THE CALL OF THE HEN. 51 
indicating a 138-egg type hen. Six weeks later she was laying, and had 
developed to six fingers abdomen, which was her normal condition. 
Another case was where a gentleman was in a class that took in- 
structions. After the close of the meeting he brought a hen that was 
three fingers out of condition. He said she was his best hen, and asked 
me how many eggs she would lay. She was three fingers abdomen, 
three fingers out of condition, and '/s-inch pelvic bone. Her head and 
actions indicated perfect health. I told him she might lay 180 eggs 
her first laying year, if her condition had been the same as it is at the 
present time; but if she was my hen I thought I might be able to make 
her lay 280 eggs. “You don’t feed her half enough.” He replied 
“That is the only hen I have that lays a white egg. I got her when 
a pullet, before she commenced to lay. She has been laying about 
a year and has laid 176 eggs. I had a small lot of hens at the time that 
were so fat they were dying, and I cut down their feed and have fed them 
sparingly ever since, so they would not get too fat and die.”’ I went to 
his place, and found he had three types of hens: the typical meat type 
(one with pelvic bones 1!/s inch thick), some with pelvic bones 14- 
inch thick, and this hen that laid the white eggs, whose pelvic bones 
were !/,5 of an inch thick. I told him to segregate his hens into three 
lots, and feed. them according to their type. Give the egg-type hens all 
the grain they could clean up each day in the scratching-shed, with a 
dry balanced mash before them all the time; the dual-purpose hens 
should be fed all the grain they wished to scratch for, with an occasional 
mash and the beef-type hens should be fed what grain they could clean 
up in. the scratching-shed in about an hour. The litter should be good 
and deep in all cases. I did not mention charcoal, grit, shells, and green 
stuff, as that is not my business. Every man who takes a poultry paper 
knows that part of the business, and every person who keeps poultry 
should take a poultry paper in order to keep posted on current poultry 
topics. 
The gentleman wrote me over a year later that he had succeeded 
in bringing the hen up to normal condition, as in Fig. 19, but after 
laying awhile she went back to five fingers abdomen and one finger out 
of condition, and had laid 288 eggs her next laying year. 
We will now take another hen. She may be a four-finger abdomen, 
as in Fig. 15, in good condition, as in Fig. 19, and her pelvic bones may 
be 1/16 of an inch thick, as in Fig. 24. She would read four fingers 
abdomen; good condition; '/is-inch pelvic bone. If we consult Chart 
4, we will find she is a 220-egg type hen. 
The next hen may be also four fingers abdomen, as in Fig. 15, 
in good condition, as in Fig. 19, with pelvic bones 14 inch, as in Fig. 28. 
She would read four fingers abdomen; in good condition; 14-inch pelvic. 
bones. We will see by Chart 4 that this is a 115-egg type hen. 
Our next hen may be a four-finger-abdomen hen; condition good; 
pelvic bones 1 inch thick. We would read her as a four-finger abdomen; 
condition good; pelvic bones 1 inch. If we look on Chart 4 at 1-inch 
pelvic bones, we will find this hen will lay approximately nothing. 
Our next hen may be a four-finger-abdomen hen, one finger out of 
condition, '/s-inch pelvic bone. She would indicate a 205-egg type 
hen under her present condition, but we would read her four fingers 
abdomen, one finger out of condition that would mean a five-finger- 
