The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1913-03-29

tBy William A Lippincott. Professor
~HE HEN that lays 200 eggs a
year will have a 200-egg ap-
petite The big egg producer
in your pen is the one that scratches
on after the rest of the hens have
gone 10 roost The hens that sit
around all day-or most Of the day
on the roost\ are the ones that are
keeping Kansas average egg produc-
ticn so low. No hen has any business
on the roost during working hours.
1t should be considered sign that
that hen is ready for market.
When a hen lays an egg she repro
duces herself A hen will reproduce
herself most when she is happy and
contented. When she is happy she
will sing. There's more truth than
poetry in saying that the singing hen
is the laying hen. It's just common
everyday hen sense.
The reason at the bottom Of Kan
sas being so low in average egg pro-
duction is not that she has SO few
good layers She has lots of them.
The trouble is that she has a lot OF
crow-headed, dulI-eyed, shrunken, pale
cIawed individuals sitting around, do
ing nothing but eating when food is
thrown to them. There is no easier
way to increase egg profits of Kansas
| than to dispose of all such birds at
once.
When one has Matched their breed
ing stock under hens from eggs laid
by well matured hens, has fitted them
carefully for the breeding pen, has
mated them with a pure bred male
bird whose mother laid more than two
hundred eggs and whose paternal
grandmother laid the same number,
has eliminated all but the vigorous
hens, he has simply put his factory
in running order. If he is to secure
the manufactured product, eggs, he
must bring to the factory not only
enough raw material but the right kind
of materials as well. On the average
farm of Kansas the hens have plenty
to eat Many have too much. The
reason why more eggs are not laid in
many cases, is because the right kind
of materials are not furnished the hen
out of which to make eggs. 1t is just
as sensible to feed the hen nothing
but corn and expect to get a large
number of eggs as it would be to
haul nothing but cotton to the door
| of a factory out of which to make
cloth that was half silk. The egg
which is the product we expect the
hen to manufacture, is made up of
three classes of materials. There are
fat, found largely in the yolk; pro-
tein, most of which is in the white
of egg, and ash, which goes to make
the shell. The hen cannot make pro-
tein out of fat nor a shell out Of pro-
tein any more than a loom can seave
silk cloth ont of cotton. The same
three classes are necessary for main
tanning the body Of the hen. The ash
goes to make bone. The protein is
used in making lean meat, feathers,
| toe nails, etc. The fat is used in
keeping the body warm, furnishing
energy and storing up body fat. If
we are to get eggs we must first of
all furnish the hen with the materials
she needs for her body, and then see
that she has what she needs for max
ing eggs.
There is no grain that we can Of
fer the hen that will be eaten with
more relish than corn. There is no
grain that is more plentiful in the
corn belt These two facts lead to q
| condition that is all too common, Of
hens loaded down with fat and lay
! ing few, if any, eggs. Corn is fat
tening food than which there is a
no better. But when corn alone is
fed only the material for the yOlk is
furnished If the hen lays at all. the
eggs are likely to be soft shelled be-