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By WAITER HQCAf

GIFT OF
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AGRIC.
LIBRARY

THE MISSOURI STATE
POULTRY EXPERIMENT

STATION
MOUNTAIN GROVE,

•

Photographed by request Chamber of Commerce, Petaluma, California.

These hens weighed less than four pounds each, and laid 131 pounds, 2
oz. of eggs. They won the prize for laying the greatest weight in eggs, in
the national egg laying contest. Each hen's eggs would have sold for $5.40
on the Petaluma market if reduced to No- 1 eggs. They are the result of
five years breeding by the author from common Petaluma Single Comb
White Leghorns. It is possible for the reader to do the same with almost
any breed by following instructions in this book.

The Call of the Hen

Or the Science of the

Selection and Breeding of Poultry

BY

WALTER HOGAN

\\

Copyrighted 1913 in the United States and Canada, Great Britain,

Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, and Denmark.

(All Rights Reserved.)

PRICE, - $2.00

PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA:
THE PETALUMA DAILY COURIER
1913

&

I o

*B»
UBRABI,

Dedicated

To the Poultrymen

Who, Like the Author,

Do Not Know It All

FOREWORD

The writer's introduction into poultry keeping was in the
city of Boston, Massachusetts, in the autumn of 1857. By the
spring of '68 I had a flock of nearly 400 birds, among them
a lot of the best Single Comb White Leghorns that I could
find. I went in person to New York City to get them. My
friends thought such extensive poultry keeping the limit of
folly, and freely remarked that I was going crazy. In those
days eggs were almost worthless during the spring and sum-
mer months, but would often sell for fifty cents per dozen
in the winter. This set me to thinking that perhaps it might
be possible to increase the egg yield in the winter, and by so
doing, make the fad a better paying proposition. Through
my experiments I found that all hens were not alike, that
some would be very good table fowl and poor layers. Others
would be very good layers and poor table fowl while still other
hens would be very fair table fowl and very fair layers. At this
time we had all the old fashioned breeds we could get, and
discarded them all for the Single Comb White and Brown
Leghorns. I had decided that knowledge wras of commercial
value only when applied, and having a working knowledge of
the anatomy and physiology of the hen, I decided to try
to turn the same to a commercial account, and in a couple of
years had evolved what is now known as the Walter Hogan
the purpose you desire, by the relative thickness of and rlis-
System, which consists of ascertaining the value of a hen for
tance apart of the pelvic bones. Before 1873 I had communi-
cated this discovery to some of my friends under promise of
secrecy. One of them, Albert Brown, once a well known
banker of Amesbury, Mass., and H. O. Farrar, of the same
place, an overseer in the Hamilton Mills, and a light Brahma
specialist. After using the above so called system for a num-
ber of years, I developed a new method which I have taught
in part privately for some years, and which I now introduce

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 7

to the public under the title of "The Call of the Hen," or "The
Science of Selecting and Breeding Poultry."

My friends early prophesied that my penchant for inven-
tion would land me in the poor house in my old age. So by
some occult inspiration I was induced to abstain from publish-
ing any part of my discoveries until 1904, when, by the advise
of Ex-Congressman Haldor E. Boen, of Minnesota, to whom
I had confided my poultry secrets some years previous, I de-
cided to publish only my first discovery, known as the "Walter
Hogan System," (which will be found in the latter part of this
work), after the same had been tested at the Minnesota State
Experimental Station by Professor Hoverstadt, the Superin-
tendent of the station. However, before taking any steps to
bring this matter before the public, I wrote to some thirty
or more poultry judges, who were supposed to be selected as
judges to officiate at the coming poultry show to be held in
Buffalo during the exhibition at that place in 1901, asking
them if they knew of any way to tell when a pullet
was about to lay. I thought that if they did not know that
much of the laying proposition, I would be safe in going ahead
with publishing my secrets. The letters I received were left
in Minnesota when I came to California shortly before the
earthquake in 1906, so I cannot name the judges at present;
but they will remember me as the proprietor of the Fergus
Falls Woolen Mills, and I must say they replied in a very cour-
teous manner, saying there was no way except the general
appearance of the bird, as to its maturity of form, redness of
comb and wattles, singing, looking for nest, etc. One only of
the number charged me one dollar for this information.

Failing health obliged me to dispose of my manufacturing
business and retire to the farm, and it was in the .spring of
1905 before I published my "Walter Hogan System," when it
appeared in a number of poultry papers. (See Reliable Poul-
try Journal, March, 1905.) I did not copyright the work at
that time, although my experience in mechanical inventions
had taught me that I should have done so, and the following
August imitations began to appear, until in 1912 a number
of different parties in the United States and foreign countries
were claiming authorship, and selling it under the same or dif-
ferent titles.

My years of research and expense brought me no financial

8 THE CALL OP THE HEN.

returns, and in the spring of 1906, I left Minnesota for Cali-
fornia, a physical and financial wreck. After having regained
my health, I began here at Petaluma to build up the same
kind of a flock of layers that I had done in previous years,
with the idea of publishing my entire work when I should
have bred up a strain of 200-egg hens and better.

After I removed to California, Professor M. E. Jaffa, of
the University of California, became interested in the matter,
and at the request of the Petaluma Poultry Association, had
the discovery tested at the California Poultry Experimental
Station for two years, and continued for two years longer for
the purpose of determining the value of four-year-old hens
as layers, as it is outlined in this book in the chapter relating
to the selection of the best layers in a flock.

It was also tested in New Zealand by D. D. Hyde, chief
poultry expert for the New Zealand government, and Prof.
Brown, of the New Zealand Poultry Experiment Station. I
have repeatedly been requested by 'my friends in different
parts of the world to publish the full matter in book form,
but poor health and lack of sufficient funds have prevented me
from doing so until now. As this work will be copyrighted, I
do not anticipate the literary pirates will raid it as they have
my former work. In justice to the poultry fraternity .1
want to say that while I have been, and am now, a member
of the American Poultry Association, and have raised poultry
fifty-six years, and now raise them by the thousand, I have
never in the past classed myself as a poultryman in the strict
sense of the word. Hundreds have known me as an inventor,
and woolen manufacturer, where one would know me as a
poultry crank and the only apology I have for offering
this book to the public in a field already crowded with poultry
literature, is the earnest solicitation of my friends.

WALTER HOGAN,
Petaluma, California, July 7, 1912.

The Call of the Hen or the Science of
the Selection and Breeding of Poultry

By WALTER HOGAN

CHAPTER I.

I received a letter in the winter of 1910 from a woman in
Oregon which read as follows.

Dear Sir: My husband is a machinist. He is getting
old and his health is failing. We have both worked hard all
our lives and have saved enough to buy a small place in the
country. We can no longer do hard work, and in looking for
some light occupation that \vould bring weekly returns, we
have looked favorably on the poultry business. We have
kept a small flock of hens on a town lot for a number of
years and think we have done well with them. We also take
four poultry papers, but each one tells a different story, and
we cannot decide what to do. We have! been years accumu-
lating our little savings, and if we should lose them we would
hjave no resources left for our old age. I enclose two articles
from the September, 1910 number of the ''Pacific Fanciers
Monthly." One article gives me to understand that it is almost
hopeless to think of making a living with hens if wfe depend on
selling eggs and poultry on the market. The other article
holds out the promise of a possible income of a thousand dol-
lars per year from 300 hens if handled under right conditions.
One means utter failure and bankruptcy in market eggs and
poultry, and the other means the fullest measure of success.
Both of these articles are in the same number and one follows
the other on the same page. How can you reconcile these two
conflicting opinions?

