WINTER EGGS 167 
being the most consistent layers of all. I do not care for winter 
layers to go broody in winter, so that I rule out Buff Orpingtons, 
excepting when required for hatching purposes. Purely for winter 
eggs I prefer a first cross, excepting when one is sure one possesses 
early maturing Rhode Island Reds or Wyandottes. My birds were 
all fed and treated exactly in the same way, so that their maturity 
was inherent and not forced. 
It is a mistake to think that all strains of the same breed take 
the same time to mature. Some of them, as in the case of Rhode 
Island Reds, may be two months apart. Wyandottes as a rule 
will lay in their eighth month without forcing, but sometimes one 
will have to wait another month before the eggs begin to come. 
Buff Orpingtons mature quickly as a rule, but if they do you may 
count on a spell of broodiness within a few weeks of the first egg. 
A good Leghorn-Wyandotte cross also makes a prolific winter 
layer, the birds maturing rapidly and keeping up a continuous 
supply when started. Another good feature of this particular 
cross is that they recover quickly from the moult and lay almost as 
well in their second year as in their first season. 
Summing up the situation on the question of breeds for winter 
laying, I would recommend almost any Leghorn first cross with a 
heavy breed, but preferably Leghorn, Wyandotte, Orpington and 
Plymouth Rock. The pure breeds I have indicated are also 
excellent winter layers, but it must be remembered that most of 
them take about a month longer to mature. And perhaps 
another important consideration is that they all lay brown or 
tinted eggs; which the British public love so well. 
There are, however, large egg-farmers who stick to the White 
Leghorn for winter and summer eggs, and if one is to keep only one 
breed there can be little doubt that the Leghorn holds its own 
against all comers for all-the-year-round egg-production. The 
trouble is that winter eggs alone, although a great desideratum, 
are not a paying proposition. One must get a fowl to lay at least 
eight months in the year to be a good investment, and, of course, if 
one can get them to continue for ten months, so much the better. 
I have heard of American pullets that have laid 330 eggs per year, 
