27 



not be lost sight of, or one may misjudge his birds. If I ex- 

 amine a pullet in March and find the shanks, beak, skin, lips of 

 vent and edge of the eyelid well supplied with yellow pigment 

 or an orange color, I at once assume that she has not been lay- 

 ing well. If a hen, I assume that she did not recover from her 

 molt until fairly late in the winter. If I find these parts pale, 

 I assume that the bird has been laying heavily, provided she 

 had the normal amount of yellow pigment in the various parts 

 mentioned at the beginning of the laying period. Again, the 

 general condition of the laying hen is a fair indication of her 

 laying qualities. The hen, during the summer months, that has 

 kept her coat in fine condition, no feathers broken or faded to 

 any extent, is one that has probably not climbed in and out of 

 the nest box very often, or has not busied herself working for 

 egg-producing materials. The good layer is likely to have a 

 "ragged" appearance during the summer, — broken, dirty 

 feathers, and her comb may not be extremely bright red, due 

 to the heavy drain upon her for eggs. 



Getting acquainted with the Individuals. 



Hens differ in appearance, disposition and actions as much as 

 human beings do, but because of the large numbers kept to- 

 gether, and the little attention given each, they look alike to 

 the casual observer. The same thing would be true with cows 

 if each was not stalled, cared for and milked separately. Get- 

 ting acquainted with the individual hen is desirable from the 

 standpoint of both pleasure and economy. The man with hun- 

 dreds of hens to care for, together with a multiplicity of other 

 duties, finds it impossible to know the individual, her numerous 

 qualities and characteristics, merely through observation and 

 contact in making his daily rounds; he resorts, therefore, to the 

 trap nest or other means. But the man with ten or twelve hens, 

 if he has the inclination, can soon learn to distinguish the vari- 

 ous hens in his flock and determine quite accurately the number 

 of eggs laid by each, together with other interesting and im- 

 portant characteristics. 



One who has had little experience with poultry should, by 

 all means, leg band his pullets. There are various kinds of 

 bands for this purpose, but the colored ones, easily distin- 



