Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-12-05
Gives Valuable Information
as to Types and Breeds
That Are Best Producers
Can Be Used With Very Little
Effort and a Minimum of
Time
BY Michael Il. Boyer
'oultry Editor of the Farm Journal
Copyright 1914

The only way by which egg pro-
ducers can be surely known Is by the
use of trap nests. Their value has
been known for twenty years and to-
day they are indispensable on we'll
regulated farm.
The trap nest tells not only which
hens are the layers. but which par
ticular type or breed is a producer,
and what kinds of eggs they produce.
Accurate, scientific knowledge Is In
this way obtainable and hit or miss
methods are eliminated. Many a pOul-
tryman has been put on the road to
profit by the use of this unique de-
vice.
The trap nest is a Yankee notion
now in practical use for about twenty
years. 1t is the only method by
which the actual layers can be known,
and the only way to tell the color of
their eggs, as we'll as the size and
shape. 1t enables us to find the hen
that gives strong fertility, and the one
tht gives poor. 1t picks out the winter
layers: it arrests the egg-eater; it pre-
vents broken eggs in the nest; it hakes
hens tame
1t is more profitable to have a dozen
selected layers than double the num-
Der of doubtful ones. The labor in at
tending to traps should not exceed ten
minutes for fifty nests. providing they
are conveniently arranged.
A pullet that will lay 140 eggs from
November ] to June l is phenome-
nal layer; 125 eggs is very good lay
ing and no pullet should be retained
for breeding that will lay less than 100
eggs in that period.
l have known of traps being used
thirty years ago, but it was not until
the last twenty years that their value
has been acknowledged. A trap nest
is a device that allows the hen to
readily enter but which does not per-
nit her to leave until released by the
attendant, who makes note of the
number on the band that is placed on
her leg. In this way the actual num-
Der of eggs to her credit can be as
certained.
AS to Egg Types
I believe that by examination of the
pelvic bones it is possible to determine
which are layers, but we do not know
how good they are. Neither do we
know what class Of eggs they lay
Some hens lay a dark brown egg,
some a light brown, some a pure white
and some a creamy white. Suppose we
are aiming for dark brown, or for pure
white eggs, how can we best secure
that object when we are unable to
pick out the hens that give us what we
want? 1t is true that we can gradually
bring about that condition by using
only the dark brown or the pure white
eggs for incubation, but it is a long
road to travel If we can pick out
those layers. and keep only such, we
are more sure of our results.
But there are more important uses
of the traps. We can pick out the
hens that lay deformed eggs, or those
that lay eggs of undesirable shape. We
can know which hens give us the best
fertility, and which the poorest We
can know which hens lay best at the
season when eggs command the high
est prices, and we can pick out the
heavy summer layers. We discover
which are the drones, hens that do not
pay their board. We are thus able to
arrest the egg-eater. We catch her
right in the act. We have less broken
eggs in the nest, generally due to sew
eral hens crowding in at one time. We
can tell which hens lay the small eggs,
and which the larger ones. We know
how many times individual hens be-
come broody, which hens are the best
for incubation and brooding. We
know the exact time our pullets
started to lay, and how regularly they
deposit their eggs.
Better Posted on Flock
Then, too, by this regularly hand
ling of hens we get them more tame.
They do not become excited by hand
ling. We also readily denote their
condition-whether they are too fat,
or too thin, or. if they are starting
scales on the legs, or if there is some
other trouble. The trap nest affords a
daily inspection and consequently we
are better acquainted with our stock.
When trap nests are used the hen
takes the first available one, but in
open nests ii is not uncommon to have
the hens select only one or two and
never use the others. Eggs allowed
to remain in the nests until night are
of of a n caf
ting on them during the day. With
the use of trap nests this trouble is
overcome.
Trap nests give us a system wedding
out which no other method affords.
This system means a saving of feed
and room. A dozen selected layers will
give a greater profit than double the
number in which are good. bad and in
different. Is it not worth the little
extra labor necessary to attend to
these nests? | have proved the fact
that | can secure 20 per cent. more
eggs with % per cent. less hens, by
breeding only from my best layers L
have in one of my yards White Wyan-
dotte yearling hens that were hatched
from eggs laid by hens that, as pull
let's gave a record of not less than
200 eggs each. These ten hens dupli-
Gated the work of their dams. To these
hens is mated a male bred from 200
egg hen. In this way / propose to
grow until every hen on the place is a
200-egg hen. Can it be done? / be-
Iieve in fact, know, 1t can by the use
of the trap nest. If / can get 100 hens
to give me the same number of eggs
that formerly 200 hens gave me, look
at the saving I will have in feed and
house room. Is not such an object
worth working for? Will not this
saving more than compensate for the
extra time required in attending to
those nests?