Voi  .  LXXY.  NEW  YORK,  DECEMBER  9.  101(5.  X„.  4407 
Prize  Winners  at  the  Egg-laying  Contest 
Some  of  the  Results 
EXKEIT  TO  UTILITY  STOCK. — Great  interest 
1ms  developed  in  the  egg-laying  contest.  With¬ 
out  question  these  contests  have  been  of  great  ben¬ 
efit  to  utility  breeders.  They  have  helped  in  var¬ 
ious  ways,  perhaps  most  in  creating  a  definite  in¬ 
terest  in  selection,  breeding  and  care.  If  they  are 
continued  for  a  term  of  years,  we  feel  sure  that 
the  poultry  business  will  he  greatly  benefited.  The 
contest  in  Connecticut  closed  on  the  first  of  No¬ 
vember,  and  was  highly  successful.  There  was  a 
larger  average  of  eggs  than  ever  before,  and  some 
fine  individual  records  were  made.  Below,  on  this 
page  is  shown  a  picture  of  the  prize-winning  White 
Wyandottes  which  were  entered  by  Obed  G.  Knight. 
This  group  picture  was  taken  while  the  hens  were 
During  the  year  she  laid  286  eggs,  which  is  the 
highest  record  yet  made  at  Storrs.  While  the  Reds 
did  not  equal  some  of  the  other  birds  in  full  per¬ 
formance.  there  were  some  good  ones  in  this  con¬ 
test.  For  instance,  the  bird  shown  at  Fig.  591  laid 
200  eggs,  which  marks  her  as  the  best  Red  in  any 
of  these  Connecticut  egg-laying  contests. 
DETAILS  OF  CARE. — A  great  many  of  our 
readers  write  asking  details  about  this  contest, 
and  the  way  the.  birds  are  fed  and  cared  for.  They 
should  obtain,  if  possible.  Bulletin  87  of  the  Storrs 
Experiment  Station  at  Storrs  P.  O.,  Conn.  In  this 
bulletin  Prof.  W.  F.  Kirkpatrick  and  Leslie  E. 
Card  have  given  a  very  good  statement  about  the 
contest  of  1945.  The  details  of  the  contest  just 
closed  have  not  yet  been  printed,  but  this  bulletin 
gives  an  excellent  account  of  the  previous  contest, 
which  in  Its  management  was  the  same  as  the  one 
Standard  middlings  .  75 
Fish  scrap  .  45 
Beef  scrap  .  45 
Low-grade  flour  .  25 
SCRATCH  GRAIN. 
Pounds 
Cracked  corn  . ' .  60 
Wheat  .  60 
Heavy  white  oats  .  40 
Barley  . . .  20 
Kaffir  corn  . .  10 
Buckwheat  .  10 
FEEDING  METHODS. — The  mash  is  kept  before 
them  constantly  in  open  dishes,  so  that  they  may 
help  themselves.  The  hens  can  obtain  grit  and 
shells  at  any  time.  Formerly  the  grain  was  fed  in 
automatic  feeders,  but  that  plan  was  finally 
abandoned,  and  the  grain  is  now  scattered  in  the 
litter  where  the  hens  scratch  and  work  for  it. 
Green  feed  is  constantly  supplied  to  the  hens.  Dur- 
White  Wyandottes,  Winning  First  Place  in  the  Connecticut  Egg-laying  Contest  wilh  2265  Eggs  Fig.  589 
running  in  their  yard,  and  it  also  shows  the  type 
of  house  used  in  the  contest,  and  the  way  the 
houses  are  arranged.  These  10  birds  laid  2,265 
eggs  through  I  lie  year, 
FOUR  WINNING  BIRDS.— At  Fig.  590  is  shown 
the  best  White  Rock  which  was  ever  trap-nested  at 
Storrs  College.  This  hen  came  from  the  ilolliston 
TIill  Farm  in  Massachusetts  and  during  the  year 
she  laid  271  eggs;  surely  something  of  a  hen.  11  w- 
ever,  well  as  she  did,  there  were  two  others  that 
did  better.  The  bird  shown  at  Fig.  590  is  called 
the  best  Wyandot  I  o  ever  entered  at  this  contest. 
She  is  also  entered  by  Mr.  Knight,  and  is  one  of 
the  birds  shown  in  the  larger  picture.  During  the 
year  she  laid  281  eggs,  a  most  remarkable  show¬ 
ing  for  the  breed.  However,  she  fell  five  eggs  be¬ 
hind  the  bird  shown  at  Fig  592.  This  is  a  White 
Leghorn  owned  by  A.  I*.  Robinson  of  New  York. 
.just  ended.  The  bulletin  contains  so  much  boiled 
down  information  that  it  is  difficult  to  print  a 
mere  synopsis  of  it.  It  seems  that  there  were  1,000 
birds  in  the  contest,  and  they  weighed  214  tons,  or 
an  average  of  about  five  pounds  each.  During  the 
year  they  consumed  20  tons  of  dry  mash,  21  tons 
of  grains.  10  tons  of  mangel  beets,  and  about  2,500 
pounds  of  grit  and  shells.  It  required  12  tons  of 
siraw  lo  provide  them  with  litter;  they  provided  18 
tons  of  manure,  and  laid  between  9*4  and  10  tons  of 
eggs.  In  a  general  way  these  birds  are  constantly 
supplied  with  a  dry  mash  and  what  is  known  as  a 
mixture  of  scratch  grain.  The  dry  mash  is  com¬ 
posed  as  follows: 
Pounds 
Coarse  wheat  bran  .  200 
Cornmeal  .  100 
Gluten  feed  .  100 
Ground  oats  .  100 
ing  the  Winter  mangels  are  used  for  this  purpose. 
From  about  the  first  of  May  the  hens  run  in  the 
yards,  in  which  rye.  clover  and  grass  are  growing. 
When  tills  supply  is  exhausted  they  are  fed  rape 
and  Swiss  chard,  enough  of  this  crop  being  grown 
near  to  the  yards  to  give  a  supply.  Oat  straw  is 
used  as  litter.  The  managers  generally  plan  to 
keep  four  or  five  inches  of  reasonably  dry  straw 
on  the  floor.  They  claim  that  a  total  absence 
litter  is  to  be  preferred  to  a  litter  so  d 
becomes  damp.  The  birds 
records  are  kept.  Of 
laid  outside  the 
credited  to  the 
some  hens  are 
trap-nests  at 
and  probably 
laid  outside 
