32 



MAKING POULTRY PAY 



is, as a rale, only a case of one, two or three^hens 

 specially destined for the experiment. Should, after 

 abundant tests, a real law of nature be here discovered, 

 the future of poultry breeding would certainly appear 

 in a rosy light. I am far from asserting that the law 

 would universally apply, but we certainly ought to 

 try to find out if, and to what extent, it can be proved. 



SELECTING THE BEST LAYERS 



A''hile the trap nest is the surest, best and only 

 reliable means of picking out the good and poor layers 

 expert poultrymen can, by the general appearance and 

 makeup of the fowl, tell pretty closely which are the 

 best layers in the flock. There is something in the 



FIG. I A GOOD L.\YER 



A BAD LAYER 



makeup of the good layers that is indicative of quality 

 to the expert as are the points of a heavy milking cow 

 to the eye of the experienced dairyman. The trouble 

 with most of us is that we are not expert enough to 

 distinguish the points of the good layer. Mr. P. A. 

 Cook in the Orpington Poultry Journal, says he can 

 invariably pick out the good and poor layers by the 

 shape of the head. As an example he uses the illustra- 

 tion (Figure i) of two heads of L'ght Brahma hens. 

 You will see that the hen on the left has a thin, clean 

 cut head, with bright and prominent eye and also a 

 thin neck. This is the good layer. Notice that both 



