PRACTICAL AND SCIENTIFIC BREEDING 
the good layers by the appearance of the hens. Before the 
advent of the trap-nest the “egg type” of hen was believed 
to be a positive indication of a good layer. The “egg type” 
hen had slender neck, small head, long, deep body of a wedge 
shape. Various “systems” founded on these or other “signs” 
have been sold for fancy prices to people who were easily 
separated from their money. Trap-nest records show such 
systems to be on a par with the lunar guidance in agricultural 
operations. 
I might remark here that the determination of sex by the 
shape of the egg or similar methods, is in a like category. 
Science finds no proof of such theories. 
A few methods of selecting the layers have been suggested 
which, while far from absolute, are of some significance and 
are well worth noting. The hen that sits upon the roost while 
other hens are out foraging, is probably a drone. The exces- 
sively fat or the excessively lean hens are not likely to be 
layers. It would naturally be supposed that the active laying 
hen would be the last one to go to roost at night. At the 
Kansas Experiment Station, the writer made observations 
upon the order in which the hens went to roost, and the above 
assumption was found in the majority of cases to be correct. 
A still better scheme of selecting layers is the practice of 
picking out the thrifty, quickly maturing pullets when they 
first begin to lay in the fall season. At the Maine Experiment 
Station, such a selection gave a flock of layers which aver- 
aged about one hundred and eighty eggs, when the remainder 
of the flock yielded only one hundred and forty. 
Trap-nests devised to catch the hen that lays the egg are 
numerous in the market. A trap-nest to be successful, must 
not only catch the hen that lays, but must prevent the en- 
trance of the other hens. 
The more trap-nests that are provided, the less often they 
will require attention, but the more often the nests are 
attended the better for the comfort of the hens. 
The use of trap-nests is expensive and cannot be recom- 
mended for the poultryman who must make every hour of 
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