26, THE CALL OF THE HEN. 
the rear of the breast-bone, some will be three fingers, some will be four 
fingers, some will be five fingers, some will be six fingers, and occasionally 
one will be seven fingers between the two pelvic bones and the rear of 
the breast-bone. The depth of the abdomen indicates the capacity or 
the ability of the bird to consume and assimilate food, and it applies 
to all breeds, except that, everything else being equal, the longer-bodied 
hen, having more room for the digestive machinery, would have some 
advantage over the shorter-bodied hen. 
Fic. 8—Showing how to test condition. The legs of the hen are drawn upward, 
so that you can see the breast. The condition is tested by placing the thumb and 
forefinger about 14 inch from the front of the breast-bone. Figs. 20, 21 and 22 show 
the method in detail. 
Fig. 8. This indicates how to hold a hen when you examine her 
for condition. This is one of the most difficult and serious problems 
a poultryman has to deal with. To illustrate, I will cite one case out 
of hundreds that have come under my observation. A gentleman 
wrote me to call on him, as he was having trouble with his hens. When 
I arrived at his place, he told me that when he fed his hens well he got 
lots of eggs, but some of his hens died; then when he did not feed them 
so well they did not lay so many eggs, but none of them died. He said 
he had repeated this a number of times with the same results. He said 
the ones that died were as fat as butter. I picked up one of the hens; 
she was in prime condition for the market. I picked up another one; 
she was very thin. I examined all his hens. I found he had, like a 
great many poultrymen, three distinct types of hens: the egg type, the 
dual-purpose type, and the meat type. As he had fancy birds in all 
