84 
RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
January  20,  1023 
HOPE  FARM  NOTES 
“The  Little  Red  Hen” 
Part  II. 
Now,  where  these  pullets  come  from  or 
how  they  have  been  able  to  do  it,  I  cannot 
say.  They  have  thrust  momentary  great¬ 
ness  upon  us— let  us  make  the  most  of  it. 
I  have  learned  that  when  fame  or  "luck” 
gets  down  from  among  the  seats  of  the 
mighty  and  winks  as  you  take  her  chair 
the  thing  for  you  to  do  is  to  lose  no  time  in 
getting  there.  It  is  no  occasion  for  ac¬ 
cepting  the  advice  about  taking  a  back 
seat.  “Go  up  higher”  without  any  argu¬ 
ment.  She  who  confers  “greatness”  can 
quickly  change  her  mind.  I  know  that 
eight  weeks  represents  only  about  15  per 
cent  of  a  year.  There  are  309  days  more 
to  go,  and  I  shall  not  be  at  all  surprised 
to  lind  that  my  Red  pullets  turn  out  like 
Morvieh,  the  great  running  colt.  At  short 
races  he  beat  the  world  and,  very  wisely, 
his  owner  enjoyed  a  burst  of  glory  while 
he  could.  When  they  got  Morvieh  into 
a  longer  race,  “everything  beat  him.”  He 
was  a  “quarter  horse”  with  short  wind. 
Now,  I  am  feeling  that  my  pullets  will 
be  somewhat  like  that.  I  look  for  them 
to  go  strong  for  a  few  months  and  then 
quit.  Good  judges  of  a  hen  who  have 
looked  them  over  say  no,  that  they  are 
built  for  laying,  but  I  know  that  they 
haven’t  the  pedigree  and  inbred  laying 
qualities  back  of  them.  I  know  that  the 
birds  entered  by  Taylor,  Walker,  Under¬ 
hill,  Ferguson  and  others  have  been  def¬ 
initely  bred  and  selected  for  generations. 
I  think  “blood  will  tell”  in  the  end,  and 
while,  for  some  reason,  my  birds  got  a 
great  send-off,  it  does  not  seem  probable 
to  me  that  they  can  hold  the  pace.  If 
they  do  it  will  certainly  require  a  lot  of 
explaining  by  good  students  of  breeding. 
1  presume  you  have  seen,  as  I  have,  cer¬ 
tain  large  families  of  children  who  all 
showed  superior  intelligence.  They  all 
"did  well,”  as  people  say,  at  whatever  oc¬ 
cupation  they  took  up.  Usually  I  think 
these  remarkably  fine  families  do  not 
come  from  people  who  claim  long  pedi¬ 
grees  or  superior  breeding.  I  think  they 
are  more  likely  to  be  found  in  a  family 
where  some  man  of  “aristocratic”  blood 
marries  a  superior  girl  of  some  plain, 
sturdy  working  stock.  At  any  rate,  when 
we  find  such  a  family  we  are  interested  in 
studying  the  parents.  Who  are  they? 
Where  did  they  come  from?  What  are 
their  strong  characteristics?  Are  they 
alike  in  size,  shape,  intelligence  and  dis¬ 
position?  What  is  the  peculiar  “nick” 
of  selection  and  breeding  which  produced 
these  superior  childx-en?  In  like  manner, 
suppose  we  look  at  the  parents  of  my 
pullets. 
* 
As  most  of  you  know,  two  years  ago 
1  offered  to  enter  a  pen  of  20  Red  pul¬ 
lers  at  the  Westwood  contest.  In  order 
to  make  the  contest  more  interesting,  I 
had  20  women  each  send  me  their  favorite 
bird.  Thus  we  had  20  pullets  coming 
from  all  parts  of  the  country,  each  select¬ 
ed  by  her  owner.  There  were  no  definite 
rules  for  this  selection.  Some  women  no 
doubt  knew  about  “egg  type”  and  shape, 
while  others  evidently  picked  out  what 
seemed  to  them  the  handsomest  or  smart¬ 
est  bird.  Of  course  there  was  no  uni¬ 
formity  of  shape,  color,  size  or  character. 
They  ran  from  big  to  little,  aiid  from 
light  to  dark.  To  start  with,  no  expert 
hen'  man  would  ever  think  of  selecting 
such  a  pen  as  breeding  stock.  Ret  us  all 
understand  that  in  considering  jthe  par¬ 
entage  of  my  pullets.  These  hetis  were 
kept  tw'o  years — one  as  pullets.  The  sec¬ 
ond  year  12  of  the  best  were  selected  for 
breeding — I  furnished  a  cockerel  from 
my  own  stock.  Now,  let  us  see  what 
these  .12  hens  did  : 
Farmerette  . . . 
