Vol. LXXIII, No. 4207. 
NEW YORK, AUGUST S. 1014 
WEEKLY $1.00 PER YEAR. 
s 
MAKING COMMERCIAL POULTRY PAY. 
Getting Rid of Drone Hens. 
ELECTING LAYERS.—After the high Spring 
egg production on large commercial poultry 
plants where White Leghorns are kept, there 
are always a number of hens and laying pullets that 
are not paying their board. This is the time for 
the first selection of all laying stock. I usually make 
this selection about the first week in Jhne. The 
hens culled out are either broody, starting to molt, 
or have just stopped laying, and should be sold 
at once for the following reasons: In April and May 
any hen that becomes broody is sold. Broodiness 
is a character not wanted on commercial poultry 
plants, as hens do not produce while broody. Also, 
no hen that has been broody should be 
used as a breeder. This character 
should be bred out as much as possible. 
UNDESIRA B L E CHARAC¬ 
TERISTICS.—Broody Leghorns may 
be cured, but the egg organs have be¬ 
come absorbed to such an extent that 
it would take three weeks or mo're 
to get the hens back in good laying 
condition, and after they are laying 
again, the profit from the Summer 
eggs they would lay will not, in most 
cases, pay for the food eaten while 
broody and labor curing broodiness. 
EARLY MOLTING.—An early molt¬ 
ing hen is always a poor producer. 
Early molting shows the hen has not 
the vitality that is necessary to make 
a high yearly egg production. As it 
takes a hen SO to 104 days to 
complete the molt, she is being carried 
through the Summer at a loss. Any 
hen that starts to molt before the first 
of September should never be used as a 
breeder. Here at Broad Brook Farm 
I do not keep any hen that starts to 
molt before the last of September. 
OTHER QUALITIES.—In all plants 
there are a number of hens that break 
down or just stop laying. These should 
be sold at once. Other very important 
factors in selecting and breeding are 
size, weight and shape of hens and 
cockerels. If one selects and breeds 
for egg production only, and does not 
consider these factors, he will in time 
defeat his own purpose. Here when I 
made my final selection of breeding 
stock, in November 1913, no hen that 
did not weigh 3% pounds and over, or 
cockerel 4*4 pounds and over was kept. 
This year I shall make the standard 
even higher, thus increasing weight. 
HEAVY FOWLS DESIRABLE.—By raising only 
large and heavy Leghorns, the broody, molting and 
other cull hens can be sold at top market prices 
alive in New York City; whereas small hens sell 
considerably under top prices. This factor makes 
a great difference in the year’s profit account. From 
my experience, the large Leghorns properly bred and 
selected will produce as well as the small ones, and 
they certainly are more profitable on a commercial 
plant. 
SUMMER SELECTION.—Not only should all lay¬ 
ing stock be gone over the first week in June, it also 
should be gone over in July, August, September, Oc- 
be 
made in November. All cockerels should be sold just 
as soon as the breeding season is over, not only 
to save feed, but to have only sterile eggs to sell 
during the Summer. 
RESULTS OBTAINED.—I will give you an ex¬ 
ample of the results of this method of constant se¬ 
lecting of laying stock: On June first we had here 
1962 laying hens in our long house; egg production 
927 eggs. Between June first and tenth we sold 
410 hens; after the tenth 124 more, making a total 
culled out and sold of 534. To these must be added 
15 that died in June, leaving in the long house, July 
1. altogether 1413 laying hens. Total egg produc¬ 
tion for June 25,599; average daily production, June, 
853 eggs. Egg production July first 910 eggs. Be¬ 
tween July first and fifteenth sold 100 hens. The 
over. 
Date 
January . 
February 
March .. . 
April .... 
May . 
J une 
July 1-20. 
each weighing 
? 4 y 2 
pounds 
an 
jl.AYI no 
Kgg Pro- 
Daily Av- 
Per 
Stock 
DUCTION 
ERAGE 
CENT. 
. 2441 to 2398 
10150 
327.4 
13.5 
. 2398 to 2349 
17574 
627.6 
26.4 
. 2349 to 2298 
36004 
1161.4 
49.9 
. 2298 to 2196 
41536 
1384.5 
61.6 
. 2196 to 1962 
38806 
1251.8 
60 
. 1962 to 1413 
25599 
853.1 
. 1413 to 1307 
15619 
822 
The percentage of egg production is figured on the 
number of hens, half way between the largest and 
smallest number for the month. This shows as a 
discredit to the hens as most all were sold before the 
15th of the month. Before June 10th over 400 were 
sold, so I have not figured the per cent of egg pro¬ 
duction for June. e. n. parsons. 
Westchester Co., N. Y. 
W 
tober, and the final selection of breeding stock 
SOME PROFITABLE YOUNG STOCK. Fig. 419. 
total egg production to July 20 was 15,619 eggs. 
Average daily 822 eggs. You see from the above 
that while the egg production has decreased each 
month as the Summer advances, the feed bills have 
decreased in proportion. Also, by selling so early 
in the season the price per pound was always two 
to three cents higher. This method I have used for 
a number of years with the same excellent results. 
Keeping down expenses is a most important factor 
in making a plant pay. 
Egg production for 1914, January to July 20: 
On hand January 1, 1914, 750 selected, late-molting, 
breeding hens each weighing 3*4 pounds and over. 
1691 laying pullets. Total laying stock 2441 hens. 
A DISCUSSION OF LIGHTNING. 
"HAT IT 18.—Nature furnishes 
few more awe-inspiring and 
spectacular demonstrations of 
her tremendous natural forces than in 
the zig-zag forks of lightning which 
dart across the clouds of a sultry Sum¬ 
mer sky; nor is their awful effect les¬ 
sened by the crashing and rolling of 
the thunder which accompanies them. 
The phenomena attending these dis¬ 
charges from nature’s huge storage 
batteries are not yet fully understood, 
though they have been the subject of 
much study. Fortunately, however, we 
have a better understanding of the 
methods of control of electrical energy 
than we have of its essential nature 
and electrical engineers present the 
somewhat peculiar spectacle of work¬ 
men rearing great structures with tools 
which they have never seen and whose 
form they do not know. We know that 
electrical energy is a force which ex¬ 
ists all about us in nature, and that 
bodies may be charged with it as a 
sponge may be saturated with water. 
The earth itself is one of these bodies, 
and the clouds floating above it are 
others. This electrical energy is a 
restless thing, ever in motion, and if it 
consents to remain stationary for the 
moment in some electrified body, it is 
always straining at its leash, ready to 
leap forth at the first opportunity. 
MANNER OF DISCHARGE.—Sev¬ 
eral ingenious theories have been ad¬ 
vanced to account for the storage of 
this energy in the clouds accompany¬ 
ing a thunder storm, and while none 
can be said to have been proven, we 
know that the energy is there; we know, also, that 
the earth is highly charged with the same element. 
Ordinarily these will be kept apart by the inter¬ 
vening atmosphere, for air is a poor conductor of 
electricity and it would prefer not to travel through 
it. The time may come, however, as it frequently 
does on a hot Summer afternoon, when the earth 
and overhanging clouds become so filled with this 
electric force that the tension of the stored energy 
becomes too great for the atmosphere to resist its 
passage, and seeking to restore the disturbed elec¬ 
trical balance between earth and sky, a charge of 
electricity of tremendous force darts from a black 
cloud to some point upon the earth’s surface. As 
