Vol. LXIV. No. 2916. 
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 16, 1905 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PMi YEAR. 
THE SHAPE OF THE LAYING HEN. 
Not a Safe Guide for Selection 
Last week Mr. Manchester discussed the shape and 
outward appearance of the dairy cow. It is well known 
that a man who is familiar with cattle can pick out 
good milkers by looking at them and feeling of their 
BROWN LEGHORN (200 Eggs—4 Years). Fig. 402. 
hide. A certain shape of back, body, udder, etc., seems 
to be necessary in order that the cow may have strong 
constitution, and the ability to digest large quantities 
of food and turn it into milk. A cow with this par¬ 
ticular shape well developed is the best one to breed 
from, because she is surest to give them to her off¬ 
spring. Some poultrymen claim that there is a so- 
called “egg type” in poultry—that is, the extra good 
layer will carry a certain shape and outward character 
quite as distinct as that of the dairy cow. Others go so 
far as to claim that every hen contains GOO embryo eggs, 
and that some individuals have power to produce 400 or 
more of them during the first two years of laying. 
The object of studying an “egg type” is to enable a 
poultry-keeper to select for layers only those hens 
which will lay the most eggs in two years. Anyone 
can see that the formation of a complete egg by a hen 
is a very different thing from making butter fat by a 
cow. The fat production is the more simple operation, 
WHITE LEGHORN (9 Eggs). Fig. 403. 
yet the “dairy shape” does not always prove a true 
guide. There are cases where the use of a Babcock 
test has shown that well-shaped cows were pretty close 
to robbers—“living on their shape In like manner the 
“trap nest” has shown that the true “egg type” in a hen 
is often inside the feathers, and not indicated by the 
size of the head, the length of the neck or body, or the 
general shape. A trap nest may be called a Babcock 
test for a hen. The nest is so arranged that when the 
hen enters she closes the entrance and must stay there 
with her egg until released. As each hen is numbered 
on a leg band, and cannot get out of the nest without 
help it is possible to identify every egg she lays. By 
her number on the egg the breeder can identify her 
chicks and thus keep their pedigree. Some careful tests 
of this sort were conducted at the Utah Experiment 
Station by Prof. James Dryden. We give herewith pic¬ 
tures of some of the hens, so that those who believe in 
WYANDOTTE BULLET (104 Eggs). Fig. 404. 
selecting hens by outward appearance may study them. 
Fig. 405 shows a Wyandotte pullet that laid 207 eggs 
in one year. These eggs weighed 29 pounds four 
ounces. This bird was smaller than the average, but 
laid a large egg. She would he called a good Wyan¬ 
dotte. Mr. Cosgrove of Connecticut picked her out at 
once as a better layer than the pullet shown at Fig. 401. 
This one was fed and cared for exactly like the other, 
and has the so-called “wedge shape,” which some 
WYANDOTTE BULLET. (207 Eggs). Fig. 405. 
breeders claim indicates a good layer. Yet this pullet 
laid only 104 eggs during the year, weighing 12J^ 
pounds. Thus a pullet which, from her shape, many 
breeders would select as the better layer gave'only half 
as many eggs and but little over 40 per cent of the 
weight given by the other pullet on similar feed. It is 
easy to see what a difference would he made in a flock 
of 100 or more if we could always pick out the birds 
that lay 200 or more. Fig. 411 shows another Wyan¬ 
dotte that laid 204 eggs in a year. She was found dead 
in the pen after laying the last egg. This is a good 
type of Wyandotte, though straighter in the back than 
most fanciers desire. The hen shown at Fig. 409 laid 
226 eggs in a year—the picture being taken “after the 
war;” that is when she was worn out and rough from 
this severe strain. It is interesting to note that this 
hen’s mother laid 190 eggs in a year. She is also one of 
BROWN LEGHORN (700 Eggs—4 Years). Fig. 406. 
five sisters which averaged 190 eggs each. The Barred 
Plymouth Rock shown at Fig. 408 laid 212 eggs in her 
first year and 181 in her second year. The Wyandotte 
shown at Fig. 412 has a record of 226 eggs in a year, 
and is a vigorous, lively hen, deep and broad in the 
body, as breeders like to see. A great contrast is shown 
in the two White Leghorns. The one at Fig. 407 laid 
199 eggs in a year, and is the mother of several 200-egg 
hens, and also of cockerels which seem to have trans¬ 
mitted, in some degree, her egg-laying capacity. As 
will be seen this excellent hen is long in body and heav¬ 
ier than the average. As a contrast to this take the 
hen pictured at Fig. 403. She laid only nine eggs a 
year, though eating as much as the others. She lacks 
vigor, and was dumpy instead of being active. She was 
doubtless one of these hens that squat on the roost while 
others are at work in the litter. The contrast between 
WHITE LEGHORN (199 Eggs). Fig. 407. 
the Brown Leghorns is greater still. Fig. 406 has the 
world’s record, so far as known. She laid 201 the first 
year, 241 the second, 126 the third and over 100 the 
fourth. On the other hand, Fig. 402 kept in the same 
pen and of course fed and cared for in the same wav, 
laid only 200 eggs in the four years or less than one- 
third as many as the other. It is a singular thing that 
