South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-04-21

goodly number Of eggs. The hard
working hen is almost always a high
producer. She is first off the rOost
in the morning and last to go to bed.
She is a heavy feeder. since high
prOductiveness necessitates the abil-
ity TO assimilate large quantities of
food. The poor layer is generally of
the opposite type. She is inactive. u
relatively small eater, and spends a
large portion of her time on the
perches or in the darkened por-
tions of the pen.
Pale Shanks and Ear-LObes.
In practically all yellow skinned va
rieties of poultry the shanks, beak
and region around the vent undergo
change in color when the hens are
in heavy laying. Instead of the rich
yellow color that is associated with
these parts in the yellow-skinned va
rieties. there is a rapid fading Of
color i'm the regions mentioned dur
ing heavy production. This change OF
color is so consistent that it is pos
sible 10 use il as a basis for selecting
good and poor producers. From va
rious observations recently made
along these lines, the following in
teresting correlations have been
noted:
The color of the vent appears to
be the most accurate indication of
producing ability. Records made
from 81 birds from Nov. 1. 1914, to
oct. 81, 1915. show 9S of the birds
had pale vents at the end of October
when the records were made. over
90 per cent Of these 9S birds pro-
duced 14O TO $50 eggs, and only eight
per cent of them laid less than 40
eggs. The average production of the
273 remaining hens, which had yell
low vents when the observations
were taken. was approximately 135
eggs. and the average for the 9S
having pale vents was 191 eggs. This
gives a difference Of SO eggs per bird
in favor of the pale vents.
In the test there were several diff
ferent breeds and il is interesting TO
compare the production Of the va
rious breeds as shown by the color of
the vent In the Plymouth rock
group SIS per cent of the birds hav-
ing pale vents laid from 40 TO $50
eggs: 1914 per cent Of the birds
showing pale vents produced 14O
eggs or less: 20 per cent of the hens
having yellow vents laid from 0 TO
40 eggs. The average production
of the rocks having yellow vents was
l119.3 eggs. whereas the average for
those having pale vents was 1853.
OF the 9S wyandottes 50 had pale
vents and over 20 per cent of these
produced from 40 to $50 eggs. The
average production for the pale and
yellow vents was 1872 for the for
mer and 140.S for the latter.
The average production OF the
Rhode Island reds having pale vents
I was Ills, while for the birds of the
same breed with yellow vents the av-
erage yield dropped was 12S eggs.
While practically all of the above
I observations are based on the color
/ of the vent. the reader must not lose
/ sight Of the fact that this same vari-
alton is manifested in the shanks and
\ beaks OF yellow-skinned varieties. In
other words. the rich yellow color
! OF these parts seems TO fade out with
/ heavy production. Armed with this
/ knowledge the pract cal pOultryman
can examine his birds during Oc-
tober and select those which show a
marked fading OF color in the parts
| mentioned with the assurance that
IS per cent or more OF those selected
are his best producers.