(The articles follow) :

10

THE CAL1L OF THE HEN.

A Common Question Wisely Answered.
By Geo. Scott.

Can a living be made from poultry? Probably there is no one
who has -attained distinction in the avicultural arena to whom
this question has not been put hundreds of times. And it is a
question of perennial interest to the poultry keeping public.
There are many people who will tell you that a living, and a
good living, can be made from poultry keeping alone and as
proof of their statement will point out the numerous men
whose names are household words in the fancy. On the other
hand a vast majority will most emphatically give uttenance to
statements calculated to deter any poultry keeping aspirant
and give weight to their contention by citing hundreds of
cases where men have tried and Hailed. ' Truly the mass of
evidence appears to be with the latter belief, for it is an indubit-
able fact that for every person who succeeds in this business
a hundred fail. But, looking at the mjatter from a logical
point of view, the fact that a minority rely on poultry for their
daily bread is ample evidence that it is quite possible to make
a living out of poultry keeping, and the abnormal number of
failures merely proves that the business is a difficult one.

The fact that a man has failed in some other business takes
up poultry keeping with a like result, in no sense proves that
poultry keeping does not pay; it is only what could be expect-
ed, and any experienced aviculturist would have prophesied
such a result. It is, however, useless to explain such things
to the man who is contemplating starting a poultry farm. To
suggest that he is unfit for the task would be taken by him
as an insult, for the public, in its ignorance, has conceived the
idea that poultry management is the simplest work that any-
one can think of. In fact, I question whether an outsider con-
siders it to be work at all.

Such a hold has this belief obtained on the man in the street
that it almost amounts to a superstition, and until the fallacy
is exploded the number of the unsuccessful will be constantly
increased. The public, apparently, cannot understand the
difference between keeping a few fowls as a paying hobby and
managing a poultry farm is an enormous one, and that the

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 11

minor difficulties to be met with in the former case are increas-
ed a thousand fold in the latter.

Probably there is no other business which calls for so many
qualifications as that of the poultry farmer, and to say that
the man who has been successful in any other walk in life is to-
tally unfitted for this business, though somewhat exaggerated,
will give the tyro some idela of what is wanted. An intimate, de-
tailed knowledge of poultry management, an unlimited reserve
of perseverance, determination, and resource, a genuine love
for fowls, the cjapacity for hard, continuous work for seven
days a week, combined with business knowledge and thrifty
management, are all essential, and will, with ordinary luck,
lead one to the desired goal.

I am very dubious as to whether (a living can be made from
utility poultry keeping pure and simple; that is to say, by sell-
ing eggs and birds solely for edible purposes. A profit can un-
doubtedly be made, but it is so infinitesimal that the income
derived from this source alone would, I am afraid, scarcely
suffice for the needs of the most parsimonious. If it is decided
to specialize in utility points, pure bred stock must be kept of
the popular varieties, and eggs for hatching, day-old chicks,
and stock birds must be sold. This will make all the differ-
ence, and once a connection has been worked up there is no
reason why the business should not pay, and pay well.

The breeding of exhibition birds is, without doubt, the most
profitable branch, and when once a name has been made stock
and eggs can be disposed of at most remunerative prices. Suc-
cess, however, cannot be attained at once — it is often the work
of years — and many breeders never rise from the ranks of
mediocrity. Moreover, much capital is required to start an ex-
hibition poultry farm, any ones expenses incurred in the man-
agement are infinitely heavier than is the case where utility
points are the only consideration.

I would not advise anyone unversed in poultry culture to
give up a situation, however poor, in order to go in for poultry
keeping as a means of earning a livelihood. To think of such a
thing is foolish in the extreme, but for anyone to burn one's
boats behind one in this way would be suicidal. What I would
suggest to poultry keeping aspirants (and I believe the number
of these reaches well into four figures) is that they scould keep

12 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

as many fowls as they can attend to properly in their /spare
hours, and see what profits they can make from the birds.
Above all, they must find out if they have a genuine love for
the work, for without this nothing can be done. When a
name has been made as a breeder of good stock, then and then
only, is it time for the amateur to consider the advisability of
adopting poultry keeping as a business; and long before this
point is reached the glamor of the idea may have faded, for
the life of a poultry keeper is, contrary to popular belief, far
from being a bed of roses. Practically all the men who are
today making a living from poultry commenced keeping fowls
as a hobby, and the knowledge and experience which they
gained in this way enabled them to found the establishments
which are today of world wide reputation.

To those who are qualified for the work poultry keeping of-
fers a good living, but to the idle, the thriftless, or the pleasure
seekers of this holiday-making age, it offers more desolate
prospects than any other trade or profession. In this business,
nothing but dogged determination will enable the beginner to
climb the rugged, precipitous path to success, and anyone who
is lacking in this essential, or who is afraid of hard, continuous
work, will save himself the obloquy of failure by choosing
some other field in which to exercise his powers.

THE GOOD LITTLE HEN.

What She Will Do For You If You Will Treat Her Right.
By Mrs. A. Basley

There is money in poultry for the man and especially for the
woman that will dig it out. This I can assure the Fanciers
Monthly readers if they are in doubt.

"Dig it out," seems a curious way of putting it. When I
spent a summer in a big mining camp in Colorado I noticed a
great many holes in the sides of the mountains. "Yes," said a
miner, "and not five percent of those holes have paid." It was
appalling to think of the thousands of dollars lost in those holes.
"Give me a hundred hens," said I. The money it took to dig

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 13

one of those unprofitable holes would have started a fine poul-
try plant, and the good little hens, would have brought in a
living for their owners.

There is money in poultry ! Every inch of a hen is valuable.
I would like to give you one of the values in the hen and what
it costs to keep her.

First, there are the eggs she will lay if properly fed and
treated. Twelve do*: en eggs per year is the average, although
I personally know poultry plants now being operated in South-
ern California where the output as shown by carefully kept
records is sixteen dozen per year. The average price at the
Arlington egg ranch for the past year was thirty-one cents a
dozen, because the proprietor arranged to have his hens laying
when eggs cost the most in the fall and winter months.

Sixteen dozen eggs at thirty-one cents a dozen means each
hen brings in $4.96 in eggs whilst her food costs ten cents per
month or $1.00 per year, leaving $3.76 as profit for eggs.

There is still another source of profit in the hen and that
is in the droppings. At several of the Experiment Stations it
has been found that a hen voids about 100 pounds of droppings
per year. These droppings have been analyzed and show a
value as fertilizer of from thirty to thirty-five cents per hen;
the value being controlled not only by the market demand but
also by the quality; the droppings being richer as fertilizer
where the food was rich in protein, and where the hens are
fed the ''full and plenty" method.