Duchess  . 
Lady  Mercer  .  . 
*  Olivia  . 
Green  Mt.  Girl 
Mahogany  Maid 
Queen  Pullet 
Miss  Beauty 
Rhoda  . 
Rosewood  . . 
Red  Wing  .. 
Ruth  Ann  . 
*  Died. 
were  laid  outside  the  nests. 
Now7,  if  you  were  breeding  a  pen  to 
enter  at  an  egg-laying  contest,  you  might 
possibly  select  Lady  Mercer.  Red  Wing 
and  Ruth  Ann  on  this  record.  Possibly, 
if  their  shape  seemed  right,  you  might 
include  Duchess,  Farmerette  and  Miss 
Beauty,  but  outside  of  these  the  record  is 
not  very  attractive,  though  I  have  no 
doubt  you  have  hens  in  your  flock  which 
do  not  equal  Rosewood  in  laying.  And 
vbu  will  understand  that  as  these  hens 
came  from  12  different  flocks  there  was 
no  uniformity  whatever  in  size,  color  or 
shape. 
$  *  *  *  * 
When  it  came  to  selecting  a  cockerel 
to  go  with  these  hens  I  was  puzzled. 
“The  sire  is  half  the  herd.”  and  surely 
these  hens  needed  a  heaping  half  to  make 
gbod  measure.  I  was  tempted  to  buy  a 
bird  known  to  be  from  a  hen  that  laid 
over  225  eggs  in  a  year.  He  would  have 
cost  about  $75.  and  might  or  might  not 
“take  after  his  mother.”  I  finally  decided 
to  take  a  bird  from  our  own  stock.  I  think 
the  strain  is  good,  and  here  was  a  chance 
to  prove  it.  So  I  went  nut  and  picked  up 
a  dark  red  cockerel  of  good  shape  and  sent 
him  along.  Some  of  his  daughters  are 
sux-ely  a  credit  to  him.  As  for  their 
mothers,  my  understanding  is  that  they 
are  bred  as  appears  in  the  following  table 
brought  down  to  December  31 : 
1st  Year  2d  Year 
Total 
124 
281 
....  139 
150 
289 
....  137 
185 
322 
. . . .  168 
.  ...  147 
98 
245 
3...  339 
130 
269 
. . . .  138 
110 
248 
. . . .  123 
161 
284 
.  .  .  .  140 
100 
240 
.  .  .  .  359 
21 
180 
. . . .  181 
116 
297 
....  194 
169 
363 
wo  years 
about  7f 
>  eggs 
Kkk 
Egg 
Pullet 
Yield 
Dam 
Yield 
l. 
Scarlet  Runner 
35 
Ruth  Ann  . 
303 
2. 
Anna  May.... 
35 
Lady  Mercer... 
322 
3. 
Flapper  . 
1 
Lady  Mercer... 
322 
4. 
Lonesome  .... 
0 
Ruth  Ann  . 
303 
o. 
Gay  Girl . 
28 
Lady  Mercer  ... 
322 
c. 
Itosie  . 
43 
Mahogany  Maid 
209 
7. 
Bonnie  . 
7 
Rosewood  . 
180 
8. 
Columbine  . .  . 
41 
Rosewood  . 
180 
9. 
Bed  Daughter. 
20 
Rosewood  . 
180 
10. 
27 
Ruth  Ann  . 
303 
11. 
Tip  ' . 
37 
Mahogany  Maid 
180 
12. 
Top  . 
24 
Lady  Mercer  ... 
322 
13. 
Marigold 
13 
Lady  Mercer  ... 
.  322 
14 
Verbena  . 
30 
Lady  Mercer  ... 
.  322 
15. 
Girlie  . 
2f> 
Rosewood  . 
.  180 
1(5. 
Primrose  . 
13 
17. 
Kobbob  . 
24 
18. 
Henrietta  .... 
14 
10. 
Betty  Bed  ... 
0 
20. 
Cornelia  . 
3 
It  seems  that  the  managers  of  the  con¬ 
test  were  unable  to  raise  more  than  15 
pullets  fi’om  this  pen,  so  I  added  five  of 
my  own  stock.  They  are  the  last  five  on 
the  list  and  were  entered  about  a  week 
behind  the  others.  They  were  not  so  well 
developed.  Thus  we  have  three  pullets 
from  Ruth  Ann,  six  from  Lady  Mercer, 
two  from  Mahogany  Maid  and  four  from 
Rosewmod.  It  is  too  early  yet  to  make 
any  real  comparison,  but  here  is  Flapper, 
own  sister  to  Anna  May,  and  Lonesome, 
full  sister  to  Scarlet  Runner.  Mahogany 
Maid  did  not  make  a  good  record,  but  look 
at  her  daughters.  I  should  have  selected 
this  bird  on  her  shape  and  appearance,' 
in  spite  of  her  record. 
