CHAPTER IV. 



Trap Nests vs. Observation, Culling for profit 



TRAP NESTS vs. OBSERVATION. 



Should the figures seem to lie 

 We must prove the lie by figures 

 Or the "figures do not lie." 



THOSE who have kept careful records of the doings of individual 

 hens have often reported egg yields that seem so large, to some 

 people, that they absolutely refuse to credit them. If we ask such a 

 skeptic why he doubts he will give the reason, said to be such a favorite 

 with women: "because." lie may add: "it is unreasonable." "Be- 

 cause it is unreasonable" is no argument. When a man who knows 

 anything about the egg-producing capacities and habits of individual 

 hens questions the accuracy of a reported egg record he will be able to 

 justify his doubts by an exhibition of facts, or figures obtained in the 

 same way that those whose records lie questions obtained theirs. Other 

 wise we must doubt the doubter. 



I am in the mood to make a comparison between the observation the- 

 ory of keeping track of the laying hens, as it appears to me when hand- 

 ling my own hens, and the trap-nest system. Any trap-nest user is able 

 to make the comparison ; without trap nests it cannot be made. Any 

 theory that docs not furnish the means for proving its own reliability is 

 a pretty weak theory. A book of this character seems like a good place 

 to give rules that might be misleading elsewhere. 



I cannot give all of the theories of which I have heard, but can give 

 those that 1 have tested. 



The bright, active, energetic hen will be in evidence in any flock on 

 earth, that is properly fed and cared for. If we like, we can catch her, 

 put a numbered leg band on her. and record her doings in the trap 

 nest. 



If there is any other way to find out what she is good for, it is outlined 

 a little farther on. 



There is a condition of the pelvic or posterior bones that is theoreti- 

 cally so reliable a test for a laying hen that I urge the reader to test it, 

 if he be interested and has time, and see if he finds it reliable. A few 

 hundred hens. and a set of trap nests ought to show the careful student, 

 if there is anything in it. A writer in Farm Poultry claimed that the 

 opening between the pelvic or posterior bones of a bird is larger during 

 a period of egg production than at other times. This corresponds to a 