"What do you do with the hen droppings?" I asked a be-
ginner. "Throw them away, glad to get rid of them," was the
reply. At the rate of ten dollars per ton that was a vAaste of
fifty cents per hen. Two of our neighbors had lawns which
were in so bad a condition from the soil being worn out that
they were on the point of having them dug out and new soil
put in, and the whole re-sowed, when they thought of their
hen droppings. These they had spread over the lawns and
then raked off again and the lawns well watered. In a month's
time those lawns looked beautiful, better far than if they had
been re-made and at far less cost.

When I lived in the Eastern states my window garden
was the envy and admiration of every one that passed; there

14 THE CALL OP THE HEN.

were flowers galore all through the dark winter gloom and cold
frosty days. I loved my plants, took good care of them in
every way, but the secret of the wonderful blossoms was hen
manure !

Once a month I half filled a bucket with hen droppings,
poured a kettlefull of boiling water on it, filling the bucket
with the water, stirred it with a stick, let it settle and cool and
watered the plants with that liquid. I found that hen drop-
pings enrich the ground for almost all plants better than any-
thing; roses are the only exception that I have found, they
doing much better when fertilized with well-rotted cow ma-
nure.

But to return to our hen. She gives thirty pounds weight
of eggs or sixteen dozen valued at $4.96, she also gives 100
pounds of valuable fertilizer worth here $10 a ton, or fifty cents
per hen, which brings the amount of her earnings to $5.40, and
at the end of the year we still have the hen,1 to eat or sell at
market value, about 75 cents or $1.00. If w(e eat her we have
the feathers, which are easily saved and can be sold or made
into pillows, the bones pounded up and fed to the other fowls.

Poultry pays and pays better than any other legitimate
business considering the amount invested. Why then are there
any failures? I will tell you why. The failures are not the
i'ault of the good little hen. She will always do her duty; she
will always respond to the treatment she gets. The failures
are the people who care for the hen. The owners are the fail-
ures and not the fowls.

Success is what we all want to attain in whatever we un-
dertake and "lest we forget" some of the things which lead to
success may I repeat that there are three essentials to egg pro-
duction. These are — Comfort, Exercise and Proper Food. I
would like to review these.

I wrote the lady that both of these articles were right.
Let us see if we can prove the statement. If the reader has
ever had any experience with cattle, he knows it would be
sheer folly to buy a herd of Polled Augus or Herefords for a

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 15

dairy farm for they have been bred for years for beef, and prac-
tically everything fed to them goes to meat, while it would
be just as foolish to buy a herd of Jersey cows and expect to
make a living from them raising beef, as they have been bred
for years for butter fat and practically everything fed to them
goes to milk and crean. If the reader's experience has been
with horses, he is aware that a man engaged in teaming would
not select the trotting type of horse, neither would a turf-
man put his money on an 1800-pound Clyde' horse if the bal-
ance of the field were trotting horses. That would not be horse
sense. Now the same comparison holds good in the poultry
field, except with this difference, that the egg type and meat
type in poultry have never,been segregated into different breeds
and each breed bred for a number of years along the line it
was intended for — the egg type bred for eggs alone, and all
birds inclined to meat production discarded, both male and
female, and the meat type bred for meat, without regard to
eggs except enough to perpetuate the species, just as the
typical butter cattle and typical beef cattle have been bred.

I have seen a great n^any cases like the first mentioned
article, where a person would go into the poultry business,
and get started with stock that was of the meat type, and
not knowing any better, would think that all poultry was the
same as his, and the only way any money could be made in
the business was to sell fancy birds and eggs at fancy prices..
Now these people are not to blame for what they do not know.
They think their hens are as good layers as any other hens,
and they have no way of knowing any better.

I have also seen a great many cases like Mrs. Basley
writes of, except the profits were not so large, owing to dif-
ferent environment I suppose. These people had the same
breed of hens as the parties before mentioned, but they were
fortunate in getting the egg type, and they made money with
their hens. Each one thinks every other person's hens are
the same as theirs if they are the same breed, and that is the
reason there are so many different conflicting statements in
the poultry papers, and not because the writers are not intel-
ligent or not truthful as some suppose. From a scientific
point of view, and apart from the fancy, and as far as the
knowledge of meat and egg production is concerned, the poul-
try business is in its infancy, and the people who write for the

16 THE CALL OF THE HEN-

poultry papers give their experience for your benefit. That's
all.

To further impress on your mind the difference between
poultry and other stock, I would say that while some in-
dividual cattle of the various beef breeds will not be a paying
proposition, the only safe plan is to select your feeders from
the beef family, and as some Jersey cows will not pay as but-
ter producers, still, as a breed, they are among the best for
that purpose. As some trotting horses do not make good, as
a rule they will carry you over the road in good time, and as
some draft type teams are not sure pullers, they are a success
as a class.

The. same general laws apply to all animal nature. The
hen is no exception, only in this respect, — that while cattle
and horses have been bred so that as a rule novices can select
the type they wish by selecting' the breed, hens have not been
bred that way. We have what purports to be egg breeds and
•dual purpose breeds. The first are supposed to be a paying
proposition as a whole for egg production. The latter are
supposed to be a paying proposition for both eggs and meat
combined, some breeders claiming that their breed will give
you the very largest number of eggs per year, and the greatest
weigh. t of flesh all in one bird. Now these claims are mis-
leading. It is an utter physical impossibility for any hen to
be a t\ pical egg type and at the same time be a typical meat
type. It is against the laws of nature. We have the Leg-
horns, Mmorcas, Spanish, and a number of other Mediter-
ranean breds that are called egg type. While the truth is
that while they have been bred as best the breeders knew
how along the lines of egg production, you can find vast
numbers that will not lay eggs enough to pay for the feed
they eat. Great numbers in some flocks have all the char-
acteristics of the beef type and will lay about three or four
dozen eggs per year and some times not over a dozen. The
Plymouth Rock, Orpington, Wryandotte and Langshans are
classed as dual purpose breeds. That means hens that will
lay a medium number of eggs and give a good large carcass
for the table, and while this is true in a majority of cases,
1 have seen numerous specimens that laid over two hun-
dred and fifty eggs per year, while some would lay little
or nothing. In fact, while I have bred Leghorns for more

THE CALL OF THE HEN 17

than forty years and they are my favorite breed, I must say
I have found as good layers (within a few eggs) in all the
other breeds I have named as I have found in the Leg-
horns and I have also found as poo*- layers among the Leg-
horns as I have found in any other breed. As far as the
number of eggs are concerned, as a rule I find that the
breed of the hen has nothing to do w»*h it wlVatever.

I do not wish to be considered dogmatic in anything
I may say in this work. I am merely giving the opinions I
have formed by observation and experiment during a period
of fifty-six years that I have kept poultry, not to make all the
money I could out of them but to learn all I possibly could
about them. In fact, until a few years ago I never kept poultry
for the money there was in it. The keeping of hens has been a
passion with me. I have spent years of time and thousands of
dollars, but I think I have found something that will be of in-
estimable value to the world And I have found it not because I
was any better fitted for tne work than thousands of other
lovers of poultry but because I stuck everlastingly to it without
any regard as to whether it paid me in dollars or not.