Now  I  think  we  have  the  basis  here  for 
a  good  experiment.  Just  now  my  birds 
are  leading  the  race,  but.  frankly,  I  do 
not  expect  them  to  hold  the  lead,  and  I 
will  cheerfully  salute  the  winners,  no  mat¬ 
ter  who  comes  out  ahead.  There  are  100 
pens  at  Westw7ood,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
year  the  leaders  ranked  as  follows: 
Eggs 
1.  Pen  47  Leghorns . 53S 
2.  Pen  97  Leghorns .  4SS 
3.  Pen  7  Barred  Rocks .  476 
4.  Pen  90  Leghorns .  456 
5.  Pen  82  Leghorns .  435 
6.  Pen  33  Leghorns .  428 
7.  Pen  15  Reds .  415 
The  Ivegborns  are  usually  better  Win¬ 
ter  layers.  The  Reds  usually  come  up  in 
late  Summer  and  Fall.  My  best  10  pul¬ 
lets  laid  325  eggs  in  November  and  De¬ 
cember.  At  seven  cents  an  egg  that 
means  $22.75.  Yet  the  other  10,  full  half- 
sisters,  laid  only  90  eggs,  which  w7ould 
have  brought  $6.30.  And  five  of  them 
laid  only  seven  eggs,  which  meant  49 
cents.  So  you  see  this  hen  breeding  busi¬ 
ness  has  many  sides  to  it.  I  think  Flap¬ 
per,  Lonesome,  Betty  Red  and  other  low 
ones  are  to  decide  w7hether  I  enter  the 
Hall  of  Fame  or  stay  outside.  If  they 
are  natural  drones — good-night  to  my 
prospects.  If  they  are  just  waiting  to 
put  on  a  burst  of  speed  later — good 
morning,  gentlemen !  In  the  meantime, 
before  my  birds  are  headed,  I  may  tell 
my  girls  that  if  they  desire  to  win  exti-a 
recognition  they  may  tell  the  world  that 
they  are  wife  and  daughter  of  the  owner 
of  Rosie,  Columbine,  Tip  and  other  Red 
racers ! 
Before  I  end  let  me  add  another  thing 
which  I  have  discovered.  I  suppose  all 
men  are  requested  to  share  or  sell  their 
greatness.  It  is  quite  evident,  too,  that 
there  are  some  tricks  in  the  hen  business 
which  might  make  an  old-time  horse  jock¬ 
ey  envious.  I  am  told  that  while  my 
birds  are  “going  good”  I  ought  to  cap¬ 
italize  on  their  performance.  They  tell 
me  that  a  full  brother  of  Rosie  or  Col¬ 
umbine,  or  full  sister  of  these  best  birds, 
should  be  worth  $25  to  $50.  I  hear  that 
people  would  pay  such  prices  if  I  exer- 
•  cised  a  little  “salesmanship.”  Brothers 
and  sisters  of  these  good  birds  should 
be  as  numerous  as  the  sands  of  the  sea¬ 
shore  to  a  hen  jockey.  It  would  be  as 
easy  as  “rolling  off  a  log”  to  get  a  stock 
of  nice-looking  young  birds  and  sell  them 
as  close  relations  of  Rosie,  Anna  May 
and  the  other  good  ones.  I  am  assured 
that  this  has  actually  been  done.  I  can 
readily  see  what  a  dishonest  man  might 
do  if  he  were  not  closely  watched.  He 
could  quietly  get  together  a  lot  of  very 
superior  pullets  from  various  outside 
flocks,  enter  them  in  a  contest,  get  a  good 
record  and  then  sell  his  own  home  stock 
at  high  figures  on  the  strength  of  what 
his  selected  birds  have  done.  I  am  told 
that  this  has  been  done,  though  no  one 
will  locate  such  a  crooked  business  def¬ 
initely.  I  can  see  that  it.  is  quite  possible. 
As  for  me;  I  have  no  stock  for  sale  or  ex¬ 
change.  I  have  a  breeding  pen  of  good 
performers  at  the  Vineland  contest,  head¬ 
ed  by  a  nep’  ew  of  the  father  of  these 
pullets  at  Westwood,  but  there  is  nothing 
to  sell.  I  regard  the  Red  hen  as  an  hon¬ 
est  fowl.  Personally,  I  consider  her  about 
the  best  bird  that  walks  the  barnyard, 
when  we  consider  all  her  good  qualities, 
but  if  you  prefer  a  Leghorn  or  Rock  or 
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