American Agriculturist, August 9, 1924 
95 
Culling the Setters and Moulters 
The Worst Loss in Any Poultry Flock is Through Poor Producers' 
By L. H. HISCOCK 
T HE summer months are the months 
of declining egg yield and profit in 
the hen house; they are likewise the her breast bone and a narrow back, 
foundation months for the chicks that There is one other point that may help 
will be raised next year. The strain of a you. Often birds of this type have an 
year of laying begins to tell, and the best overhanging eyebrow; the texture of the 
birds in the flock stand out, showing up comb is sometimes course and leathery, 
the poorer ones that have not been able to It is a good plan to band setting birds 
stand the pace. Hens are beginning to with different colored bands. By starting 
moult, hens are setting, the entire flock in the spring you can keep a history of 
begins to look ragged, but now is the every setter from beginning to end. Put 
time to give the flock a culling. A few a red band on for the first set, a green 
you save will pay you for the time now 
while the extra eggs will be the dividends 
from the chicks you hatch next spring. 
minutes of observation every day will do 
much to lay a good foundation for spring 
next year. There are so many signs and 
symptoms, it is an easy matter to read a 
hen’s fortune during this season. 
Generally speaking the flock will repre¬ 
sent two classes of birds: those still 
laying and those not laying, but in this 
“Depth between the back and breast bone at the rear of the 
bird and breadth of back are two essential points to con¬ 
sider in culling birds.” 
band for the second set, etc. Such in¬ 
formation is valuable if you have enough 
birds. 
The Problem of the Moulter 
The other non-layers, which will be 
made up mostly of moulters, form another 
problem, especially if illumination has 
been used heavily dur¬ 
ing the winter. The 
use of artificial light 
seems to have a pecu¬ 
liar reaction on some 
birds; they may moult 
early, but they are apt 
to start laying early, 
too. As I said earlier 
in this article a good 
bird lays late, and the 
later she lays, the 
better bird she gener¬ 
ally is. The theory on 
the converse of this 
rule was that all early 
moulters were no 
good. It was supposed 
that an early moult 
began in June and 
shed her feathers very 
slowly to resume lay¬ 
ing again in January 
whereas the late 
layer shed her feathers in October all at 
once and was back on the job also in 
January or the fore part of February. It 
certainly is true that late layers moult rap¬ 
idly but so do some birds that start early. 
As a result it does not pay to discard a 
bird simply because she is a moulter; she, 
too, should be checked according to the 
measures of breast and back. 
The worst loss in any poultry flock is 
through poor producers. There is abso¬ 
lutely no use in keeping a bird that cart 
lay only a few eggs at best because her 
feed bill and labor bill is just the same as 
the good producer. If someone offered 
you a hundred hens that were capable of 
laying one hundred and twenty-five eggs 
a piece and one hundred that were capable 
of laying one hundred eggs each, and you 
had your choice, you would naturally turn 
down the hundred egg birds. And yet, 
that is precisely the situation in a good 
last classification come setters, moulters, 
and birds out of condition, such as setters 
that have been broken up and birds that 
are in poor physical condition. The lay¬ 
ing bird is easy to pick by her red and 
soft comb and by her plumage, which may 
be somewhat rough but shows no signs of 
coming out or moulting. It is also quite 
safe to assume that the bird that lays late 
'is a good bird. In fact, the later she lays 
in the fall the better she is apt to be, 
because when she gets around to moulting 
she will moult rapidly. 
No Profit in Setters 
In the no.n-laying class of birds, the 
setter and the moulter deserve special 
attention. It is natural for a hen to set, 
and it does not mean that a hen is a poor 
producer just because she goes broody, 
but there are certain hens that are poor 
producers that set almost perpetually. 
For instance I had a leghorn turn broody many poultry flocks to-day. The chance 
the first week in February. As I was to add a good many eggs to your annual 
anxious to test some hatching eggs I set production is there. Fifteen minutes of 
her. She stayed with her chicks until the daily observation, not more, probably 
first of April when I put a special band on less, is the price required, and the feed 
her leg and let her go. She picked up 
rapidly and layed a few eggs. May first 
she wsfs ready to set again. I was pretty 
certain she would because she was a poor 
bird; that is she did not have the capacity 
for laying. Her breast bone curved up 
toward her back, and her back was very 
narrow. In other w'ords she had all the 
marks of a poor producer. Doubtless she 
would have set a couple of more times 
during the summer if we had wanted to 
bother with her. This is, therefore, an 
example of a good bird. On the other 
hand when a broody hen shows up on the 
nest late in the summer or even early, it 
does not pay to dispose of them just for 
that reason; they should be tested out for 
their capacity. 
