HOW TO TELL HENS THAT ARE LAYING 303 
the time they have laid twenty-five eggs. Other birds will not 
have as pale shanks when they have laid over 150 eggs. Some 
strains of show birds have practically white ear lobes before the 
birds begin to lay. Weak or sick birds frequently have white 
ear lobes. Male birds fed on oats alone have wonderfully pure 
white ear lobes. Birds ranging on sand bleach their shanks. — 
Yellow pigmentation is of value in indicating egg-production 
where birds normally having yellow shanks and ear lobes are of 
good vitality, are fed yellow corn, or other food containing yellow 
pigment, and then have grass runs. If all these factors are not 
provided, all the birds may be white. Pigment appears to go 
from the different parts of the body in the following order :—first 
ear lobes, then beak, shanks and, finally, plumage. 
The health of the bird as shown by the condition of the comb 
is a fair indication of egg-production. When the comb is full- 
sized, red, pliable and somewhat slippery, the bird is usually 
laying. The comb shrinks, becomes hard, light coloured and 
rough as the bird stops laying. A series of observations made 
last October between pliability of comb and egg-production gave 
a correlation of over ‘03 with a probable error, slightly greater 
than plus or minus ‘02. The pliability of the comb indicates 
whether the bird is laying at the time. Late laying, of course, 
tends to give high egg-production. 
The smoothness, pliability and oiliness of the skin are also in- 
dications of egg-production. A laying bird has a softer, smoother 
feeling than a non-laying one. 
The abdomen is a very good indication of egg-production. This 
character has been used as a basis for several systems of picking 
out the laying hens. It seems to have been known for a good 
many years, if not centuries, although it has only recently been 
used as a basis for some of these systems. A bird, due to the 
yolks developing in the ovary, and the increase in size of the 
oviduct, swells out its abdomen in preparation for a laying period. 
It makes little difference whether the distance between the 
pelvic arches, or from the keel-bone of the pelvic arches, or from 
the keel-bone to the base of the tail, are used as a basis of selection. 