As previously stated, it is not a matter of breed as to
whether a hen is a good layer or not. It is a matter of type,
capacity and constitutional vigor. First, in almost all breeds
there is a type of hen where everything she consumes over
bodily maintenance goes to the production of eggs. This
we call the typical egg type. Second, there is a type where
about half the food consumed over maintenance goes to the
production of eggs, the balance over bodily maintenance,
going to make flesh. This is called the dual purpose, type,
as this hen performs two functions that are considered neces-
sary in the economy of nature, the production of eggs and the
production of meat on a commercial scale. Third, there is a
type where everything consumed over bodily maintenance
goes to flesh. This hen we call the meat type for the reason
that practically all her energy is used in producing meat.

Now here we have three distinct types of fowl in almost
every breed. We have divided these three types into six
separate classes for each type :

18 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

No. 1 of the typical egg type hen may lay about 36 eggs.

No. 2 may lay about 96 eggs.

No. 3 may lay about 180 eggs.

No. 4 may lay about 220 eggs.

No. 5 may lay about 250 eggs.

No. 6 may lay about 280 eggs.

All this is in their first laying year.

No. 1 of the dual purpose type hen may Uy aoout 20 eggs.

No 2 may lay about 50 eggs.

No. 3 may lay about 96 eggs.

No. 4 may lay about 115 eggs.

No. 5 may lay about 130 eggs.

No. 6 may lay about 145 eggs.

The first laying year.

No 1 of the typical meat type may lay from nothing to
a dozen eggs. No 2, 3 4, 5 and 6 may lay from nothing to a
couple of dozen eggs, and as a rule will lay these in the spring
when the crows lay. The reason is very plain if we stop to
think that the same natural laws govern all animal (and
human) nature.

The egg type nen is of a nervous temperament. (That
is why she is usally free from body lice if she has a suitable
place to dust in), and all she eats over bodily maintenance
goes to the production of eggs. The hen of the sangunine
temperament is a little more beefy and lays less eggs. The
hen of the bilious temperament is more beefy still and lays
still less eggs, while the hen of the lymphatic temperament
will lay little or nothing, almost everything she eats going to
flesh and fat. (The reader need borrow no trouble over the
meaning of the terms, nervous, sanguine, billious and lym-
phatic temperaments if he is not familiar with them, as the
charts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 will specify matters so that anyone can
understand the matter of selecting the different grades of
hens with very little study and trouble.)

We have said that we have divided the three gracies, the
egg type, dual purpose type, and meat type, into six separate
classes. There is, in fact, a seventh class, but it is so rare that
we will not take it into consideration here, but will explain
it later. But we have, in fact, made 90 classes of these six

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 19

for convenience in selection and the process could be ex-
tended indefinitely but it would serve no needful purpose.

Now when we consider all these different grades in the
hens of every breed, and the further fact that there is the same
number of different grades in the male bird, is it any wonder
that there is so much difference of opinion in regard to the
profits derived from poultry keeping? We have visited hun-
dreds of poultry plants that numbered from about fifty to
two thousand or more hens e'ach. We have seen some flocks
of five hundred that would not pay for the feed they consumed
for the simple reason that they were not the right type of
hens. They were fine looking healthy meat producers, but
there was no earthly way possible to feed them that would
induce them to lay eggs at any time except a few months
in the spring when the crows laid and eggs were cheap. The
owners of some of these flocks were bright, brainy, vigorous
business men who tried every method that usage and science
suggested and fought with sheer desperation to make a suc-
cess of the business, but went down in failure ; while their next
neighbor, a little pin-headed, conceited speciman of humanity,
strutting around like a peacock, was getting rich with the same
breed of hens.. Luck, do you say? Yes it is mostly a matter
of chance. The first man was unfortunate in that he got his
eggs or breeding pens from stock such as that described in
the first article of the "Fanciers Monthly," while the last
man got his eggs or breeding pens from stock described by
Mrs. Basley in the second article.

WTe once visited a gentlman who had a very extensive
poultry plant. He had a large number of different breeds
yarded off in finely appointed yards with help and financial
means to satisfy every need of a poultry plant. His pens of
Rocks, Orpingtons and Langshans were remarkable layers,
while his Cochins, Houdans and Polish were very good lay-
ers. After looking over the last named birds he remarked,
"I have 500 Leghorn hens which are 18 months old which I
wish you would look at." After we had looked at them a few
minutes he said, "What do you think of them as layers?" I
replied that if he would tell me which pen laid an average of
all the pens, I would tell him in a few minutes. "That pen
there," said he, pointing to No. 20, "has laid an average num-
ber of all the eggs laid." I looked it up only last night. After

20 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

examining the hens I told him I would not take them as a
gift if I had to keep them one year. "Why," he asked. "Be-
cause," I relied, "after keeping them a year and selling them,
the price I would receive for the hens >and the eggs they
would lay, would not pay for their feed. I cannot see why
you keep them." The next evening he said to me, "Do you see
that man moving into the place over yonder. Well, I have
sold those Leghorn hens to that newcomer for $500." "Is
this an exceptional case" you ask. I have only this to say;
that all the David Harums are not in the horse business,
neither can I see why a poultry man should be his brother's
keeper when it is not the rule in other lines of business. It
seems to me the better way is to study poultry from a scien-
tific point of view, so that you can judge the value of a hen
for the purpose you want her for, and not have to depend on
other peoples' opinions.

By studyng this book carefully you will be able to tell
approximately the number of eggs a hen is capable of laying
in a year; you can also select the hens that will be the best
lor breeding purposes, for eggs, for meat, or as a dual purpose
hen, that is, a hen that will give you the largest number of
eggs possible, with the largest possible amount of meat when
you wiish to sell her, or the hen that will produce the
best broilers, regardless of any one particular breed. Some
hens will be very good layers, some very good meat pro-
ducers, some very good dual purpose type and some very
fine fancy birds, and you can mate them with the same type
of male bird and breed from these birds for a few genera-
tions, and their progeny will degenerate. The chickens from
the hens and cockerells or cock birds of the 200-egg type may
lay less each generation until in eight or ten generations they
may not lay enough to pay for their feed. The progeny
from some of the best meat and dual purpose type matings,
will some times degenerate just as the egg type, until they
are practically worthless as profitable meat producers. The
chicks from the fancy mating may be a failure from the fan-
cier's point of view. This is the rock that some old poul-
try breeders are sometimes wrecked upon. One case of na-
tional interest was the case of the late lamented Prof. Gowell.
of the State of Maine Experiment Station. He had started
some years before to breed up a heavy laying strain by using

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 21

the trap nest, selecting eggs for hatching from hens that
were his best layers, and conformed as near as possible to
the standard, and using cockerels hatched from these eggs
to mate with his hens. Now this was all right as far as it went,
but there was something that the professor had not taken
into consideration. He had procured the best birds he could
rind, had trap nested them to discover the hens that were
the most prolific layers, had selected the eggs from what
he had considered to be the best hens for the purpose (and
few men had better judgment in this respect.) He had mated
up the best looking cockerels from these best eggs from the
best laying hens, and according to (all apparent precedents
was he not justified in expecting an increase each year in
egg production? But what were the results? If reports are
true, there was a decrease in egg production, and what do
you suppose was the cause? There must be some cause. There
is a cause for every effect. Sometimes we think things just
happen, that there is no natural law that governs them ; that
in this or that case it was all chance; that it may not have
happened to another person, and will not be likely to happen
to us again, and so we dismiss the matter only to have the
same thing repeat itself, until we either solve the problem
or meet our doom through it. And thereby hangs a tale.

