The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1918-01-27
How to Select Best Layers
From Your Flock Of Poultry
Manager of AlNorthwest EggLaying Contest Describes
Good Points in Trap-Nesting and Hogan
System of Selection.

, sidered together with size of that egg
and size Of bird when 1t was laid (b)
length Of time egg production ceases
for feather growth after mott: tc) sus-
! ceptibilty to cold, purple comb or dis
ease of any Sort tendency to harbor
(, lice, to stay in house when offered
range. etc
! =. Uniformity. "A. vitality --- One
! weak bird In a flock will catch "a cold
develop roup or pass 1t on To half u
dozen strong ones. One bird in
flock stronger than others will keep
a half dozen away from the feed hop
per. b.. Weight. For illustrutiou%-th
standard weight for White Leghorn
pullets Is az pounds. Reject birds
under ga pounds or over an pounds
by actual weight in laying condition
at laying age, tc) age. For illustH-
tion~-Layng age for II Lcghorn pull
let is to my notion So months. for a
Barred Rock I months. The April
hatch go into one laying flock, the June
hatch into another. Toe punches may
| well serve To tell one the date of the
hatch. d. Temperament. Did you
ever try handling Il gentle White wy
| andotte in the same pen with a sassy
| Brown Leghorn? Then you get my
point. One sassy bird can make life
| Improbable for Il dozen in the flock.
, (e1 Size and color OF eggs. A fancy
pack demands uniform size and color
Of eggs, therefore discard the hen that
| lays on colored, small or too large
| eggs.
| 3. Type. A. Standard If the
| fanctcr standard is not now the best
| utility standard | believe 1t Will even
tually become 80 in answer to the de-
| mands of the poultry world. II would
seem in general that the bird which
comes true to breeding for type back
| of IT would be more apt to come true
TO It's breeding In other respects, for
example. for eggs. Among birds Of
standard type the layers may best be
selected with trap nests. Probably to-
day more breeders believe egg produc-
| ton is TO be question of the breeding
In strain than believe it to be a aues-
ton of type of the breed b. The follow
| Ing physical factors are associated with
good laying and laying condition: taD
Head full and broad--not elongated
f, for the breed. tb). Beak rather
wattles we'll developed for the breed
Id Neck medium for the breed. tel
Head we'll seXed. 90 Well rounded
breast, ts) Back broad at shoulders
and just forward of tail (hp Full
bowl. Cd Abdomen or part below the
vent soft and pliahle. 90 Lay bones
spread we'll apart, thin. pliable,
straight CD sturdy legs medium
length for breed and set we'll apart.
10 Good capacity shown by distance
from end Of breast bone to the lay
bones.
!. Shank and vent color tests. The
tests consist not in the degree of yell
low color in shanks and vent at end
Of laying Year but in the degree To
which fading has occurred from date
Of first egg To end of puilct year.
These tests apply to yellow skinned
and yellow shanked varieties only, and
can he used accurately only when rec
ordS are made at the beginning OF the
pullct year of degree of color present.
s. Molt test. The high record hens
are those that continue the first years
egg production well into the fall. Poor
layers begin TO mott in June and July,
mediocre layers in August. Hence the
poor layer looks clean and full feath-
cred in September and the good layer
ragged and duh OF plumage.
s. The Hogan test. The Hogan sys-
tenn is described fully in a book en-
titled THE Call of the Hen" The
book costs s2,o0. Briefly the impor-
! tant points are to select I'd healthy
birds. CD Birds that have large crop
capacity 80 Birds that have large.
full bowls SO as 10 have room in their
body for much egg production. The
author measures capacity by laying his
| fingers along the birds body from one
end Of her breast bone np TO the pelvic
or lay bones just above the vent. On