BREEDING STOCK 87 
breeds as the Reds weigh four and three- 
quarters to five pounds, while the pullets at 
the same age are ready to begin laying. 
The pullets reach maturity at five to five 
and one-half months. With this record it is 
evident that there is no loss in the value of 
these birds as producers of eggs. In other 
words, the bird managed under this system, 
instead of being lowered in vigor and value 
has been improved. 
Evidence from Records. Experiment- 
station records show that more hens die in 
their second laying year out of a given flock 
than die as pullets out of a similar flock. 
In other words, taken as a whole, a flock of 
hens is not as strong and not as vigorous in 
their second laying year as they were when 
they were pullets. 
Vigor of Pullets. A pullet which has laid 
for five or six months previous to the time 
that her eggs are saved for incubation is in 
the prime of her life. She has not begun to 
go downhill in vigor or vitality; her diges- 
tive system has not been impaired by the 
forced feeding which our poultrymen at the 
present time are using from the time the 
