Poulry.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 17 February 1911, Page 4

Poulry.

THE TWO HUXDREDvEGG HEN. This is the title of a little book written by an American parson, the. Rev. Edgar Warren. He deals ably with his subject, as the following extracts will show :— WHAT IS THE MAXIMUM EGG PRODUCTION PER HEX? "It is not natural for a hen to lay every day for any great length of time. Hens lay for the purpose of reproducing their kind. In tho state of nature, as in the state of somi-nature in which farmers' fowls are kept, a hen will lay a litter of eggs, and then proceed to incubate these eggs and raise her 'brood. She will lay for a litter before she stops as many eggs as she can comfortably cover with her own body—from eighteen to thirty. After this -litter is laid there will be a- rest. Even in artifi'ial conditions, with breeds where the tendency to broodine.ss has been largl.v eliminated, there conies a menopause or cessation of activity after the hen has laid a litter. Shemay not want to sit, but sho will rest 'before she lays again. Tn largo flocks those periods of repose will so alternate with periods of activity, that tho owner cannot count on more than a. HO pw cent, ogg production day after day. It would seem, therefore, that the egg production for a flock can nevor be raised much above ISO eggs a year per hen : and to roach this high level all conditions must be exceptionally favourable. FREAK HENS-HEXS TIT AT GRRATLY EXCEED THE AVERAGE. " Are all those stories about hens that lay 200 eggs a year mere fabrication? B.v no means. In a flock where- tho avorago egg production is, say, b")0 eggs a year, the trap , nest will show that some liens will lay as high as 250 eggs, while others will lay not over'two dozen. The hens thai greatly exceed or greatly fall below tlve average are freak hens, and not normal specimens. Fn either case it .will hardly pay to breed, from them.

''Sr>mc of the stories of enormous egg production, however, nrc to bo received not cum grano salis (with a grain of salt), but with a whole barrel of that article. Nature fak-

irs are not confined to tibo men who write about the habits of wild animals ; there are representatives in the ranks of poultry keepers. The trap nest does not always tell the truth. A hen sometimes pets credit for eggs she does not lay. JVggs found on the floor are credited whore they will do the most good. And some of Lthe marvellous egg reetords which adorn the columns of poultry papers are products of Ihe imagination—fairy talcs, pure and simple. The two hundred egg hen has arrived ; the two 'hundred egg strain is yet a. long way off.

"When a hen lays 180 eggs a year —an egg for every other working day—she is going some, and is pretty near thehead of the column. As a goneral thing, where n man claims an average of more than 180 eggs a year from a flock, his claim needs substantiation.

THE SECRET OF HEAVY EGG PRODUCTION.

" It is not heredity, although heredity is an indispensable clement. Mon do not gather grapes from thorns, nor figs from thistles. It is not "environment, although environment is a. contributing factor. "What is it? Tt is early moulting. The hen which is to mi'ke n big o< vr - record must bave twelve months to do it in. If the time is .shortened the egg production will corresponding!v fall off.

Suppose a pullet is hatched in October and bogius to lay the latter part of Ma roll. She will get under full steam before fold weather. and she is easily broken up. In October and November the pause is larger and flic brood iness more persistent. With the coming of hot weather the hen grows .somewhat sluggish, and want- to rest frequently. In February or March the lion oease.s to lay nnd boffins to moult. She has been "laying a lone: time and needs a period of recuperation.

"And this explains why the bigger broods do not lay r> ir.any eggs in the year as the smaller—it takes them longer to got nt it. After they get .started they (five a nood ■account of themselves. Tn laying competitions Leghorns have sometimes been distanced by Li-fht BraHi mas, or other heavy birds. But it is probable that in. twelve months the Leghorn will lay the more eggs.

"The first year is the best year for the pullet that gets to laying in March or April, because she a long time in which to do her work. The second year she will have, i.ofc over seven months, and although she may lay well in that time she cannot 'compete with the pnlle that lias the whole twelve months for the working period. THE XEMTCSTS OF HEAVY EGG PRODUCTION. . "We cannot get anyting in this world without paying the prie-!. Tn heavy egg production there is always a toncleney to .smaller eggs and to eggs with white shells. rho Leghorn, the natural can- producer, lays a. egg. And as a, bird approximates the Leghorn size and Leghorn colour; and the bird herself displays a tendency to revert to the Leghorn type. EGGS SHOULD BE SOLD BY WEIGHT. "The. only fair way for producers and consumers alike is to sell eggs iby weight. There is often the- difference of half a Tjoiind between the weight of one> dozen oggs and the weight of another dozen. And yet they both sell for the same price. Tin's is wrong. Forty-five cents a dozen for fresh eggs seems a proh ibitivo price to many, but should the eggs sell at thirty cents, a pound the customer would at once see that he was paying no more for eggs than for steak and be more likelv to buv.

Then if e.ees were .sold hy the pound it would often be found, that the hen ■that laid only 120 os;a;,s a year was fully as profitable a" proposition as the lien that laid 180 or more."