Some time in the summer of 1905 I received a letter
from a doctor in one of the suburbs of Boston, asking me
what I would charge to visit Orono, Maine, and have a talk
with Prof. Gowell, and incidentally to drop a few remarks
that might be of some help to him in his investigations. I
had never met the Professor, but I replied to the Doctor that
I would go. (I was then living in Minnesota.) And would
pay my own expenses as I wished to visit Boston, my birth-
place and where I first started1 in poultry keeping in 1857,
and it would be a small matter to go from there to Orono
Maine, where Prof. Gowell was conducting his experiments.
While I was waiting for a reply, I decided that as Prof
Gowell had put so much time and thought into the trap
nest proposition and had built so much on that one thing,
and that as he could get results from it (only it was a waste of
time), that in this first visit to him I would offer only one
suggestion, and that was the secret of selecting the birds,
both male and female, that would be sure to breed progeny

22 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

that would be better than their parents along the lines in
which the parents excelled, or in other words, transmit their
predominating characteristics to their offspring. That is, if the
cockerel or cock bird and hens were typical meat type birds,
the progeny would excel along these lines. Some of them
would excel their parents in the production of meat ; they
would be hardier, better feeders, would digest and assimilate
their food better, and consequently arrive at maturity sooner,
and be of better flavor and more tender, and by breeding
these birds along the lines laid down by I. K. Felch, of Natick,
Mass., (line breeding he calls it), they would improve each
season so that in a number of years, there would be a great
difference in their favor over their parents. If the pen was a
fancy proposition and had been bred some years for fancy
points, the progeny wrould show a decided improvement in a
few years over their parents. If the pen were the typical
egg type, the progeny would show an increase over their
parents in stamina and egg production. I would also have
shown him where the birds he was breeding from were de-
ficient in the faculty that governs fecundity, or in other words,
which controls the function of reproduction.

Whittier in "Maud Muller" says, — " For of all sad words
of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, — It might have been.'"'
Yes, it might have been. Prof. Gowell might have lived to
give many more years of aid to the poultry world and his
tragic death been prevented, but he wrote the doctor that ht
did not want me to come. He seemed determined to solve
the problem himself and no doubt \vould have done so if he
had been as care free from routine duties as a man in his posi-
tion should have been, and I charge his untimely end to
society. The men and women in our public institutions who
are giving their lives for the benefit of humanity are not ap-
preciated 'at their true value. We demand the full limit of
routine duties, forgetting that it is impossible for a tired
body to lurnish sufficient nutriment to the brain to solve these
intricate pioblems that are continually confronting them, and
while we cause them to suffer mentally and physically individ-
ually, we cause ourselves to suffer collectively by our parsim-
onious treatment of them.

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 23

CHAPTER II.

The writer is not one of the long winded kind. I don't
like to talk a long time in order to say a few words, or write
a dozen pages, where one will do as well. I believe in hand-
ing out the chunks of gold with as little dross as possible.
I think the reader would rather receive the information I
have to offer, in one page, than in a dozen; that he would
rather discover the facts in a few feet than to be obliged to
hunt over a hundred acres of literary space for the same in-
formation. For that reason I will make this work as brief as pos-
sible. I will be aided in my effort to do so by the fact that
the theories offered in this work have been more or less dem-
onstrated by the "Govermental Experimental Stations of New
Zealand, and the States of Minnesota and California; also in
the Poultry Plants of the five state hospitals (which contains
thousands of hens) in, the State of California, under the
auspices of the State Board of Health, and the Physicians
of the different hospitals. It might not be a difficult matter
to mislead a few poultrymen on a subject that deals wholly
with Physiology and Anatomy, but it would be absurd to
think for a moment that one could deceive all of the phy-
sicians in five state insane hospitals. It seems a man who
would still doubt, would believe the world was flat, especially
when he learns that a member of the State Board of Health,
told the writer that there was a difference of fifteen hundred
dollars in favor of using the system, in one year, in one of
the hospitals alone.

We commence in this chapter the unfolding of a method
or test by which the reader can tell approximately the
value of a hen and a male bird as a breeding proposition
(and in the chapter on breeding alone, this book will be worth
it's weight in gold, to the fanciers) an egg producer, or a meat
producer. It is my desire to make the facts contained in
this book, so clear, and the tests so easy of application, that
any one can become proficient in the use of them in a short
time. Therefore, I have prepared a series of illustrations,
showing numerous types and conditions of fowls, also var-
ious other facts that may better be shown by pictures, than
by explanations alone.

24 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

You will remember no doubt that you did not arrive at
your present proficiency in reading in a day or two ; that it
took some little time, and there was a certain system or
evolution in your study. You will find the same true of this
method. There is a certain process that leads from one step
to another, until you have covered the system, when by re-
peated study and practice you will become proficient and
accomplish what at first seems impossible. It may seem an
impossible task to handle and grade sixteen hundred hens in
six hours, but the writer has done it. With sufficient help
to hand me the hens, we graded or in other words tested
out sixteen hundred hens in six hours in the State Hospital
Poultry yards at Ukiah, Mendocino county, California, March
1910. Not so bad for a semi-invalid of 62, we hear you say.
Our reply is, it's practice. You can do the same. Go through
the movements with every hen you pick up each day, and in
a short time, what at first is difficult will appear quite easy.

For some years previous to 1912 there was great ac-
tivity in the poultry industry, there having been no lack of
poultry papers, farm papers and magazines, that for a nom-
inal sum would give tuition in poultry culture. The ease of
getting a theoretical knowledge of the business, induced
thousands to take it up who otherwise would not think of
doing so. The apparent ease of conducting the business, the
small amount of capital it was supposed to require with the
large and steady income it offered were the will-o-th'-wisps
that lured the many to financial loss. I would warn my
readers against rushing into the poultry business on a scale
beyond their means without first obtaining a working knowl-
edge of the same. With good stock, with the proper en-
vironment, a good market and a working knowledge of the
business, there is little danger of failure if one is willing to
do the work necessary on a poultry plant. It offers the most
independent living for the smallest amount of capital of any
business I know of.

The requisites for success are the knowledge to know
how to be able to select the hen you need for any particular
purpose, whether it is for eggs or for meat or fancy. W'hether
the hen will be a paying proposition or not (this may depend
on your market) whether she will be able to transmit her
predominating characteristics to her offspring or not. Also

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 25

you must be able to judge accurately the value of the male
bird as to what you want him for, and, as to his ability to
stamp his offspring with the desired qualities. All the above
you can learn from this book. You should also know how
to operate incubators, how to feed and care for little chicks,
how your hen houses should be built to suit your climate, how
your growing pullets should be fed and housed, and the best
way to feed to get the most eggs at the smallest cost, and
how to feed and mate to get fertile eggs and vigorous chicks.
There are numerous books published on all of these latter
subjects that you can buy from the publishers of any poultry
paper. So we do not take up the matter in this work, we
give only what you cannot get anywhere else.

Following is a series of half-tones and explanations re-
presenting the method we have used in instructing hundreds
of poultrymen and women in California and other states,
and the managers of poultry plants in a number of State
institutions in the State of California.

