92 THE HOME POULTRY BOOK 



night comes it is an easy matter to decide which 

 hens have laid during the day. If a male bird is 

 placed in the second pen, the hens which lay and 

 pass into that pen may confidently be used as breed- 

 ers. Of course, some hens will go onto the nest but 

 not lay, so that this test is not quite as accurate 

 as that imposed by a regulation trap nest. 



The average amateur, however, will hardly take 

 the trouble to trap-nest his birds. A simpler plan 

 is to select and mark the pullets which lay first in 

 the Fall and use them to breed from. Experiments 

 have shown that the pullets which begin laying earli- 

 est also make the heaviest layers, as a general rule. 

 These pullets may well be kept until the second year 

 and then mated with a well-developed cockerel. 



Poor flocks may be improved by securing a male 

 bird from a breeder who is known to have a good 

 laying strain. Yet, it is not wise to continually 

 introduce new blood. If the first cock bought for 

 improving the flock proves satisfactory and another 

 is needed later, it is well to secure it from the same 

 source. Males from eggs laid by heavy-laying hens 

 are to be sought. They transmit the trait to the 

 pullets they sire. 



Old hens should not be kept with pullets as a 



