CAN A HEN LAY TWO EtXiS IN OXE DAI'.' .")'.) 



in any degree account for their non-sitting' tendencies. My methods of 

 feeding have had no effect upon the matter, except to hasten or re- 

 lard broodiness, as far as I cuuld determine. Persistent broodies have 

 held to their ancestral instincts for two and three seasons under various 

 conditions and changes in feeding and feeds. The non-sitters have re- 

 mained non-sitters for three and even four years under the same 

 conditions that surrounded their broody mates. 



I do not wish to be understood as condemning all hens that become 

 broody. Many such hens are splendid layers; the laying habit being 

 stronger and more fully controlling the organism of the birds than does 

 the brooding or incubating instinct. 



I recommend, merely, that the points that I have tried to make clear 

 be kept in mind as having an important bearing, not only upon the egg- 

 producing qualities of present birds, but also their offspring. 200-egg 

 hens as individuals are very common. There can be no doubt of that. 



The 200-egg strain is not common; I do not know that such a strain 

 exists; but when such a strain is created the 30i>-egg hen will not be 

 far off, and she will be a non-sitter. 



I. K. Felch is authority for the claim that a Light Brahma hen laid 

 318 eggs in 333 days. Such a record on its face indicates an almost 

 perfect bodily development, a persistent laying habit that effectually 

 subdued all incubating' tendencies, during that time at least. 



Those birds that lay in ••litters" and are given to broodiness to such 

 an extent that they do not lay profitably, from a market-egg stand- 

 point, should not be used in the breeding pen. They should be mar- 

 keted as soon as their unprofitableness has been determined; which with 

 me has been in a short time. 



CAN A HEN LAY TWO EGGS IN ONE DAY? 



There yet remain, upon this mundane sphere, those who will deny 

 that it is possible for a hen to manufacture and deposit in some suita- 

 ble receptacle more than one egg in "one consecutive day." True there 

 have been people who persisted in declaring that they owned but one 

 hen, that their neighbors did not keep hens, and that their one hen, 

 alone, and unaided by joking college boys or other facetious meddlers, 

 had laid at least two eggs in one day. 



There are several ways in which one could be mistaken in assuming 

 that such a thing had taken place. Firstly: an i"/^ may become buried 

 in the nest material and not be noticed when search is made for eggs. 

 The hen nniv uncover it later, resulting in its discovery the next morn- 

 ing, parading as a newly laid egg: possibly it might be warm. Later 

 still, biddy may lay another egg. Sure(?) proof that both were laid on 

 the same dav. Secondly: as such an unusual event is not anticipated 



