THE CALL OF THE HEN. 



31 



indicates the capacity or the ability of the bird to consume and 

 assimilate food and it applies to all breeds, except that every- 

 thing else being equal the longer bodied hen having more 



Figure 7. Showing How to Test Capacity. 



room for the digestive machinery, would have some advantage 

 over the shorter bodied hen. 



Fig. 8. This indicates how to hold a hen when you 

 examine her for condition. This is one of the most difficult 

 and serious problems a poultryman has to deal with. To illus- 

 trate, I will cite one case out of hundreds that have come under 

 my observation. A gentleman wrote me to call on him as he 

 was having trouble with his hens. When I arrived at his place 

 he told me when he fed his hens well, he got lots of eggs, but 

 some of his hens died. Then when he did not feed them so 

 well they did not lay so many eggs, but none of them died. He 

 said he had repeated this a number of times with the a,ame 

 results. He said the ones that died wer^ ^s fat as butter. I 

 picked up one of the hens. She was in prime condition for the 

 market. I. picked up another one, she was very thin. I ex- 

 amined all his hens. I found he had, like a great m/iny poultry- 

 men, three distinct types of hens, the egg type, the dual pur- 



