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no trap nests, you can tell in this manner : Take the hen under your 

 left arm, as shown in Figure 3, gripping her legs tightly with your 

 left hand. The head of the hen should be back of your arm, and her 

 body and back should be to the front, so that you can have free access 

 to her abdomen with your right hand. By placing your right hand 

 in her fluff, and by pressing and moving your fingers about on her 

 abdomen, you will discover the two pelvic or lay bones just below, 

 and to each side of the vent. If you find these bones close together 

 and very rigid so that there is only sufficient room between them to 

 place one finger, you will know that this hen is not laying and will 



Fig. 3. 



Fig. 4. 



This illustrates the difference in the width of the pelvic bones in two Black 

 Langshan pullets. One is not laying, and there is only room for one finger between the 

 two lay bones, indicated by the little black dots on each side of the finger. The second 

 pullet is laying, and there is a space of three fingers between her lay bones. Fig. 3. 



not lay for sometime to come. See Figures 1 and 4. If you examine an- 

 other hen and find these bones well spread and far apart, as in Figures 

 2 and 3, you have discovered the laying hen. As the hen or pullet ap- 

 proaches the laying state, these bones spread further and further 

 apart until you can place three and sometimes four fingers between 

 these bones. If you find room between these bones to place either 

 three or four fingers, and the abdomen seems well filled, you can rest 

 assured that such a hen is almost invariably a laying hen. This is 

 perhaps the surest and simplest test outside of the trap nest. 



