130 LESSONS IN POULTRY KLE.PING — SECOND SERIES. 



However, I hu producer's control of his egiis iifler their delivery to the first hujer or trans- 

 portaiiou company practicaHy ceases as far as personal ability to protect their quality is cod- 

 cerued. Every producer of eggs can be very sure that there is no possibility of his eggs ever 

 becoming better in quality than they were when produced. Age does not improve them to the 

 normal taste, nor will any process ot "ripening" render them more palatable. No triclis of 

 manipulation will improve their appearance. The shipper of poultry may find the sliill of the 

 saleBman who wipes, and shapes and malies more presentable the carcasses of the fowls, of 

 benefit to him, maliing the fowls show often to better advantage than originally. But dirty 

 «gi;3 are graded as "dirties," and sold at an appropriate price. Small and misshapen eirgs 

 reduce the grade of their entire lot. Weak and watery eggs are readily detected by dealers and 

 buyers. Bad flavored esrgs in a line of good trade cannot come from the same place very many 

 times in successiDn without someone in the line being called to account, and ultimately it comes 

 back to the culprit among the producerti. 



When one begins to give special attention to the production of eggs, he must work for quality 

 as well as for quantity, otherwise he gets but » part ot the lienetit of his eflorts. Pnidui-ing 

 egg- in quantity and of good qualify, be must market them to the best advantage. If he does 

 cot he may be no .better ofT than he was in the first place. 



Now let us take that the other way around. Suppose a man desirous of getting a better price 

 for his eggs begins to study the ways of the markets, and finds that his eggs compete not with 

 the Ijest, but in the grade of cooking eggs. It is not impossil)le that there is discrimination or 

 misrepresentation on the part of those handling the eggs, but it is far more likely that the eggs 

 never were of the quality that they should be to command the best prices. This is especially 

 the case with eggs from fowls for which most ot the food is purchased, eggs from yarded fowls 

 and eggs from fowls whose ration is too carefully balanced. It is a matter of common observa- 

 tion and frequent comment among eastern handlers of eggs that the western eggs as a class are 

 superior in original quality to the eastern or nearby eggs. They are richer in color of yolk and 

 in substance ot white. At seasons when there is little deterioration in transit these western 

 fgg" may come into our eastern cities actually better than the nearby product, but during the 

 i; I eater part of the year time and exposure in trausit operate to take away their freshness and 

 flicvor. 



Now, as we have seen, it is easier for the producer to control original quality than to provide 

 against a quick deterioration after the eggs leave his hands. Hence it should be apparent to 

 the ea>tern producer that it is much easier for him to get good quality in his eggs than it is for 

 the western producer to provide for the preservation of quality in his. There is really no 

 €xcune — but that of mistaken economy — for the producer near a good market not getting 

 «very advantage of price which excellence of product and nearness of markets combined should 

 give him. Yet many producers do not get them. Why not? 



Here are the principal reasons: 

 Debilitated stock. 



Lack ot variety in food and insufticient supplies of green foods and fats. 

 Excessive feeding of swill and other wastes. 

 Mistaken ideas of the food constituents required for egg production. 



It takes healthy hens to produce eggs of first rale quality and fine appearance. Compare the 

 tgf;s of individual hens in a flock, or better select certain eggs and then find and compare the 

 bens that lay them. Your flock and their eggs may be too uniform In condition and appear- 

 anie to make the comparison I suggest remarkable, Ijut the average flock is not so. I succeed 

 in having mine that way only in proportion as I limit my breeding to individuals carefullv 

 selected from stock bred in my own yards for generations. I find that when I go outside for 

 new blood to improve some point in which I wish to make improvement, my most careful mix- 

 ture ot the new blood introduces a variety into the appearance and to some extent into the 

 cjuality of the eggs which was absent during the years of close breeding. I find also that the 

 lack ot quality in eggs is coincident with a lack of vitality in the individuals producing them. 

 It lias sometimes happened, too, that in fertility my best layers and most vigorous birds were 



