THE CALL OF THE HEN. 45 
which allows the egg to be delivered without straining on the part 
of the hen. Not every poultryman, but every poultrywoman has seen 
cases where a hen has gone on the nest and after a couple of hours com- 
menced to cackle her head off. Presently we hear the whole flock take 
up the chorus, and going to see what the trouble is, we find the hens 
Fic. 33—Crooked pelvic bone, ‘‘B, B,’’ Position No. 2. Hens with bones curved 
like this will lay about 20 per cent less than hens of the same type and capacity with 
straight pelvic bones, as in Fig. 34. 
holding an ‘“‘Old Maids’ Convention” and declaring they will never lay 
another egg, it hurts them so much to do so. On examining them, we 
find the pelvic bones so crooked they come together like the horns on a 
Jersey cow, and when the hens lay, instead of the vent dropping down 
between the pelvic bones, allowing the egg to be released in an easy 
manner in a few minutes after the hen goes on the nest, the egg is forced 
to be delivered between the pelvic bones and tail bone, thus prolonging 
the agony of the hen sometimes for hours, when, if she was built right, 
as in Fig. 34, she would be relieved of the egg without pain in a few 
minutes. And instead of wasting vitality in getting relieved of the egg, 
she would be rustling around for material to build another one, and thus 
add at least 20 per cent to her egg-producing value. This matter of 
crooked pelvic bones is more frequent in some breeds than in others, 
and is a serious matter that is very easily remedied by breeding only 
from birds with the straightest pelvic bones especially looking after 
the male birds, as one male bird with crooked pelvic bones will trans- 
mit this defect to all of his daughters. 