The Frame and Eye as Indicators 
Earlier in the year I spoke about the 
selection of breeding birds. Depth be¬ 
tween the back and breast bone at the 
rear of the bird and breadth of back are 
two essential points to consider in culling 
birds. As I said above, the perpetual 
setter will generally have an up pitch to 
Eggs Need More Advertising 
C. S. Phelps 
P ROBABLY no one line of farm prod¬ 
ucts has been so little advertised 
as eggs. Every family uses eggs and so 
we often assume that everybody knows 
that eggs are good and wholesome food. 
All foods, how r ever, should be judged not 
alone for their nutritive value but for their 
relative values. Some housekeepers con¬ 
sider eggs as an extravagant means of 
lightening a cake and forget that where 
three or four eggs are used to a cake, they 
add so much real food value over w r hat one 
or two would give, instead of only adding 
lightness. You often hear a supposedly 
frugal housewife argue that she never 
uses over two eggs in a cake because to 
use more is to be extravagant. 
The selection and grading of eggs 
according to standards of size and fresh¬ 
ness is now doing much to call the atten¬ 
tion of the public to the added value of 
“strictly fresh selected eggs.” I recently 
saw, in the window of a fancy restaurant, 
an appealing advertisement evidently 
furnished by the poultryman wdio supplied 
the restaurant with fresh eggs. A neat 
sign with raised letters on display in the 
window read, “Crystal Lake Poultry 
Farm furnishes our strictly ^ fresh eggs 
used for poaching and boiling.” 
Eggs like milk are almost 100 per cent, 
digestible when eaten in the raw state or 
slightly cooked, and thus if rightly used 
can be assimilated by almost anyone. 
Perhaps the best way to compare nutri¬ 
tive values is by estimating w’hat can be 
bought in the way of real nutrient for a 
fixed sum of money. In our nearest city 
the following portions of animal foods 
have very nearly the same market value 
at retail, that is, 38 to 40 cents each— 
one dozen eggs, 3 quarts of milk, 1 pound 
of loin steak, 1 pound leg of lamb, and 1 
pound of fowl. 
At the market value of forty cents a 
dozen eggs will furnish more real nutri¬ 
ment than other common foods such as 
beef, lamb, and chicken when these meats 
can be bought for 40 cents a pound. 
Milk, only, on a market value of 13 cents 
a quart, will furnish more real food value 
than 40 cents worth of eggs. This is due 
mainly to the milk sugar as the other two 
important nutrients are furnished in 
nearly the same quantities as in the case 
of eggs. . 
What is needed is more effort to ad¬ 
vertise the food value of eggs and es¬ 
pecially the importance of buying strictly 
fresh eggs. _ 
The First Laying Pullet 
M R. H. F. WARNER, proprietor of 
the Belmore Poultry Farm, Bel- 
more, Long Island, writes that he gathered 
his first 1924 pullet egg on July 22. The 
pullet is 4 months and 3 days old. Who 
has a similar record? 
TIMES AND CUSTOMS CHANGE, 
BUT— 
Judge: [Uncle Rastus, you are charged 
with an attempt to break into Colonel 
Cabel’s chicken-coop. 
Rastus: No, sah, jedge, dat ain’t no 
chicken-coop no moah. Dat’s de Colonel’s 
distillery now, sah.— Life . 
Rat-Proofing 
' (Continued from page 91) 
For six weeks he evaded me—w’hen he 
saw me coming along the road, he would 
dodge into the bushes, as if looking for a 
bee-tree, or the tracks of some varment. 
At the post-office, he was always dili¬ 
gently and absorbedly reading his paper. 
Finally one day I caught him dead to 
rights in the road. 
