6 



HOW MANY RECORDS ARE WRECKED. 



Some time ago I received a letter from a young lady who 

 is an enthusiastic poultrywoman, in which she said that she was 

 getting a goodly number of eggs, but that her record was lowered 

 because she had kept over half a dozen hens which had laid well 

 the year before. She said that she knew better, but could not 

 resist the temptation. I mention this case because it is so typical. 

 More egg records are wrecked by keeping old hens in the flock 

 than in any other way! There is always a temptation when a 

 hen has laid well to keep her the second year. This temptation 

 must be resisted if one is in quest of a big egg record. The fact 

 that a hen has laid well for one year since coming to maturity 

 incapacitates her from ever laying so well again. She has 

 drained her system, and requires recuperation before she can lay 

 even moderately. You may set it down as an axiom that it is 

 the pullets that give the big egg records. If you have in your 

 flock some hens that you desire to keep a second year as a reward 

 for past services, or for breeders and mothers, put them in a pen 

 by themselves and do not look for more than a moderate egg pro- 

 duction from them. It is the pullets that lay, and the early- 

 hatched pullets at that. Get out your chickens in March, April 

 or May, according to the breed, if you want winter layers. 



WEED OUT THE NON-LAYERS. 



Reports from the Maine Experiment Station, where trap 

 nests are used and individual records kept, show that among hens 

 of the same breed and kept under the same conditions there is a 

 great difference in egg production. One Barred Plymouth Rock 

 laid 251 eggs in one year, while another in the same flock laid but 

 eight. A White Wyandotte pullet laid 219 eggs, while 

 another of the same breed laid absolutely none. These 

 figures are most significant, showing as they do the 

 absolute necessity of weeding out the non-producers. Suppose 

 you have two hens in a pen, and one lays 200 eggs a year and the 

 other none. The average for the two is 100 eggs apiece. In 

 other words, the non-layer has reduced the pen record one-half. 

 It costs a dollar a year to feed a hen, and this money is thrown 

 away if the hen does not lay. The one absolutely sure way of 

 identifying the layers and non-layers is by the use of the trap 

 nest ; but this takes time, and many do not feel that it pays. Still 



