November, 1911 
Pou LTRY 
HOW TO SELECT HENS THAT LAY 
By E. I. FARRINGTON 
CCORDING to Prof. Rice of Cornell 
University, the hens that lay are the 
ones which have the shortest claws. Of 
course, this is only an epigrammatic way of 
saying that those hens which are the most 
industrious and scratch most persistently 
for what they can find to feed upon are 
generally the ones which produce the most 
eggs. Therefore it is a fairly safe rule 
to select the hens that are first off the 
perch in the morning and the last on at 
night when trying to ascertain which are 
the hens that pay their way. These are 
the hens which will be found busily kicking 
up a dust all day, and cheerfully singing. 
The poultry-keeper can identify the busy 
hens quickly by passing along in front of 
the perch at night, feeling of each crop. 
The properly energetic hen will have its 
crop packed to its capacity; the negligent 
and probably non-laying hen will have a 
flabby crop. 
The laying hen usually has a bright red 
comb. Likewise she has a full, bright eye, 
and a general air of alertness. It was once 
believed that a fat hen would not lay, but 
this has been disproved, although some 
poultry keepers continue to make the state- 
ment. It is quite probable that a fat hen 
which is advanced in years will not lay, but 
it is not easy to get a pullet so fat as to in- 
terfere with her productivity. 
The hen with a small, well-formed head 
and a wedge-shaped body is commonly con- 
sidered to represent the egg type, but this 
theory does not always work out in practice. 
A plan much in use involves an examination 
of the bones at the oviduct. If three fingers, 
held side by side, can be placed between 
these bones, the hen is in all probability a 
prolific layer. At least, she is laying well at 
that particular time. If only two fingers find 
room, the hen probably is laying only fairly 
well, and if there is space for only a single 
finger, she may be set down as not laying at 
all. It is an easy matter to make this exam- 
ination quickly at night, after the fowls have 
gone to roost, picking up each bird gently 
and holding it under the arm. If it is well 
along in the season and after the hens have 
reached full maturity, all drones should be 
sent to the block at once; they are worth 
more to eat than to keep. 
A simple and successful plan is to note 
the pullets which mature quickest and lay 
first in the fall. Such pullets, if thrifty and 
well-marked, are good ones to choose for 
breeders. They may be put in a pen by 
themselves for the winter, and not forced 
for eggs. Let it be said right here, that it 
is a poor plan to use as breeding stock the 
hens which have laid heavily all winter. 
Their labors will have largely exhausted 
their vitality, and there will be a distress- 
ingly large number of infertile eggs among 
those which they lay, no matter how good a 
male bird may be used with them. It is 
much better to make up a breeding pen of 
the hardy, early-laying pullets, as suggested 
above. 
After all, however, all these methods are 
to be relied upon only partially. They will 
serve for the average amateur, and for that 
matter, answer the purposes of most pro- 
fessional poultry-keepers, but the only way 
to really determine which hens lay and 
which do not is to use trapnests. This prac- 
tice requires considerable work, as a careful 
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