“Whoa, Uncle Todd,” I said with 
cheerful neighborliness. “I want to see a 
rat-proof crib down at your lot one day 
before long. You’d better build one,” 
I warned him. “If you don’t—” 
Six weeks later Todd’s new rat-proof 
crib was completed and dedicated. Dad’s 
had been built and dedicated for more 
than two months. : 
BABY CHICKS 
Super-Quality July Chicks 
MATCHES JULY 29. AUG. S, 12 and 19 
Stickler’s Tancred-Barron Large Type 
ENGLISH S. C. WHITE LEGHORNS 
Pens headed by Tancred 285-egg line cock¬ 
erels and Lady Storrs 271-egg line cocks and 
cockerels, mated to hens bred for extra 
heavy egg production. PRICES: $8.00 ner 
100; $38.00 per 500; $75.00 per 1000 by Spe¬ 
cial Delivery Parcel Post Prepaid. 100% live delivery 
guaranteed. 10 % books order. 
LEONARD F. STRICKLER SHERIDAN, PA. 
BABY CHICKS 
BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCKS_$9 per 100 
RHODE ISLAND REDS.$10 per 100 
S. C. WHITE LEGHORNS.$7 per 100 
MIXED CHICKS.$6 per 100 
Prompt Shipment Live Delivery Guaranteed 
NITTANY VALLEY HATCHERY '* 
Box 102 BELLEFONTE, PENNA. 
LONG’S GUARANTEED CHICKS 
Rocks, $S per 100; Wyandottes. $11 per 
100; Leghorns, $7 per 100; Mixed, 
$6 per 100. Reductions on large 
amounts. Good, lively. Free Range 
CHICKS, carefully selected. Delivery 
guaranteed. 
Catalog 
LONG’S RELIABLE HATCHERY 
R. D. Long, Mgr., Box 12, MILLERSTOWN, PA. 
BABY CHICKS 
Per 100 
Per 500 
ASSORTED CHICKS. 
. . $6.50 
$30.00 
S. C. WHITE LEGHORNS. . 
. . 7.00 
32.50 
BARRED ROCKS. 
. . 8.50 
40.00 
BUFF ROCKS. 
. . 9.50 
45.00 
R. I. REDS. 
. . 9.50 
45.00 
S. L. WYANDOTTES, a limited amount, at 12c each. 
100% safe arrival guaranteed. Parcel post paid. 
The Richfield Hatchery, Box 166, Richfield, Pa. 
FREE RANGE STOCK 
Mixed Stock .... $7 per 100 
S. C. W. Leghorns $8 per 100 
Barred Rocks. ... $9 per 100 
Postage Paid. Live Arrival 
Guaranteed. 
JUNIATA POULTRY FARM, RICHFIELD, PA. 
BABY CHICKS 
S. C. Rhode Island Reds... 11 els. each 
Barred Plymouth Rocks ... 10 cts. each 
S. C. White Leghorns. 8 cts. each 
Mixed or off Color. 7 cts. each 
These chicks are all hatched from free range stock. Safe de¬ 
livery and satisfaction xuaranteed. Descriptive booklet free. 
W. A. LAUVER, 
McAlisterville, pa. 
Chick Price Smashed 
Order from this Ad. 
Mixed and Assorted, 100, $7 I S. C. W. Leghorns, 100, $8 
S. C. B. Rocks.100, $10 l S. C. R. I. Reds.. 100, $10 
Live arrival guaranteed. - Delivery free. 
TROUP BROS., R.D.No.3, MILLERSTOWN, PA. 
BABY CHICKS, 
that are hatched 
to grow.. Barred 
Rocks 15c, Buff 
Rocks 17c, Reds 16c, S. C. White and Brown Leg¬ 
horns 13c, Mixed 10c. Prepaid 100% live deliv¬ 
ery guaranteed to your door. For quick service 
order direct from this ad. or write for circular. 
J. W. KIRK, Box 55, McAIisterville, Pa. 
D A DV rUIY From heavy laying free range flocks. 
DAD I U11A s. c. White Leghorns, 100, $7; S. C. 
Brown Leghorns, 100, $7; Barred Rocks, 100, $9; 9. C. 
R I. Reds, 100, $10; Broilers or Mixed Chix, 100, $6.50. 
Special prices on 500 and 1,000 lots. 100% prepaid safe 
delivery guaranteed. Address 
J. N. NACE, Box 30, RICHFIELD, PA. 
II 
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