96 MAIND AGRICUI.TURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I905. 



nation for the lower average yield than that of the last preced- 

 ing year. The pullets were hatched in April and May, and 

 thinking to have them mostly in readiness for laying early in 

 November, we fed them rather more beef scrap than usual dur- 

 ing the growing season, while they were out on the range, and 

 before we were aware of their development they were laying, — in 

 August, They were nearly all laying heavily during September, 

 October and November. They were splendid birds, but almost 

 every one of them moulted, completely, in December, and we got 

 very few eggs from them for more than two months. The most 

 of the eggs secured from them were laid after the middle of 

 January. Could they have commenced laying in October and 

 continued for a year, moulting would probably have been 

 avoided and the showing would have been much better. 



The breeding season of 1904 opened with 170 yearling hens in 

 our houses that had laid above 160 eggs each the year before; 

 80 pullets and hens whose mothers had laid over 200 eggs per 

 year; and 28 hens that had themselves laid over 200 eggs per 

 year. These birds were in 24 different pens and they were bred 

 to selected cockerels whose mothers had yielded above 200 large 

 brown eggs per year. 



Among the pullets tested during the last preceding year 

 (1903) were found the following; No. 263a yielded 220 eggs; 

 No. 225a, 220 eggs; No. 222a, 221 eggs; No. 224a, 222 eggs; 

 No. 205a, 225 eggs. These birds were bred during 1904 to 

 cockerels raised in 1903 from heavy producing mothers whose 

 other sons were never used in our breeding operations. The 

 mating of these five pairs of birds was to secure cockerels for 

 our next year breeding operations. 



At the usual time for the commencement of the yearly test of 

 1904, viz. October 30, we had 300 good pullets that were laying 

 well out on the range. The construction of the building being 

 erected for their quarters was interfered with by a question of 

 labor, over which we had no control, and they remained out in 

 their small summer homes during a wet, cold fall and early win- 

 ter, until December sixth, when they were moved in. This more 

 than a month's delay and exposure cut into the year's work 

 heavily and the average production of the 300 birds was reduced 

 to 131 eggs each during a little less than eleven months. Eight 