CHAPTER III.

There are four characteristics that it is absolutely nec-
essary for a hen to possess, for the economical production ol
eggs or meat. The first is capacity, the second is condition,
the third is type and the fourth is constitutional vigor.
The reader must bear the first three in mind in
studying the next few chapters, as we will dispose of these
before taking other matters into consideration. First, what is
capacity? Capacity means the abdominal capacity to consume
and assimilate the amount of food necessary to produce the
number of eggs or the amount of meat necessary to make the
individual hen under consideration a paying proposition.
Second, Condition. If the hen under consideration is an egg
type, she must be kept in proper bodily condition by supplying
her with the right quantity and quality of food that will fur-
nish her with vitality to produce the number of eggs required
of her. Third, Type. . She must be of a type that everything
she consumes is used in producing the desired effect, whether
it is meat, whether it is eggs, or whether it is the maximum
amount of eggs and meat that a dual purpose hen can produce.
With the reader bearing the above three propositions in mind.

26

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

namely, Capacity, Condition and Type, we will proceed to
show how to judge the hen with the least amount of time and
labor.

Figure I. — Showing Hens in House.

Figure 1 shows the interior of an open front colony house,
largely used around Petaluma. The roosts are connected to
the house by hinges so they can be hooked up out of the way
while cleaning the house or examining the hens as in the
present case. These houses are usually about 8 feet wide and
10 feet deep inside, with 4 feet posts and pitch roof. These
houses are open front with the exception of 18 inches on each
side, as can be seen on one side, wlhere hens are going out of
house into catching coop. When hens move too slow to suit,
one or more persons (children will do) can take grain sack by
bottom side in one hand and top side in the other hand and go
into house holding sacks spread apart and moving gently close
to floor or ground and drive the hens into the catching coop.
When coop is full shut down slide door on outside to prevent
hens returning to house.

Some readers may have long houses, holding five hundred
hens or more. In. this case you will need a panel, run diagonal-

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 27

ly across the house, to a point near the opening, where the
hens go in and out of the house, as in Fig. 1 1-2. This panel
can be as long as required for the width of the house and made
in sections if desired and should be six feet or more high.

Figure ll/2. — Showing Two Inch Wire Panel Placed Diagonally Across
House Holding 2,000 Hens.

Figure 2. — Showing Hens in Catching Crate.

28

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

Figure 2. Shows hens in the coop, when there is enough
in we shut clown the slide door and proceed as in Fig. 3.

Figure 3. — Showing How Hens Are Taken Out of Catching Crate.

Fig. 3. Note the slide door on top of the crate, we open
this just enough to admit our arm while we grasp the hen firm-
ly by both legs, so she can't twist around and injure herself.
A slide door is better than a hinged door as you can open the
former just enough to take out the hen without so much dan-
ger of any of the other hens escaping.

Fig. 4. Note, how the right arm is held in Fig. 4, this is
not the right way but it is the wjay most persons hold the left
arm when they recive their first lesson. Now note how the
left arm is held, this is the right position and it is difficult for
me to teach students to hold their arms this way. I have to
drill them repeatedly before they will do so.

Fig. 5. Shows how the writer holds a bird to ascertain
its capacity by holding it this wray. After long practice he
is enabled to inspect one in a few seconds by having three
parties to hand him the birds and to take them from him. A
small light hen or pullet is best to practice with.

THE CALL OF THE HEN

29

Figure 4. — Showing Right and Wrong Way to Hold Arms.

Figure 5. — Showing How a Hen may be Held while Testing Capacity.

30

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

Figure 6. — Showing Where the Hen's Head Should Be So

See Anything.

She Cannot

Fig. 6. Shows where the head of the bird should be. You
will note that her eyes are covered up so she can't see and that
has a tendency to keep her quiet while you examine her.

Fig. 7. Gives an example of testing the capacity of a
hen. The hand is placed on the abdomen between the two
pelvic bones and the rear of the breast bone, the left hand
holding the legs is turned under enough to bring the thighs
away from the point of the breast bone so that the thighs will
not interfere with measuring the depth of the abdomen. The
depth of the abdomen will v*ary with different hens. Some will
be one finger (a finger means the width of a finger the widest
way. I have called it three-fourth of an inch) between the
two pelvic bones, (sometimes called lay bones or vent bones)
and the rear of the breast bone. Some hens will be two fingers
between the two pelvic bones and the rear of the bre/ast bone.
Some will be three fingers. Some hens will be four fingers.
Some will be five fingers, some will be six fingers, and occas-
ionally one will be seven fingers between the two pelvic bones
and the rear of the breast bone. The depth of the abdomen

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

31

indicates the capacity or the ability of the bird to consume and
assimilate food and it applies to all breeds, except that every-
thing else being equal the longer bodied hen having more

Figure 7. — Showing How to Test Capacity.

room for the digestive machinery, would have some advantage
over the shorter bodied hen.

Fig. 8. This indicates how to hold a hen when you
examine her for condition. This is one of the most difficult
and serious problems a poultryman has to deal with. To illus-
trate, I will cite one case out of hundreds that have come under
my observation. A gentleman wrote me to call on him as he
was having trouble with his hens. When I arrived at his place
he told me when he fed his hens well, he got lots of eggs, but
some of his hens died. Then when he did not feed them so
well they did not lay so many eggs, but none of them died. He
said he had repeated this a number of times with the a,ame
results. He said the ones that died wer^ ^s fat as butter. I
picked up one of the hens. She was in prime condition for the
market. I. picked up another one, she was very thin. I ex-
amined all his hens. I found he had, like a great m/iny poultry-
men, three distinct types of hens, the egg type, the dual pur-

32

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

pose type, and the meat type. As he had fancy birds in all the
different types he did not want to dispose of any of his flock, so
I segregated them into three divisions, the egg type, the dual
purpose type, and the meat type. After that he fed the egg
'ype ail the grain they could clean up in the scratching shod,
and kept a balance ration of dry ground feed before them all
•;he time. The dual purpose hens were fed all the grain they
could clean up in the scratching sheds with a small amount
oi dry ground feed each day. The meat type hens were fed

Figure 8.— Showing How to Test Condition.

a smaller amount of grain in the scratching shed, with a
couple of feeds each week of dry ground mash, just enough to
keep them in condition. After this he had no more trouble
with his hens not laying in the proper season, and dying from
being too fat. He would occasionally pick up hens in
the different pens and note their condition and feed them ac-
cordingly. He told me later that before he had taken the les-
sons he Had been working completely in the dark, but now he
understood the matter thoroughly and knew what to do.

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

33

Figure 9. — Showing One Movement That Has Proved an Aid in Testing Type

Figure 10.-— Showing Another Movement that has Proved an Aid in

Testing Type.

34

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

Fig. 9. After examining the hen as in Fig. 8, place the
hand as in Fig. 9, and hold right hand firmly enough ro pre-
vent her from slipping down.

Fig. 10, then, move the left hand down as in Fig. 10, and
hold left hand iirin enough to keep her in place while removing
right hand.

