AMERICAN 
December, 1911 
A small flock of hens that lay, en fon wellienovn Brocade 
HOMES AND GARDENS 
445 
is a source of profit and will more than repay one for the trouble of raising them 
Keeping Twenty-Five Hens 
Hunts ee 
WENTY-FIVE or thirty hens will supply all 
the eggs needed by an ordinary sized family 
the year round. ‘The hens should not be 
mongrels, however, but chosen from among 
those breeds which are well known as prolific 
layers, as, for instance, the White and the 
Barred eeu Rocks, the Brown and the White Leg- 
horns, the White and the Columbian Wyandottes, the Rhode 
Island Reds, the Black Minorcas and the Hamburgs. When 
a breed is being chosen, something will depend upon the 
color of the eggs desired, if 
one has any preference in 
dongle wegogee, Ila Jelhnone 
outh Rocks, Wyandottes 
and Rhode Island Reds lay 
brown eggs of large size. 
The Leghorns, Muinorcas 
and Hamburgs lay white 
eggs, those of the Ham- 
burgs being somewhat 
smaller than those of the 
other breeds, but produced 
freely. New York people 
will pay a premium for 
white eggs, while those 
from Boston prefer brown 
ones. As a matter of fact, 
there is no difference in the 
composition of the contents. 
Possibly the brown eggs 
may average a trifle larger 
than the white ones, but 
Minorca breeders probably 
Bated Plymouth Rock H Hen 
would quarrel with even that statement. It is a matter of 
greater importance to the amateur, perhaps, that some of 
the different breeders are inveterate “‘sitters,’’ while others 
practically never become broody. The American breeds, 
that is to say, the Plymouth Rocks, the Wyandottes and the 
Rhode Island Reds—the breeds which lay brown eggs, it 
will be observed—frequently become broody and desire to 
sit on their eggs. The Mediterranean breeds—the Leghorns, 
Minorcas and Hamburgs, which lay white eggs—seldom be- 
come broody. ‘This point must be considered, then. If the 
hens of the last named i 
breeds are kept, incubators . | 
and brooders must be re- 
sorted to when raising 
chicks, or else a few hens 
of the sitting breeds must 
also be kept to hatch the 
chicks. On the other hand, 
hens of the American class 
often become broody when 
chicks are not wanted, and 
must be “broken up.”’ There 
is still another practice, 
however, which many ama- 
teurs are now following— 
that is, the buying of day- 
old chicks in the spring. 
Professional poultrymen in 
many sections make a busi- 
ness of hatching chicks for 
amateurs. ‘They are ship- 
ped as soon as hatched, and 
may be raised with but little 
‘Barred Spee Rock eae 
