WITH 4200 HENS 143 



Trap-nesting and Other Forms of Intensive Selection 



Trap-nesting, carried on persistently and systematically 

 in connection with scientific breeding and careful pedigree 

 work, may unquestionably be made the means of in- 

 creased production per bird. But from the standpoint 

 of the commercial egg-farmer the economic features must 

 be taken into consideration. It is purely a question of 

 what it will cost in money, time and labor to attain the 

 desired objective and whether or not there will be a 

 greater net profit at the end of the year — not per bird, 

 but in total dollars. 



That "total net profit" is the only influencing factor 

 with us, allowance being made for the fact that we wish 

 to continue year after year. Almost anyone would rather 

 have two 150-egg pullets than one that will lay 200 — 

 if profit is the objective. We have never experimented 

 with trap-nest work, but the writer believes that he can 

 raise and care for a sufficiently greater number of 140-150- 

 egg pullets by the plan and with the methods he follows 

 to more than offset the profit to be derived from the 

 higher individual production that may be attained by the 

 trap-nesting method. 



And so we do not trap-nest. 



We do not practice other forms of selection of layers 

 by anatomical tests because we have no faith in the 

 accuracy of any such method that has come to our atten- 

 tion. So far as we know no such method has stood the 

 test of a comparison with trap-nest records; nor do we 

 know of anyone who has succeeded by any such method 

 in gaining a greater net profit in one year than we make 

 with a flock of equal size and with the expenditure of 

 the same time and labor. 



