to lay through the season. Each year she moulted 

 about one month later, and laid in all but one month of the 

 season. When coming three years of age she laid till Decem- 

 ber, then moulted, and laid in January; when coming four 

 she laid until January, moulted, and again laid in February ; 

 and when coming five she had not ceased to lay until Febru- 

 ary, but had moulted, and again laid in March. In 1908 the 

 old hen began moulting in November, and laid in January. 

 This was the first time she had ever required over one month 

 for her moult, and we feared she had passed her prime ; but 

 after a good year's work September found her again moulting, 

 and October 20, the day when the photograph shown in Fig. 

 8 was taken, she laid, after returning from the photographer's, 

 this being the fifteenth egg she had laid since October 2, or in 

 eighteen days. "Old Beauty " is now in her eighth year, and 

 so far as appearances or action can be relied upon, is just in 

 her prime. She is every whit a hen, ■ — - no drone. 



Am I giving you the story of an exception to all connnou 

 rules of poultry craft ? We believe not. We have in one pen 

 one hundred old hens, averaging to be now in their fourth 

 and fifth years, and several in their sixth year, which we 

 placed there Oct. 1, 1909, to enter upon a year's experiment as 

 to their profitableness. They are the cream of five years' 

 layers, and we would not exchange their work in 1908 for 



