58 MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



ence I had found that when I mated cockerels to old hens I usually 

 had a large preponderance of cockerels, so I mated two-year-old 

 hens to cockerels. Sometimes I mated only three hens to a 

 cockerel, sometimes as many as ten. I also tried two-year-old 

 males or even older with the hens in the fall, with the following 

 results and discoveries, which I relate, not as conclusive evidence, 

 for as the old saying is, "One swallow does not make a summer," 

 and it would take more than one year's experiments at an agricul- 

 tural station to prove that what I am relating as my experiences are 

 always and conclusively the same. 



First, I discovered that I could not absolutely govern the sex ; 

 secondly, I found that some males sired more males than females, 

 and that it was not the most vigorous males that sired the most 

 males ; it was the smaller, younger or less matured birds ; thirdly, 

 I discovered, and this experience occurred over and over again, 

 that the first eggs laid by hens after a period of rest, such as the 

 moult, and also the first eggs of pullets, hatched more females than 

 males and also that the darker shelled eggs (mine were White Ply- 

 mouth Rocks) contained females oftener than males. I found that 

 the first eggs laid after a rest were nearly always darker or else 

 spotted with dark marks, and that when in the fall I was most 

 anxious to get males, there were more females than males, as it 

 was just after a period of rest. This was a disappointment to me 

 at first, but later on I found that among those females hatched in 

 October and November were my very best layers. 



I might have known that pullets hatched from hens that were 

 laying in the fall just when eggs cost the most would be likely 

 to lay plentifully at that same time of year, but I did not realize 

 it until the conviction was forced upon me by my own experience. 

 Not all of the pullets were the best layers, but a preponderance of 

 my best layers were hatched in the fall. After I had found that 

 among my own White Plymouth Rocks the cockerels hatched in 

 the fall were my best breeders and that the pullets were remark- 

 ably fine layers, I made it a rule to hatch every hatchable egg then. 

 "Like begets like," if you hatch from the hens that are good fall 

 and winter layers you will run a good chance of getting offspring 

 from them that will come up to their mother's achievements, and 

 if you know how to breed and mate them to males of the same 

 good strain you will keep on improving your breed until you have 

 grand layers. 



A person can breed for whatever he or she wants — for fine 

 feathers in the show room; for the best of table fowls for market; 

 for prolific layers ; for layers of large eggs, of colored eggs, or of 

 white eggs. It is all a matter of selection and a study of the breed- 

 ing qualities of your fowls. By just making up your mind what 

 to do and how to do it and keeping the one object in view all the 

 time you will succeed, there is no doubt about it. 



But to return to our question : "When is the best time for hatch- 

 ing chickens?" Springtime, March, is the best time; but you can 

 hatch also whenever your old hen wants to sit. You must remem- 



