Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1922-08-03
Lady Drydcn's Record.

"uSoanary al the oregon Agri-
cultural College Experiment Station.
mas produced hen which has lust
accomplished the worlds record bv
laying s24 eggs in a year. This cham
pion egg producer has been named
Lady Dryden" in honor of Professor
Dryden, her scientific trainer.
Lady Dryden is not a member OF an
ese-laying union. She has been work
ing overtime, and that is why she
achieved the worlds record in her line
of business.
PROFESSOR Dryden has applied all
inc rules of industrial efficiency in
the management of his champion hen
Lazy hens that do not exercise Wig.
orouSly do not eat much, and hens
mat are small eaters are not big egg
layers.
Applying these observations, Pro.
fesSor Dryden followed the rule slate
TO bed and early to rise" and thus
succeeded in keeping Lady DRYDEN
Just about as busy in the Winter time
when hens sleep late and 20 to bed
early and lay few eggs, as they are
IN the Summer time, when they put
IN long day from sunrise to sun.
down and lay more eggs.
Professor Dryden switched on the
bright electric lights at four o'clock in
the morning. Lady Dryden opened her
eyes, blinked and got right up and
went to work. The bright glare of the
electric light made her think it was
broad daylight and she must have over
slept.
So at four o'clock In the morning,
when lazy hens are getting their
beauty sleep, Lady Dryden was UP and
about busily scratching the gravel and
getting an early breakfast. All day
long, until late in the evening, Lady
Dryden scratched gravel until she
nearly wore off her toenails.
The new world champion is a Bar
red Plymouth Rock and made her rec
ord at the University of California
Farm Bureau egg-laying contest at
Santa Cruz, Cal. She is the latest
record-breaker among scores of Ore
gon station bred hens to lay more than
300 eggs a year.
This blue-ribboned lady not only
holds the worlds Barred Rock egg rec
ord, but leads all breeds in the United
States in egg production under official
supervision. She laid the 324 eggs in
twelve months of actual laying ending
December 10, is still going strong, and
apparently will uphold her reputation
for another year.
| This hen was entered in the Califor-
MIA contest with nine other Barred
Rocks from the Oregon station. Pens
of college strain finished first and sec
ond in the contest in an entry of $40
birds. The pen average of the winners
was PA eggs, as compared with a con-
test average of 1856.
At the end of the contest Lady Dry
den had laid 2SS eggs, not having be-
gun laying till December Ia. She was
left to complete her full year ut the
request of the manager, who was great
ly impressed by her prolific laying.
This is not "freak" record, rs en-
ceptional records are often thought &c
be, say the station poultry breeders.
but a logical outcome of scientific
breeding of hens for high fecundity,
started by Professor Dryden at tine
station in 1908.
When hen II, as Lady Dryden was
called at the egg-laying station, start
ed laying she continued for six days
without a stop, which was considered
remarkable for a pullet lust starting
laying. From that time on she was
consistent layer, missing more than
one consecutive day only once Turing
the contest until she began to mott
/ During September, October and part
/ of November she had a slight contn-
ued mott, which cut down her rroduc-
/ ton from an average of twenty-eight
/ eggs month to twenty-four for Sep
TENDER, twenty-three for October and
twenty-five for November.
Naturally she was strong and robust
with wonderful stamina, being good
fighter during the entire contest She
was not affected with sickness during
her entire laying year.