30 



under 100 eggs per lien per year, and many of the good flocks do 

 not average above 120 eggs per hen. Much, of course, depends upon 

 the season of the year in which the eggs are laid. There is an over- 

 production of eggs during March, April and May, and an underpro- 

 duction during October, November, December, January and February. 

 The writer believes it is within the possibilities of most farmers to 

 produce from 108 to 120 eggs per year from each hen kept, and it is 

 also his opinion that large flocks may be expected to yield 150 eggs 

 per year if well bred and proper care and attention be given. Many 

 small flocks will probably average much higher, but not in flocks of 

 from 600 to 1,000. A dozen hens might be selected that would lay 

 from 180 to 200 eggs each for one year, but with 500 or 600 similar 

 hens or pullets it would be a very difficult task. 



Good, strong, vigorous birds are essential for egg production. The 

 simple fact that a hen has laid 200 or more eggs in her pullet year is 

 not sufficient to warrant her being used as a breeder. The writer has 

 seen a number of 200-egg hens with long narrow heads and sunken 

 eyes, which indicate low vitality, and, moreover, has tested a number 

 of them as breeders, and has yet to see one that was worth while 

 breeding from, judging from the performance and living powers of 

 her offspring. 



A hen used for breeding, especially for the production of males 

 to head the breeding pens the next season, should not only be ex- 

 pected to lay a large number of eggs per year, but these eggs should 

 be high in hatching power, and the chicks should live, and, further- 

 more, they should develop into good-sized birds quickly, and the 

 pullets should lay well. Perhaps it might be well to give here the 

 method that is used by us in breeding from selected layers. 



The hen is required to be a good winter layer, and to lay at least 

 150 eggs in her pullet year. The next requirement is that her eggs 

 hatch well that is, it is expected that over eighty per cent of the 

 eggs will be fertile, and ninety per cent of the fertile eggs will hatch. 

 It is then required that ninety per cent of the chicks will live to five 

 months of age, and that the cockerels at this age be well developed 

 and weigh if from general purpose breeds at least six pounds each, 

 and, finally, that the pullets be good layers. If the pullets lay well 

 during the fall, then I consider holding their brothers as breeders. 

 We try as far as possible to test the males along similar lines, as to 

 producers of plenty of strong vigorous chicks that also live, grow, 

 and lay well. There is probably as much difference between males 

 as there is between females. 



The above method entails much work, so much so that it is only 

 practicable to experiment stations and to a few specialists. I would 

 strongly urge the breeders of pure bred stock to exercise as much 

 care as possible in trying to produce families or strains, that are 

 high in the hatching power of their eggs, and that are equally as 

 high in the living power and growth of the chicks. 



There are many who cannot adopt the above method, but to the 

 average grower the best advice we can give is to select a male that 

 has been strong and vigorous from a chick up, one that has matured 

 to normal size quickly, and that has never been unthrifty. Small, 

 fine-boned, quick-maturing males have been disastrous where they 

 have been used, possibly not the first season, but shortly afterwards. 



