THE CALL OF THE HEN. 87 



CHAPTER X. 



TESTING HENS ON A LARGE SCALE, USING CHARTS 44 AND 45. 



I will describe in this chapter how I cull hens when we 

 have large numbers of them, as we have in poultry plants in 

 California. I shall take it for granted that the reader has no 

 method of selecting the good from the poor layers, except, 

 perhaps, the "Walter Hogan System" or some of its pirated 

 forms that are now used extensively in all parts of the civ- 

 ilized world, and which is based on the theory that the value of 

 a hen as an egg-producer depends on the relative distance 

 apart of her pelvic bones and the thinness of same. We will 

 suppose the reader has 300 hens; one lot are about a year 

 and four months old,, another lot are about two yejars and 

 four months old, and another lot are about three years and 

 four months old. Each lot has been kept in separate yards, 

 so there can be no mistake in regard to their ages, or they have 

 been toe-punched or otherwise marked. We notice more or 

 less feathers lying around the yard, thus indicating the season 

 of the year when moulting is near at hand. Everything else 

 being equal, the poorest hen moults first, and if she is a very 

 poor layer, she will stop laying when she begins to moult and 

 will not lay again until the crows lay in the spring. We 

 consider it is about time to cull out the poor layers and send 

 them to market. 



The next thing that conies to mind is the question, 

 "What is a poor layer?" That all depends on the price you 

 get for the eggs, the price of feed, houses, etc. I raised poultry 

 in Todd County, Minnesota, in 1886 and 1887, and sold good 

 lumber at the saw-mill for $5.00 per 1,000 feet. Wheat was 

 about 1 cent per pound, and wheat screenings for chicken 

 feed could be had for the hauling. It is very evident that a 

 poorer class of layers might have been kept at a greater profit 

 when supplies were at that low price than can be profitably 

 kept when supplies are as high-priced as they are at the present 

 time. So the reader can see that the matter of the profitable 

 hen is a local matter. At this writing you can buy nearly 



