THE CALL OP THE HEN. 99 



large arrivals of eastern poultry in San Francisco besides heavy 

 receipts of California, and nobody wanted any more. Just the 

 same, Mr. Hogan received $4 a dozen for sixteen dozen cock- 

 erels just three months old, when the same dealer was paying 

 but $1.50 for brids of the same age. Now, what do you think 

 of that? And Mr. Hogan says these cockerels were not de- 

 scendants of the beef type of hens, but were hatched from eggs 

 laid by hens selected as the egg type. They were not especial- 

 ly fed or in any way prepared for market. They cost 22 cents 

 each for feed, and thus the profit on the bunch was $21.76. 



In speaking of this matter Mr. Hogan made the point that 

 if all poultrymen would pay especial attention to producing 

 fine broilers for market that is in preparing the broilers that 

 they are obliged to produce in order to have a corresponding 

 number of pullets they would benefit themselves greatly. Not 

 only would they get a better price for the birds, but they would 

 greatly increase the demand, as many people who now care 

 nothing for the common dry-meated birds would become pleas- 

 ed consumers of the improved broilers. The Poultry Journal 

 man knows by personal experience that the broilers turned out 

 by Mr. Hogan are simply delicious when properly cooked, and 

 far ahead of the ordinary article. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

 SELECTING THE SETTING HEN. 



"How can I select the best hen for the purpose when I 

 want to hatch chickens with hens?" 



The writer is asked the above question very often. It is 

 a serious matter with a poultryman when he has a small number 

 of choice eggs he wishes to hatch and gives them to a hen that 

 is apparently setting well only to have her spoil most of them. 

 He very naturally lays the cause to mites, or lice, or both. 

 While it is true that the nests and surroundings must be kept 

 fiee from mites, and the hens kept clean from hen lice, the 

 trouble is not all here by a good deal. Sometimes a great deal 

 of the fault lies in the hen. Some are born layers, some are 

 born mothers, and some are born too lazy to get off of the nest 

 at the call of nature. The hen born a typical egg type is of no 

 use as a setter; neither is the hen that is born a typical meat 



