62 THE CALL, OF THE HEN. 



their abdomen, owing to the rear of the breast bone turning 

 up sometimes almost an inch over normal shape, thus indicat- 

 ing ^ smaller abdomen than really was the case. The other 

 matter is a more serious one, in fact very serious in some 

 flocks. It is the bagging down of the abdomen over the rear 

 of the breast bone. Every hen used in the breeding pen should 

 be examined for this defect for if one of them is bred from they 

 are almost sure to transmit their weak ovarian system to their 

 offspring. Some of these hens will make remarkable egg 

 records for a year or so, then will never lay another egg. And 

 again, the eggs are liable to be very infertile and more or less 

 thin shelled and if you have great numbers of hens can hardly 

 tell when these hens stop laying for good unless you trap nest 

 them as their Pelvic Bones do not close up as readily as hens 

 in normal condition. 



An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure in this 

 case as it is very easy to prevent all this trouble. I meet hun- 

 dreds of the above hens in my visits to poultry plants but never 

 have a case in my yards. I examine all my pullets when 

 about a year old for possible breeders. If a hen satisfies me as 

 to Capacity, Type and Prepotency I then hold her as if I was 

 testing her for capacity except that I hold her by the right leg 

 only. I then lay my hand on her breast so that it (my hand) 

 will conform to her shape and draw it slowly along her breast 

 bone (or keel) from front to rear. When my hand reaches the 

 rear, if I feel the slightest indication of her abdomen dropping 

 the least bit below the rear of the breast bone I reject the hen 

 as a breeder and thereby save myself a world of trouble in the 

 future. 



CHAPTER IX. 

 PREPOTENCY. 



We will take up in this chapter Prepotency, the 

 science of breeding poultry so that we can breed with a 

 definite knowledge of what we are doing and not leave it to 

 intuition or chance. It is an old saying that like begets like. 

 This seems to be true in some cases but seems not to be true 

 in other cases. Students of human nature can readily see 

 where it has apparently failed. Some children will resemble 



