Norwich bulletin., 1920-01-08
800 EGG HENS ARE
 NOT so NUMEROUS YET

Perhaps the height of many pou1- trymen's ambition is to produce a few 300 egg hens. They are eneourag- ed to think that it is a fairly easy matter because one now finds on ex- hfbition in nearly all of the larger poultry shows, hens with attached af- fidavits to the effect that they have laid 800 eggs or more in a year The rec ords accumulated at Storrs in the last ten years do not warrant the belief that 800 egg hens are as yet at all mum efouS! The fact it that during this time more than 1000 hens have been trapnested annually. During these ten years and from the more than 10000 hens only one 800 egg hen has been uncovered. A great many poultrymen are now operating trap nests in more or less limited way. Unless one has better luck than the poultry de- pertinent at Storrs, the man who is trapping 19O hens q, year can req sonao!y expect to get only one 300 egg hen in every one hundred years. r If he has only a back yard flock, say about ten hens or so. then it would take him one thousand years to find a 300 egg hen. This estimate makes no allowance for better breeding, i'm proved methods of management and other unknown afctors which may presently perhaps make the 300 egg hen as common as the geo egg hen is
 today.
 In spite of the continued cold wea- ther and nearly zero temperature the l hens in the laying contest at Storrs picked up nearly soc eggs last week, bringing the total production to 1925, | or yield of P per cent. This is with 1 In two per cent of the average for this 1 period based on the accumulated rec
 ords Of previous years. The fact is that a difference of two or three per l cent in the number of eggs produced
 in any given period from one year to
 aIether may be considered nothing | more or less than the normal Varia- l tion Of the 100 pens entered there were twelve tkat did not lay any eggs i at all last week
 Pinecrest Orchards pen of Rhode ! Island Reds from Groton, Mass. were 1 again in the forefront with a yield of I 41 eggs. Another pen of Reds entered by Mrs. c. Q. Polhenlus, Newburgh,
 N. r., was second best for the week ! with a production of S5 eggs. Two l pens of Barred Rocks owned by Jules F. F'rancais and Oneck Farm. both I from Northampton Beach, L. L, tied 1 for third place with 34 eggs each. Richard Aliens two pens from Pitts field, Mass, one Reds and the other Ieghorns, tied with Chas. H. Lanes Reds from Southboro, Mass. for I fourth place all three pens being cred tied with 3S eggs each. Barred Rock No. 46 from Long Island was the only ] bullet in the entire thousand to make la perfect individual score for the 1 week. Pen 54 from Massachusetts was 1 the only one in which all ten birds l were laying. Colombian Wyandotte
 hen Nh. 194 from Hackettetown, N. J. and White Leghorn No. 9g6 from
 Hopewei1. N. J, laid the largest eees eag-s, They weighed nearly one-quarter o;
 a pound apiece.
 The three best pens in each of tn, principal varieties are as follows: Plymouth Rocks.
 Merritt M. Clark (Barred) Brook field Center. Conn. 2el
 fngleside Farm (Barred) Palen-
 Wle, N. Y. .........,,...... 11SI Jules. F. Francais, Northampton
 Beach, T., I. ..:.......-....... 1Sl ] White Wyandottes.
 Langford Poultry Farfn, Langford F. c. ..+........ 23
 Merrythought Farm, Columbia, Conn: .:.........:. ........... 221 Herbert T.. Warren, St. Lambert, Quebee, .................. 21s Rhode Island Reds.
 Pineerest Orchards, Groton,
 MaSs, .... 3Sf Charles H. Lane, Southboro, Jacob E Jansen, North Haven, ' Conn Se White Lsshorns.
 Merrythought Farm, Columbia. Soiitl. 2S George Phillips, Seymour, ,1 oiA' -'-'P7.s 29l T MeadoWedge Farm, PittsheId, '1 Mass .............s. 24! s Miscellaneous.
 H. F Cloves fBuff Wyandottes) Hartford. Conn ... ga A. F. Anderson eR. I. Whites, ], Windhams N, Fl. ..........., 25 I A. Y; Hampton lBl. Beghorns) ! Phtstown. N. J. .......... ii