PEDIGREE BREEDING FOR EGG PRODUCTION. 
the number of eggs each hen lays. Fortunately 
we have at our disposition the automatic nest 
which will help us to accomplish this accurately. 
This valuable addition to the practical poultry- 
man’s needs has been severely criticised bv 
some, but its advantages cannot be overlooked 
and no real progress can be made without its 
use. By placing these trap nests in the pens 
it will be an easy matter to distinguish the best 
layers from the poorest. The members of the 
flock that do not lay enough eggs to pay a profit 
should be disposed of to the butcher. 
You can overcome the greatest drawback to 
trap nests by putting in the pens half as many 
nests as there are layers and placing them on a 
platform twenty inches above the floor. By 
this arrangement the work is reduced to a mini¬ 
mum and the hens have the advantage of using 
the whole floor space. By this plan you can 
gather the eggs with more ease and at a saving 
of fifty per cent, in time, as compared with nests 
that are under the drop boards. With this 
number of nests in the pens there will be no 
need of visiting them oftener than four times 
a day. 
If you use trap nests like the Ideal, which is 
easy of operation and well ventilated, you need 
not worry should your hens be confined in them 
a short time. It will not harm them a particle; 
neither will it induce them to become broody 
any sooner. Certain ones who condemn the use 
of trap nests because the}' would have us believe 
it is cruelty to so confine a hen, do not hesitate 
to keep fowls for days at a time in a show room, 
which really is the kind of confinement that is 
detrimental to their health. 
Keeping the Records. 
When your pens are equipped as advised 
above, the next thing to do is to place a leg band 
around one leg of each hen. These leg bands 
can be stamped with a number, letter, or both, 
then you are ready to begin record keeping. As 
you go the rounds of the nests, you release the 
hens confined in them, note their numbers on the 
leg bands, and mark each egg, or enter it at 
once on record sheets kept for the purpose. 
You may find some customers who object to 
having anything written on the eggs they buy; 
many grocers and merchants object to this. 
The only remedy is to enter the numbers on the 
egg record sheet, or on a small slate carried 
around by the attendant, and, later, enter them 
on the egg record sheets. If the eggs are wanted 
Cyphers Pedigree Trap Nest. 
for hatching, it will then become necessary to 
mark each egg. 
There is no need of complicated record keeping. 
The record sheets on which are written the 
number of each hen, and the dates on which she 
lavs, checked off. and a small book are all that 
are required. Every page of this book is ruled 
off in three sections, and in each of these is en¬ 
tered the number of one hen, her record, her 
dam’s record, and her sire’s dam’s record; 
also the number of each chick hatched from her 
eggs. When a chick dies, the letter D is written 
across its number. When we are ready to begin 
hatching each hen’s eggs are incubated separate¬ 
ly under a hen or placed in a compartment of a 
pedigree tray in the incubator. When the chicks 
are hatched, each one is marked by placing 
around one of its legs a small leg band. As they 
grow older these bands are changed for larger 
ones. 
Mating for Egg Production. 
One of the most important points in mating 
your pen for egg production, is the selection 
of the male birds, for we lean to the belief 
that it is through her sons that a great layer 
transmits her qualities. Use none but well 
developed, vigorous sons of your very best 
layer. Another equally important thing in 
selecting your breeders, is vigor. Choose only 
the most vigorous hens and cockerels. Vigor 
is the outward sign of a strong constitution, 
and a good layer must be strong and vigorous 
to enable her to digest and assimilate the food 
necessary to lay a large number of eggs. By 
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