336 FARM ANIMALS 
lay better during the molt than hens of the noted egg 
breeds. These egg layers generally take a long rest, the 
sitters two or three short ones. 
To break up broodiness, a quick way is to confine the hens with 
a reserve male in a pen where there are no nests. While so con- 
fined, the hens should be fed well on an egg ration. Often the hens 
will begin to lay within a week or ten days. Under no condition 
should starving be practiced. It is not only cruel and ineffective, but 
the poultryman who practices it pays the penalty by injuring the 
laying proclivities of the hen. 
11. Selecting layers——Laying hens are nearly always 
singers. They work and hunt for food 
all day, and are the first off of the 
roost and the last to go to roost. They 
are nervous and very active, keeping 
themselves up to the greatest possible 
pitch. In selecting layers, seek out 
the active, hustling kind and reject 
those dull, lazy and inactive. 
12. Laying type—The ideal laying 
hen should conform as nearly as pos- 
SeLectep Barreo Piym- sible to the following. She must be 
OUTH Rock LAYER 
healthy; comb, wattles and face red; 
eye bright and lustrous; neck not short, but medium te 
long; breast broad and long, slop- 
ing upward; back, long and 
broad; abdomen, wide and deeper 
than breast; shanks well spread 
and rather long; V-shaped in 
three ways—on sides from front 
to rear, top and bottom from front 
to rear, and from base of tail, 
downwards; and well-spread tail. 
13. Laying ability improved.— 
Hens should be brought into lay- 
LayYING TYPE 
A White Leghorn hen, 
