iiS THE TRAP NEST TEXT BOOK 



one could desire. Thus we hear of the lien that hatches and rear.- three 

 broods of chicks, rests two or three months during' her molt and lays 

 two or three hundred eggs in spare moments during- one year besides 

 winning first prize at the cattle show. If any of us are disposed to 

 apply simple mathematics to such claims it is our own fault, not the 

 claimants. 



I believe that the brooding' instinct, as a pronounced trait, can be 

 bred out of any breed of fowl. The wild duck hatches and rears her 

 young, but the domestic duck is rarely broody. 



One large breeder of ducks reports, in F,inii,-Gnrih'ii ami Poultry, 

 that he averages about seven broody ducks per year in a flock of two 

 thousand. It is noteworthy that the brooding tendency, as a family 

 trait, diminishes and becomes dormant in the shortest time in breeds of 

 active habit and highly nervous temperaments. What is true of families, 

 seems also to be true of individuals within any families. Ducks, and 

 hens of the Mediterranean breeds, are very restless and are easily dis- 

 turbed with slight cause. Under domestication they are rarely permit- 

 ted to enjoy that peace, quiet and freedom from distraction that, when 

 long continued, tends to foster the brooding- instinct. AVhen such con- 

 ditions are present, ducks or hens of any breed are likelv to develop 

 broodiness upon occasion. 



With breeds and individual birds of a decided phlegmatic temperament, 

 easily tamed and naturally slothful when highly fed, the broody ten- 

 dency will sometimes be found in itshighest and most unprofitable devel- 

 opment. Such individuals should be avoided when the breeding pens 

 are made up. The pet hen, in spite of sentiment and the highly colored, 

 guessed-at and imaginary egg yields so often attributed to her. is. no 

 doubt, often an extremely poor layer. The persistent layer, while she 

 is tamable to a sufficient extent, does not like to be petted too much. 

 All hens will lay belter when tame enough to bear necessarv handling 

 and endure the presence of the attendant without getting excited, but 

 petting or coddling is not conducive to long continued, hence profitable. 

 egg production : while it does tend to arouse the dormant brooding 

 instinct that is present in all birds. 



T have found in several years experience with Plymouth Kocks and 

 Wyandottes that my most determined broodies were often my poorest 

 layers, and that my best layers were but slightly inclined to broodiness ; 

 many of them being practically non-sitlers. Occasional apparent ex- 

 ceptions have but proved the rule. 



Prof, (iowcll of the Maine Ex. Station, where Plymouth I Jocks and 

 Wyandottes have been bred that laid from L'oo to -2,V_> eggs in one vcar, 

 wrote, in reply lo m\ c|iicrv. that (heir best layers were not strong 

 sillers and were easily broken. In the birds that I have handled there 

 was no other evidence of an admixture of Mediterranean blood that would 



