PROFITABLE EGG FARMING. 
tested and discussed publicly for years, hence 
all that is necessary is to intelligently survey 
the field, decide what special merits one wants 
in a variety, and concentrate all one’s energies 
and ability upon the further development of 
those merits; he will then find that one life¬ 
time is all too short for him to accomplish his 
fullest ambition. 
We give in this and the following pages, illus¬ 
trations and brief descriptions of the most pop¬ 
ular egg-farm breeds, and the best combined egg 
and meat producers, the exigencies of space 
limiting our selection to those that the ex¬ 
perience of practical poultrymen approves as 
the best. We will consider the White Leghorns 
and Black Minorcas as the great egg producers, 
Single Comb White Leghorns. 
and the Barred,White and Buff Plymouth Rocks 
White and Buff Wyandottes, and Rhode Island 
Reds as the best combined eggs and meat 
varieties; with a brief mention of Orpingtons 
and Light Brahmas. 
Single Comb White Leghorns, the Most Popular 
Egg-Farm Breed. 
The White Leghorn is the popular egg-farm 
breed, especially on the large and highly suc¬ 
cessful egg-farms of New York State and New 
Jersey. They are prolific layers of good-sized, 
white eggs, non-sitters, mature early, and are 
especially hardy. They are of an active, ner¬ 
vous temperament and naturally great foragers, 
but do well in semi-confinement, excepting that 
it is somewhat difficult to confine them in yards; 
some Leghorn breeders find it necessary to 
cover over the tops of the yards with old fish¬ 
netting, to keep the male birds where they be¬ 
long. 
When bred with a special view to good size 
they are fair meat producers and in some parts 
of the country, particularly in Southern New 
Jersey, they are extensively bred for the produc¬ 
tion of squab-broilers^ broilers and small soft- 
roasters. As, however, the cockerels begin to 
grow “hard” very early, they must be fatted and 
marketed by the time they dress five to six 
pounds to the pair, and we need to keep in mind 
that while they can be thus made into profitable 
market poultry, they are first and always an 
egg-breed, and their market 
poultry value is of minor 
consideration. 
The White Leghorns are 
particularly attractive fowls, 
their clear white p 1 u m age, 
bright red combs and wattles, 
white earlobes, clear eyes, 
smooth, yellow legs, long, full 
tails, sprightly, active man¬ 
ner, and graceful carriage 
make them favorites with 
lovers of beautiful fowls. 
The Leghorns are non- 
sitters, hence do not trouble 
or annoy their owners by 
frequently becoming broody. 
This is of very great advantage 
to the egg-farmer, whose 
object is to produce guaran¬ 
teed fresh eggs, as there is 
no danger that a broody 
hen will snuggle down upon the eggs and 
start development of the germ of life before 
the eggs are collected. The greatest ad¬ 
vantage, however, is that egg-production is not 
interrupted by attacks of broodiness, and the 
Leghorn hen attends strictly to business with¬ 
out the owner having to be continually fussing 
with broody hens. Although naturally timid 
and very active, Leghorns can,with good care and 
judgment, be easily managed, and there is no 
need of their becoming “wild” birds. 
The egg-farmer keeping Leghorns, finds 
incubators and brooders a necessity for hatching 
and raising the stock, and this has a good effect 
on the disposition of the birds, for their natur¬ 
ally timid, nervous temperament is softened and 
22 
