The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-12-17
HENS OR BULLETS
As BEST BREEDERS
MORE PROFITABLE TO USE THE
HENS FOR BREEDING AND
PULLETs FOR LAYING.
MAKE THEM SCRATCH
BETTER RESULTS OBTAIN
WHERE FOWLS HAVE TO
WORK TO GET THEIR
GRAIN.
BY CLINEI.Y p. MILLER.

With the advent OF the New Year
our thoughts win naturally turn to-
wards ways and means to get out our
early winter eggs during the coming
year This is an important matter
to be thinking about at this time.
With eggs quoted at 81 and - cents
PER dozen wholesale and at from as
to 40 cents retail some OF ns viii Took
back and review the mistakes dur
ing the present year and take the
neeet sary preoaution To prevent their
reotiri enee In the coming year. The
most importan, item at ihie time IL
the proper means to provide fertile
eggs auiiaK the Matching season. 80
that we may get out plenty Of pniiets
that will mature In time To produce
the eggs desired.
Let ns ask ourselves this important
question: do / want eggs Tor hatch
ing that will prove to nasttsA ter-
tile and that viii hatch strong ana
vigorous chicks. or do ] want eggs
that will hatch only small per cent
III small. swindlinx chicks that win
ouiy he about half developed next fail
and winter when eggs are most de-
sired p Then do not place III Your
breeding pens puliets that have hard
~ matared. and ones whose eggs have
not reached their normal size or the
last mentioned kind Will be your rea-
sons lahortS reward, Why
There is an old maxim that reads.
II ems for the puiiets and pullets for
the eggs And this maxim can he
easily proven. Does not common sense
teach us that n puiiet that begins lay
Lax In the paris part Of October and
ne. rfh H.. p iphe
has had considerable strain upon h.r
producing organs And these same
pdiIets' eggs VIII begin tn grow small
er as her laying season ianxtnens and
the puliets begin Ia grow faugued
after n hard winters work.
Hatch out Wcakiins~.
And If eggs of this class hatch at
all the chicks in nearly every instance
are weak and nnEhle t. stand the
early dangers ~ ehtckenhoed ana
readily contract disease Then, too,
we arc not reasonable II we expect
To get as large a chick from Leg
horn or Orpington eggs as we would
from an ostrich or goose egg. For
this reason We should always incu-
bate only eggs that have been laid ny
strong and vigorous hens that have
nlatured early and have reached the
age of about eighteen months. Ivy
80 Doing we wifi have the putiets as
money makers and the hens 10 pro-
.aee the eggs from which, 10 hatch
mem. Such is evolution that Is or at
east should he praCtiSed in every
poultry yard. Then. too, in this man
DER we are building up the size az
thc eggs by selecting n type Of eggs
that is uniform In shape and color
and not eggs that Will run III size from
- WI "a ~ tn "a MinnT(a
If the reader will pardon me. l
will relate "A little experience gained
" the writer during the past five
Years. Some time back the writer
had the pleasure OF visiting II friend
who was Interested in IA fine flock of
). {. Black Minorcas and during the
course of my visit he showed me
several dozen eggs laid by his fowls
/ readily reached the conclusion that
my Brown Leghorns In time could
Law similar eggs considering the diff
ference in size of the two breeds sim
piy by cuiiing and selection OF eggs
This method l have been following
Tor some time and now they lay eggs
that are uniform In shape and color
and OF size that no Brown leKhorn
mas any reason To be ashamed of.
II is far more profitable to let the
puliets lay the winter eggs and let
the hens lay the eggs to produce the
next years layers,
In referring to the hens as repro
ducers. did not mean old hens ncces-
sarily, but | mean hen that has
reached her second laying season.
This same hen has probably rested
UP in her first broodiness and has
aio been rested up during its mott.
and thus II can be easily seen that
these hens will lay eggs at time
when nature begins to assert herself
and her eggs will prove to be highly
fertile.
Busy Fowl and Fertile Egg.
Another point to consider at this
time Is that a lazy. indolent fowl will
not lay as fertile lot OF eggs as one
hat has to hunt and work for its
daily food and for this reason II In
we'll to look into this matter and see
that the fowls are kept busy hunting
for their food. Then too fowl must
be healthy to produce them. and a
healthy fowl IN q busy one. Most
aeople do not consider II important
that the hens should have several
inches OF litter o. some kind into
which all grains should be thrown In
rider to make them work for It, A
short time ago had some company
who were admiring my leghorns and
who asked me II thought II was
right for them to have to scratch for
their food. ! took some time to ex-
plain to him that the fowl who had
energy enough to hunt for the stray
bits of grain that fell in the out of
the way places was healthy fowl
and that this was the kind that laid
the eggs. I think made my point
clear or at least gave him something
to talk and think about.
To sum the whole matter up n we
wish 70 obtain eggs when prices are
highest. incubate eggs from mature
hens. select only the argest welt
formed eggs to hatch them from, set
(continusd on second Pags.)