HENS FOR EGGS. 59 



shells. Their color is objectionable in some markets 

 and their fragile shells render them more liable to 

 break in shipping. When the surplus hens have to 

 be marketed for meat, they do not make first-class 

 dressed poultr}-. What, therefore, is gained in the 

 number of eggs may be partly or wholly lost in sell- 

 ing the dressed meat. This is the argument on one 

 side. On the other side it is maintained that the 

 small breeds seldom become broody, mature quickly 

 and come quickly into profit, and that these facts 

 combined with the increased number of eggs laid, 

 compensate for any loss in weight or price of carcass. 



Those who combine the raising of broiler and 

 roasting chickens or capons with the production of 

 eggs, generally choose the American breeds or crosses. 



When a poultry keeper can find sale for pure-bred 

 eggs and fowls in connection with his egg business, 

 the breed that is most popular with buyers is the breed 

 he is apt to prefer. 



Those who have a special or private trade for 

 darkly tinted eggs should select certain strains of 

 Plymouth Rocks or Brahmas. 



Cochins, Poland and the English class are seldom 

 chosen for stocking an egg farm. 



Whether a poultry keeper shall raise his own hens 

 or buy them, depends on various circumstances. Fully 

 one half of all chickens raised will be cockerels. If, 

 therefore, five hundred pullets are wanted, one thou- 

 sand chickens must be raised, and more than this must 

 be hatched, for some will always die before reaching 

 a marketable size. Some who practice the rearing of 

 their own layers, give at least plausible figures to prove 



