PRAIRIE FARMER'S POULTRY BOOK 



work to mother, either. He and the five boys are as much 

 interested in the poultry flock as mother is, and are always 

 ready to lend a hand when there is work to be done around 

 the poultry yards. 



As for the actual figures — well, there was a check for 

 $145.25 for 130 broilers (10 weeks old) sold last June (1921). 

 Egg receipts for 1920 were $216i50, and about as many eggs 

 were used at home as were sold. 



Keeping Egg Records 



Esgar has been using trap nests for 12 years. The trap 

 nest is a nest with a little trap door in front that closes when 

 the hen goes in to lay. She has to stay there until she is let 

 out, when she is credited with her egg. 



"No, it isn't so very much trouble," says Esgar. "We put 

 numbered leg bands on the pullets, and after that it isn't much 

 work to open the nests and put down the records. It is the 

 only sure way to build up a heavy-laying strain." 



He showed me some of the records and we added up a few 

 of them. One pullet laid 92 eggs from Jan. 19 to May 23, 

 1921- — 124 days. At that rate her year's record will be well 

 over 200 eggs. Hens like this are mated with roosters from 

 high-producing strains. Esgar paid $15 last spring for a 

 rooster whose mother had a record of 300 eggs a year. 



The results of this work are rapid improvement of the 

 laying ability of the flock. In June, 1921, the egg production 

 was 90 to 100 eggs a day from 125 hens. Esgar has so much 

 confidence in the laying ability of his birds that he recently 

 sent a pen to Murphysboro to compete in the state egg-laying 

 contest. 



Hens Lay When Eggs are High 



"Trap nesting adds greatly to the interest in poultry 

 raising," says Mrs. Esgar. "We have all taken much more 

 interest in the flock since we began keeping laying records." 



Esgar's winter laying flock consists of about 150. hens and 

 pullets — mostly pullets. They are usually getting well under 

 Way by the first of November, when eggs are getting up 

 toward the high point of the year. Most of his flock are 

 Rhode Island Reds, though he is experimenting with Rhode 

 Island Whites. 



"We start the incubators in February so as to sell the 

 cockerels for early broilers," says Esgar. "This spring we 

 sold them at 40 to 55 cents a pound when they were 10 weeks 



[228] 



