The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1914-10-29
Weekly Page of Poultry Hints

the trap nest is impractical. 1t would
cost almost as much to trap 1000
laying hens the entire year as the
profit on their eggs would amount
to. If one traps continually from;
200 to 500 hens is about all one per-
son can care for and look after the
growing stock to keep up the flock.
Unles the hens are uncommonly pro-
ductive this number will not afford
the remuneration one Is wont to ex-
pect who takes up the production of
commercial eggs as business.
A Tedious Grind.
For nearly ten years have trap
ped my pullets designed for breeders
and the breeding hens. 1t has been
steady and tedious grind. 1t means
that in that time l have visited the
coops something like $4,000 times,
The duty could not be shirked and
must be done every day, whether
there is a circus in town or not.
Many times l have been on the point
of abandoning the work, but the
thought that it would render useless
all that have accomplished sus-
tanned me. AS l think it over l am
in doubt whether it has paid or not.
In fact, am strongly Of the opinion
that it has not paid in dollars and
cents. What learned about the lay
ing hen has been of much use to me,
but if | had been on terms q in
timacy with my flocks l might have
secured portion of this knowledge
without the use Of trap nests.
l am pretty well convinced that II
l had not trapped my hens and de-
voted the same time and energy TO
raising more stock and culling out
the poor layers, l would have been
money ahead The plan | should
have followed is to breed from the
most vigorous females, using males
from some reliable breeder who does
trap, or select males that came from
great laying hens. should raise
about twice as many pullets as
cared for, so as to have plenty to Sc
lect from and keep culling up con-
; tinually. Yearling hens should be
culled twice year and this selee-
ton may continue to the two and
three-year-old hens, as it is their
laying condition rather than their
age which determines their value. II
| had followed such course would
have been able to care for and raise
the stock to keep up a flock from
n one to two thousand hens with the
4 same labor l now expend on about
o three hundred breeders.
g Not Worth the Price.
n By the use Of trap nests and pedl
It gree breeding we can build up lay
u ing strain which will reproduce itsel
!, to a marked degree, but is the game
e worth the price? | hardly think so
: and this conclusion is reached aftel
r ten years of use. The number O.
y pedigreed birds that can be pro
II duced is too small, even though the.
IS are the best of layers, to return sur
|. ficient revenue. We might better dis
= card half the pullets we raise, an'
l. will then be able to secure doubl
u the number we can by pedlgre
u breeding, and if these selected pul
1t let's do not lay quite as many egg
IL each as the pedigreed stock, the ag
t. gregate will be greater II the pedl
st greed hens return a net profit o
r. three dollars each and the selecte
d hens two dollars each, we can Ger
'e tainly make more money from LOO
y of the latter than we can from 80
n of the former, and the labor will b
" about the same.
rs BY the flock record we can est
T. mate the number of hens which ar
lg laying. If the percentage Is small W
Sc should make an examination of tn
IN hens, say once in two weeks, an
ne note down the band numbers of thos
~ which are laying, If this is don
It's three or four times it will not tax
lg long to find out the hens which al
We not producing Hens which show Il
to signs of laying during two or thre
en- examinations may be put down
poor layers and not worth keepin
lie From the commercial viewpoint