The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1908-09-01
HOW MANY EGGS WILL A HEN
LAY?

LAY1
Here is what the noted authority,
Prof Graham, said recently to the
students of the Ontario Agricultural
College at Guelph:
81 find it very difficult matter to
get an accurate idea of the number of
eggs that the average hen in the
province of Ontario produces in year.
| am very much inclined to believe
that the average hen does not pro-
duce 80 eggs in IL months. | believe
the average hen at the average exper-
iment station does not produce ITO
eggs per year. One would expect that
at the various experiment stations and
colleges which are scattered over the
United States and Canada they would
get probably as good an average pro-
duction as on the poultry farm. They
have many conditions present which
are not present on the average farm,
and they have other conditions that
are probably more favorable. Consid-
erng all things, we should get some
where near the average production at
the experiment station.
| have come to the conclusion that
the average production is somewhere
about 100 eggs. At the Maine station
they had a production of 120 eggs per
hen on an average. They have been
working on the trap nest system for a
number of years, and as far as | know,
their record last year was 1874 eggs per
hen which means that they had gain
of about IA eggs per hen over earlier
records. l think that you can produce
wonderful improvement by selection
in the first one or two years, and after
that progress becomes slow. You
must have a great many conditions
favorable to make advancement. From
what Prof. Gowell has told me, they
had not used any males in their
breeding pens that have not been pro-
duced from hens that produce 200
eggs per hen per year. All the hens
in their breeding pens have been bred
from hens that laid 160 eggs per year,
SO they might be termed strong pro-
ducers. No hen is used for breeding
purposes until after her egg record
has been known for twelve months.
Professor Gowell, of the Maine Elk
pertinent Station, has been carrying
on a series of experiments for the
purpose of extending the annual lay
ing period of hens, and in the course
of these experiments has come upon
some interesting discoveries. His re-
port has just been made public and
is arOusing much interest among sci
entists as we'll as poultry raisers
throughout the United States.
Starting with the fact that there is
no known biological reason why the
maximum rate of laying should be one
egg per day or why the number of
eggs per year should be limited to a
few broods, he assumed that the limit
in either case would depend upon the
ability of the individual to aSsimilate
and transform the material taken as
food into the materials from which eggs
are formed. He therefore kept a daily
record of the individual hens by means
of trap nests, which admitted them,
but closed and locked automatically
as soon as they were inside and pre-
vented their getting out until taken
out, and also prevented any other hen
getting into the nest while they were
there. All the hens were tagged with
number, to prevent any mistake in
Identification. BY this meansShe dis
covered that the average healthy hen
will lay from 215 to 225 eggs per year.
In this way also he proved that hens
will sometimes lay more than one
egg a day.
Early in February, 1906, a pullet
white Wyandotte) that had recently
begun laying apparently laid two eggs
day. Professor Gowell was amazed,
and, although it seemed clear case,
he took every means of proving the
fact before he recorded this surpris-