TYPE

Fig. 11. Now brush feathers away from vent with back
of hand and grasp end of pelvic bone so that it comes flush
with outside of ringers as in Fig 11. This indicates the Type
of the bird. Some will be one-sixteenth (1-16) of an inch thick

Figure 11.— Shows Method of Testing Type.

including the flank as held between the thumb and fore-finger
as seen in Fig. 11 and will vary all the way up to one ?and a
quarter ( 1 1-4) inches, including bone, gristle, fat and flank as
seen in Fig. 31.

The reader is aware by this time that we are in the chapter
pertaining to Type, the last of the three classes that is neces-
sary to divide poultry into in order to make a scientific class-

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 35

iiication to enable one to arrive at the approximate value of
the "Individual Bird" as an Egg or as a Meat proposition,
(and without any regard as to its value as a breeder which
will be shown later). I wish to repeat here that Type is con-
trolled wholly by temperament. We must select the tempera-
ment or combinations of temperaments that suit our purpose
and then with the desired capacity and by scientific feeding so
as to keep the subject in proper condition, poultry culture will
become more of a science with the majority of poultrymen
than it is at present. In order to prepare the reader for what
is to follow, I will divide poultry into three distinct classes, as
to temperaments.

First — the hen that will produce the largest amount of
eggs with the smallest amount of meat possible for her capac-
ity is of the nervous temperament. The hen which uses one
half of her vitality in producing eggs, and the other half of her
vitality in producing meat, in other words, the dual purpose
hen, is a combination of both the sanguine and bilious temper-
aments and is called the hen with the sanguine-bilious-temper-
ament.

The hen who produces the largest amount of flesh and
the smallest amount of eggs, consistent with her capacity is
of the lymphatic temperament. In a fowl all the different tem-
peraments and their different degrees of combinations are indi-
cated by the Pelvic Bones. In the horse they are indicated
largely by the breed. The Arabian, the ideal running and trot-
ting horse is a good type of the nervous temperament. The
coach horse, of the sanguine-bilious temperament, and the
Clyde is *i good type of the lymphatic temperament.

In cattle we have a good example of the nervous tempera-
ment in the Jersey, and of the lymphatic in the beef family of
Durham, also Hereford and Polled Angus ; while the Holstein
and Ayrshire cattle are good types of the sanguine-bilious
combined. I have made this deviation so I could offer to my
poultry friends this thought, that there are certain laws in
nature that have no regard for our theories and the better we
understand these laws, the less liable we are to make mis-
takes.

36

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

CHAPTER IV.
CAPACITY.

In the preceding chapters, we have given the reader an
idea of the method we use in judging the value of a hen for
the purpose we wTish her for. In the succeeding chapters, we
will explain the method in detail. First we will take up capac-
ity.

Figure 12. — One Finger Abdomen. (Capacity.)
Fig. 12. Shows a hen with only one finger capacity, (3 4
of an inch) between the two Pelvic Bones and the rear of the
Breast Bone.

Figure 13.— Two Finger Abdomen. (Capacity.)

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

37

Fig. 13. Shows a hen two fingers capacity, (1 1-2 inches)
between the Two Pelvic Bones and rear of the Breast Bone.

Figure 14.^Three Finger Abdomen. (Capacity.)

Fig. 14. Shows a hen with three fingers capacity (2 1-4
inches) between the two Pelvic Bones and the rear of the
Breast Bone.

Figure 15.— Four Finger Abdomen. (Capacity.)

Fig. 15. Shows a hen four fingers dapacity (3 inches) be-
tween the two Pelvic Bones and rear of Breast Bone.

38

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

Figure 16. — Five Finger Abdomen. (Capacity.)

Fig. 16. Shows a hen with five fingers capacity (3 3-4
inches) between the two Pelvic Bones and the rear of the
Breast Bone.

Figure 17 — Six Finger Abdomen. (Capacity.)

Fig. 17. Shows a hen with six fingers capacity (4 1-2
inches) between the two Pelvic Bones and the rear of the
Breast Bone.

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

CHAPTER V.
CONDITION.

We Next Come To Condition.

Figure IS. — Showing Hen in Very Poor Condition.
Fig. 18. Shows hen in very poor condition.

Figure 19.— Showing Hen in Good Condition.

Fig. 19. Shows a hen in perfect condition as indicated by
her full breast.

40

THE CALL OF THE HEX.

Figure 20. — Showing Hen One Finger Out of Condition.

Fig. 20. Is somewhat thinner as indicated by breast bone.
We call her one finger out of condition.

The degrees of condition show the amount of shrinkage
in abdominal depth. One finger out of condition, shows she has
shrunken one finger in depth of abdomen. Two fingers out of
condition shows she has shrunken two fingers in depth of
abdomen. Three fingers out of condition shows she has
shrunken three fingers in depth of abdomen.

Figure 21. — Showing Hen Two Fingers Out of Condition.

Fig. 21, is still thinner, as reader can see by the breast
bone. We call her two fingers out of condition.

THE CALL OF THE HEN

Fig. 22, is still thinner, this we call three fingers out of
condition and is about as thin as a hen usually gets if there is
any chance for her ever being of any use.

Figure 22. — Showing Hen Three Fingers Out of Condition.

Figure 23. — Showing where the Imaginary Lines Should be Drawn on the
First Joint of the Forefinger in Order to Judge the Condition
of the Hen or Pullet.

Fig. 23, shows about how the first joint of an index finger
must be divided up to determine the three degrees of condi-
tion.

42

THE CALL OP THE HEN.

CHAPTER VI.
TYPE.

We now come to "Type/' This in indicated by the thick-
ness of the "Pelvic Bones" together with the flesh, fat gristle
and cartilage on same. (See page 17.)

Figure 24. — 1-16 Inch Pelvic Bone.

Fig. 24, shows a hen whose Pelvic Bones are 1-16, (one-
sixteenth of an inch thick) that is about as thick as a piece of
cardboard that paper boxes anr made of and the reader must
bear in mind that the measurement of the Pelvic Bones does not
mean the bone alone with the skin, flesh, gristle and fat scrap-
ed off, as some may suppose, but with all the above included

Figure 25.— 1-8 Inch Pelvic Bone.

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

43

Fig. 25. Shows a hen with Pelvic Bones one-eighth (1-8)
of an inch thick.

Figure 26. — 1-4 Inch. Pelvic Bone.

Fig. 26. Shows a hen with Pelvic Bones one quarter
(1-4) of an inch thick.

Figure 27.— 3-8 Inch Pelvic Bone.

Fig. 27. Shows a hen with Pelvic Bones three-eights
(3-8) of an inch thick.

44

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

Figure 28. — V2 Inch Pelvic Bone.

Fig. 28. Shows a hen with Pelvic Bones one-half (l«-2)
of an inch thick.

Figure 29. — % Inch Pelvic Bone.

Fig. 29. Shows a hen with Pelvic Bones three-quarters
(3-4) of an inch thick.

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

45

Figure 30. — 1 Inch Pelvic Bone.

Fig. 30. Shows a hen with Pelvic Bones one (1) inch
thick.

Figure 31. — 1*4 Inch Pelvic Bone.

Fig. 31. Shows a hen with Pelvic Bones one and one-quar-
ter (1 1-4) inches thick.

46

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

Now, please bear in mind that everything shown and
related here refers to Leghorns, and applies to other breeds
as well, only in a lesser degree, so small, that it amounts to
almost nothing as I will show later.

