Vol. LXXIII. No. 4275. 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 3, 1914. 
WEEKLY $1.00 PER YEAH. 
A 
SELECTING THE LAYING HEN. 
How To Look For Breeders. 
RULE-OF-TIIUMB METHOD.—In The R. N.-Y. 
of August 29 Mr. Loo A. Mapes asks an impor¬ 
tant ques- 
tlian applying intelligence anil common sense. In 
the handling of such live stock as hens and cows, 
whose product depends so largely upon right condi¬ 
tions and right foods rightly used, there must be in¬ 
telligence and common sense applied for best results; 
tion, the an¬ 
swer to which 
may he of de¬ 
cided help to 
busy fa rmers. 
He writes: 
It seems to 
me that there 
should be some 
rule - of - thumb 
method whereby 
the busy farm¬ 
er - poultryman 
could pick out 
his best laying 
hens for breed¬ 
ers. My idea is 
that there ought 
to be some char¬ 
acteristic traits 
and habits of 
good layers, al¬ 
though it seems 
to be disproved 
that there is any 
uniform physi¬ 
cal type. I wish 
you would sub¬ 
mit the follow¬ 
ing points to 
some of the ob¬ 
servant trap- 
nest operators, 
for comparison 
with their find¬ 
ings according 
(o the records, 
if anything defi¬ 
nite along these 
lues can be de¬ 
termined, i t 
would be valua¬ 
ble to many of 
us. I believe 
that a hen hav¬ 
ing these traits 
•should be an ex- 
t ra good layer, 
or, at least, ex¬ 
tra profitable. 
(1) A hen 
that lays during 
Fall and Early 
Winter. (2) A 
late inolter. (8) 
< )ue that lays 
during m o 1 t. 
(4) One that is 
active and al¬ 
ways next to 
the feed pail. 
Hood eater. (5) 
Not much given 
t o broodiness. 
(6) One late to 
roost. 
Likewise, that 
these traits in¬ 
dicate a poor 
one: 
(1) A poor 
eater. (2) One 
lazy and slug¬ 
gish. (3) A 
wild one. One 
that scoots 
around the far¬ 
thest corner 
when you ap¬ 
pear. (4) One 
f r e quent 1 y 
. 
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broody. (5) One 
not laying in 
Fall and early 
W i u t e r. (6) 
One going early to roost and not coming at the feed 
• •all. All of these po.nts with due allowance for the 
breed and condition at different seasons. 
The phrase, ‘‘rule-of-thumb,” is unfortunate in this 
connection, as its meaning is somewhat like that of 
"main strength and stupidness,” which my father 
was apt to apply to certain ways of doing things, 
and both imply the use of physical strength rather 
HURRAH! MY SISTERS ARE AHEAD AT THE EGO-LAYING CONTEST 
just simple rule-of-thumb won’t do! It needs science 
RULES OF SELECTION—There are three meth¬ 
ods of selecting the best layers, to be used later as 
breeders, and the first and best is the intelligent use 
of the trap-nest all the year around; the trap-nest 
record is dependable, it is absolutely certain. There 
is no doubt whatever about the frap-nest being the 
best method of selecting the greatest layers. The 
second method is to use the trap-nest for six or 
seven months of Fall and Winter, and that use of 
the trap-nest for the first half of the poultry year 
gives us a pretty good showing of a hen’s laying 
ability. This 
point wasn’t 
given due con- 
sideration 
when the ques¬ 
tion was put up 
to Mr. Barron 
at Storrs. Mr. 
Barron is so 
thorough him¬ 
self, in his trap 
nesting and leg¬ 
banding, that 
any half-way 
measures don’t 
appeal to him 
The question 
had to be re¬ 
peated in order 
to get his con¬ 
sideration, and 
when repea ted 
he hesitatingly 
answered 
“W by, of 
course, a six- 
months’ trap 
nesting is bet 
ter than not 
trap-nesting at 
all, but the 
whole year's 
record is so 
much better, is 
so much safer. 
No, I wouldn’t 
advise the six- 
months’ trap 
nesting!” 
TRAP-NEST 
I N G SIX 
MONTHS. 
—That means 
that he did not 
give the ques¬ 
tion consider 
ation from the 
busy farmer- 
poultry m a n’s 
standpoint; he 
considered it 
solely from the 
standpoint of 
the poultry 
man. No w, 
there are ven 
good reasons 
why a six- 
months’ trap¬ 
nesting is de¬ 
cidedly helpful 
in selecting the 
great layers 
for future breeders. The birds which are the great 
layers are certain to be late Fall and Winter layers, 
and if is equally certain that the birds which are 
not late Fall and Winter layers are not great layers 
at all. hence the six or seven 1110111118 * use of the trap- 
nest pretty well tells us which birds to select for 
breeders. So true is it that the great layers are eer 
*r 
F 10 . 519. 
