SUCCESSFUL POULTRY KEEPING 



Are trap nests of more importance to the bred-to-lay 

 strain than to their equally valuable sisters, the show-bred 

 birds? No; they are an absolute necessity to both. No mat- 

 ter which kind of bird it may be, the real interest centered in 

 it after all depends upon "eggs," the egg from which it came 

 and the eggs it may perchance lay. 



Too much extra work connected with their use? Some 

 extra work to be sure, but not too much! The questions often 

 arise in my mind, "Does the average buyer appreciate the ef- 

 forts put forth by the breeder who is doing all this extra work, 

 and do buyers consider the use of trap-nests and all it means 

 and make it a factor in their decision when they want to buy?" 

 I answer, (as far as I am concerned) I do not care about that, 

 the fact is they are indispensable, in short — a necessity, they 

 are hkewise a source of great pleasure to the true lover of poultry. 

 One gets acquainted with his fowls to such an extent that in- 

 - stead of considering them as a flock, you learn to know each 

 one individually; and this learning is mingled with pleasure 

 and regret. Pleasure, when some unpromising bird surprises 

 you with doing or developing what you least expected; regret, 

 when the "Beauty" of the whole flock proves a flat failure in 

 'more than one way. We learn that many of the "fattest" 

 hens are great layers and also that many of the leanest are 

 great layers; that some with the reddest combs lay regularly 

 and some with the palest do the same thing, and some of both 

 kinds do not lay at all. And so our trap nests keep teaching us 

 right along. 



HEAVY WINTER LAYERS 



When we first installed trap nests we kept a year's record 

 of all eggs beginning with the first egg laid as a pullet, count- 

 ing from November first. We then used only the heaviest 

 layers as breeders the next year. We continued in this prac- 

 tice until the facts was forced upon us by the records kept, that 

 all the "big layers" were "big" only from the fact that they 

 laegan laying the earhest and continued laying regularly dur- 

 ing the winter months of December, January and February. 

 Those that did not lay heavily during the winter months never 

 caught up and hence were not numbered among the heavy 

 layers at the end of the year. No use imagining that those 

 that rest up during winter make up by doing better the rest of 

 the year. Our experience denies this. 



Convinced of the fact that the heavy layers were the winter- 

 months-layers, and seeing no special reason for knowing exactly 

 how many eggs any special individual laid, we could no longer 

 see any advantage in keeping a record the whole year, and so 

 we adopted the new way, and trap the pullets beginning Nov- 

 ember first. Then those not laying reasonably early are dis- 

 carded at once; and again those not laying or equaling the 

 average dmiig the whiter are also discarded. This leaves you 

 nothing but good layers The next fall, after molting, these 

 pullets — ^now yearling hens — go into winter quarters prepara- 

 tory to the breeding pens, and again our "best friends" the trap 

 nests are set and put into use. 



Experience with trap nests has taught us that all heavy 

 layers in their pullet year do not prove heavy layers as year- 

 lings, lyiany breeders are puzzled to learn that certain indi- 

 vidual record breakers do not, as yearlings; produce the eggs 

 they naturally expected. This has been brought to my notice 

 by more than one. There is no accounting for this. Such 

 hens, as we find them, are immediately discarded and not used 

 in our breeding pens. 



Our birds being selected and mated and our pens or yards 

 being fiUed with these heavy layers, and the hatching season 

 coming on, we trap every bird and number every egg, and as 

 soon as possible incubate eggs from each one to test fertiUty. 

 We use a small machine for this work, rimning it at 103 degrees 



and add eggs any time and test on fourth or seventh days. 

 We find aU eggs laid by certain hens wiU not prove fertile, but 

 it shows how they run. 



Now then, the oft times repeated saying that the heavy 

 layers prove inferior as breeders owing to the heavy drain upon 

 their vitality, etc., has proven to be all "imagination," as far 

 as our experience has shown. Again this very season, in Feb- 

 ' ruary, we found among our very best layers hens that laid as 

 early as November 10th, while still running at large, hens that 

 became broody in Deceinber and were broken up and once in 

 particular that went broody in December and again the week 

 before the Cincinnati show, Jan. 16, and was broken up and 

 exhibited among other entries both at Cincinnati and Chicago. 

 These birds went right on laying, and .their eggs run largely 

 fertile — ^nine out of ten — and strong at that. These are facts. 

 So much for the theory that the eggs of heavy layers prove 

 infertile or are found deficient in strength. 



QUESTION OF FERTILITY 



We have cases where every egg laid by certain hens proves 

 infertile. We are .told that where the eggs from pens run 

 largely fertile and some hens from the same pen lay infertile 

 ones, the fault usually lies with the female. This does not 

 hold good always. We take such hens and place them alone 

 with the same male and leave them together for two days, and 

 then place him in the regular pen, and so on, alternating him 

 with the two sets of hens. Again we incubate eggs from these 

 hens and find them largely fertile. We have had this experience 

 again this very season. Our pens, or more properly speaking 

 yards, consist mostly of ten females. This ought to prove that 

 while the male is not at all incapacitated, he nevertheless shows 

 favoritism. We had two unusually fine birds whose eggs were 

 all infertile -but by this means they now run strongly feriiile. 

 One of these we had not tested and had given a hen eleven of 

 her eggs, and imagine our surprise to test on the seventh day 

 and find all eleveii to be infertile. Instead of having to use 

 some other male we followed our way of penning them alone 

 with excellent results. < 



SOME THINGS LEARNED 



All this is accomphshed by the use of trap nests. They 

 also familiarize you with the kind of an egg each one lays, and 

 some very unpromising eggs as far as looks are concerned, 

 have proven to furnish fine birds. The hens not kept for breed- 

 ing are separated according to whether they are laying or not. 

 This not only gives the layers more room but by different feed- 

 ing methods we help the non-layers along sm-prisingly. They 

 are fed sparingly on fattening foods and are kept very busy 

 hustling. This stimulates their laying organs and develops 

 them. 



While all the foregoing uses of the traps are very essen- 

 tial, the most important use consists in our being able to keep 

 exact track of the breeding stock, their pedigree, mating, etc., 

 also in keeping accurate records of every egg set. When hatched 

 the chick is marked with a punch and entered in our book and 

 later on numbered and the pedigree noted. 



The eggs, too, frequently indicate the condition in which 

 the hen is. Trapping wiU point out the one you want. While 

 the White Wyandottes (the breed we keep) lay an irregular 

 egg at best, you soon become famihar with each one's eggs so 

 that you detect the shghtest change. 



In conclusion I wish to state that we do not beUeve in a 

 200-egg strain any more than that every prize winner will beget 

 a prize winner, but we do know that by the use of trap nests 

 you can breed and pick the best layers from your strain of 

 layers. By continuing this practice of breeding from these 



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