90 THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



to 5 /i 6 -inch pelvic bone. The second are in the column 

 indicating four fingers abdomen, from Vie-inch pelvic bone 

 to 7 /i6-inch pelvic bone. The third are five fingers abdomen, 

 from l /i6-inch pelvic bone to 9 /ie-inch pelvic bone. The 

 fourth are six fingers abdomen, from Vis-inch pelvic bone to 

 11 /i6-inch pelvic bone. 



We will make a copy of Charts 44 and 45 on a piece of 

 white cardboard and hang it up in a convenient place in 

 the yard where the sixteen-months-old hens are penned. We 

 will suppose that the hens are all closed in the house or houses. 

 We put catching-coop in position as in Fig. 2, and drive hens 

 in same as in Fig. 1. When there are enough hens in the 

 coop, shut down slide-door that holds them in. In this case 

 it is necessary to keep only four fingers in mind ; any four you 

 prefer will do. 



Here in California we use the figures 5, 7, 9, and 11 for the 

 hen sixteen months old, meaning by this that hens having 

 pelvic bones 5 /i 6 , Vie, 9 /ie and u /i6 inches in thickness 

 (depending on the depth of abdomen) will be the maximum 

 thickness of pelvic bones of really profitable hns; or in other 

 words this means a three-finger-abdomen hen, 5 / 16 -inch 

 pelvic bone; four-finger-abdomen hen, 7 /ie-inch pelvic bone; 

 five-finger-abdomen hen, 9 /ie-inch pelvic bone; six-finger- 

 abdomen hen, n /i6-inch pelvic bone. Anything below this 

 line (that is, any hen having a thicker bone in .the different 

 classes) goes to market. For the twenty-eight-months-old 

 hens we assume that they are hatched in March and sold in 

 the summer. 'We use the figures 3, 5, 7, and 9 /ie for the 

 three-, four-, five- and six-finger-abdomen hens. For the 

 forty-months-old hens we use the figures 1, 3, 5, and 7 /i 6 

 for the three-, four-, five- and six-finger-abdomen hens. You 

 perceive that the older the hen the greater the number of 

 eggs she must have laid in her first year. Here in California 

 we keep large numbers of hens, and in this way we can sort 

 out and market here each year in a short time, as we do not 

 have to stop and figure out the percentage of loss for each 

 year of age, as these figures come near enough to suit our 

 purpose. If they do not suit the local market, the reader 

 can use any figures that will. 



I shall give a few examples only to show how we would 

 proceed to cull out the hens. The reader must be familiar 