Fie-ure 32. — Crooked Pelvic Bone. "A. A." Position One.

A. A. Fig. 32. Shows the Pelvic Bones with flesh cleaned
off.

B. B. Fig. 33. Shows the Pelvic Bones with flesh strip
ped off farther and painted black so they will show up
better, you will notice that the Pelvic Bones in Fig. 32 and
Fig. 33 are crooked. The majority of poultry have more or
less crooked Pelvic Bones. Sometimes the bones come close
together which is an obstruction in laying and should be bred
away from as much as possible.

Fig. 34 shows perfect Pelvic Bones. In this form they
are very easy to take between the thumb and finger, also when
the hen wants to lay, the vent has a chance to fall down be-
tween the Pelvic Bones, which allows the egg to be delivered
without straining on the part of the hen. Not every poultry-

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

47

Figure 33. — Crooked Pelvic Bone. "B. B." Position Two.

man, but every poultry-woman has seen cases where a hen
has gone on the nest and after a couple of hours commence to
cackle her head off. Presently we hear the whole flock take
up the chorus and going to see whjat the trouble is we find the
hens holding an "Old Maids' Convention", and declaring they
will never lay another egg, it hurts them so much to do so.
On examining them we find the Pelvic Bones so crooked they
come together like the horns on a Jersey cow, and when the
hens lay, instead of the vent dropping down between the pelvic
bones allowing the egg to be released in an easy manner in
a few minutes after the hen goes on the nest, the egg is forced
to be delivered between the Pelvic Bones and Tail Bone, thus
prolonging the agony of the hen sometimes for hours, when
if she was built right as in Fig. 34 she would be relieved of the
egg without pain in a few minutes. And instead of wasting
vitality in getting relieved of the egg she would be rustling
around for material to build another one land thus add at least
20 per cent to her egg producing value. This matter of crook-
ed Pelvic Bones is more frequent in some breeds than in
others and is a serious matter that is very easily remedied by
breeding only from birds with the straightest Pelvic Bones,

48

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

Figure 34. — Most Perfect Pelvic Bones "C. C."

especially looking after the Male Birds as one m&le bird with
crooked Pelvic Bones will transmit this defect to all of his
daughters.

When I came to Petaluma 1 found whole flocks of thous-
ands of hens with crooked bones, now they are very rare. The
poultry breeders soon caught on to my Straight and Thin Pel-
vic Bone idea, and I think the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals should recognize my service in relieving
millions of hens of the agony of parturition.

The reader will please bear in mind that Fig. 34 represents
100 per cent Pelvic Bone, and holds the same relation to Pelvic
Bones in general that a bird that scores 100 in the show room
holds to all other high class birds.

A 250 egg type cock bird or cockerel with Pelvic Bones
like cut 34 would be of inestimable value. The writer has cock
birds like the above that he would not part with for any money,
for the reason that it would take several years breeding to
produce their equals.

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 49

If the reader has male birds whose Pelvic Bones are far
enough apart that he can grasp the ends with thumb and finger
when measuring the thickness, he should be satisfied until he
can do better.

I have found more straight Pelvic Bones in some strains of
Orpingtons than in any other breed. So long as the Pelvic
Bones are comparatively straight after leaving the frame, and
do not curve abrubtly toward the ends, the birds may be used as
a breeder with the assurance that some of the offspring will
show a wonderful improvement in this respect. Figs. 32, 33, 34
are extreme cases.

CHAPTER VII.
THE FIRST LAYING YEAR.

What is meant by the first laying year? All old poul-
trymen know what the above means and I have no doubt
some of my readers may be impatient with me for explaining
little things that are so familiar to them. But they will re-
member that poultry parlance is not all contained in the dic-
tionary, and a grofat deal of the contents of this book may be
Greek to the beginners in the poultry business who will read
this work. For this reason I cannot be too plain in my lan-
guage, or too careful of details in explaining matters. The
first laying year has nothing whatever to do with the age of a
hen or a pullet. I have had hens that had passed 'their first
laying year when they were 16 months old. On the other
hand I have seen hens that were over four years old that h&d
not commenced on their first laying year. The hen that had
passed her first laying year when she was 16 months old had.
commenced to lay when she w)as four months old, while the
hens that were over four years old had never laid an egg. So
the reader will see the first laying year commences wi"-i the
first egg a puliet lays, and en^i> cue year from that date, when
her second laying year commences. Some pullets will com-
mence to lay at four months old, While others of exact:/ the
same type, fed and cared iov in the same manner will not l.iy
before they ere eight months old, owing to different environ-
ments. Everything else oc ng equal, poultry will develop
faster on a warm dry sandy soil than they will ton :i black

50 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

damp heavy soil. And they will mature much sooner in a
good corn country where it is warm in the shade and w^irin
at night than they will in a poor corn country where it is cool
at night and cool in the day time in the shade. I have raised
Leghorn pullets that were fully developed in size and form
and laid a full sized egg when they were four months old.

It can be done in Massachusetts, New York, New Hamp-
shire and Minnesota, and in parts of California where the
nights are so warm that one can sleep comfortably under a
sheet only. But not where you have to cuddle under a lot of
blankets on a summer night to keep warm.

CHAPTER VIII.
THE SELECTION OF TYPES.

If the reader has practiced handling a hen as in Figures 5-
6-7-8-9-10 and 11, we will proceed with a lesson in judging
hens as to the number of eggs they will lay their first laying
year.

We will look for a small hen to commence with, as
she will be easier to handle. Having our hen, we will hold

CHART 1.
One Finger Abdomen

1-16 pelvic bone 36 eggs

1-8 pelvic bone 32 eggs

3-16 pelvic bone 28 eggs

1-4 pelvic bone 24 eggs

5-16 pelvic bone 20 eggs

3-8 pelvic bone 16 eggs

7-16 pelvic bone 12 eggs

1-2 pelvic bone 8 eggs

9-16 pelvic bone .... 4 eggs

5-8 pelvic bone 0 eggs

her as nearly as we can as in Fig. 5, and try to have her head as
in Fig. 6 so she can see nothing. She will then be easier to
handle. Place hand across her abdomen as in Fig. 7. She may

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 51

be a one finger abdomen hen as in Fig. 12. Then hold her as
in Fig. 8. Her breast may be as in Fig. 19, if so she will be in
good condition. Next go through movements as in Fig. 9 and
10 and hold her and examine her Pelvic Bone as in Fig. 11.
Her Pelvic Bone may be one sixteenth (1-16) of an inch thick
as in Fig. 24. Now look on Chart No. 1. Your hen is one
finger abdomen in good condition and Pelvic Bone is one six-
teenth (1-16) of an inch thick. You will see that she is a thir-
ty-six egg type hen. That means that if this hen is one of a
large number on a commercial poultry plant she is capable of
laying three dozen eggs her first laying year if she is fed and
cared for properly, barring accidents and disease. So we call
her a 36 egg type hen.

We will drop this hen and take (another from the crate
and go through the same movements, hold her as in Fig 5 or
/, with head as in Fig. 6 (she may also be a one finger abdo-
men hen as in Fig. 12) then examine for Condition as in Fig.
8. Her condition may be good as in Fig. 19, then hold as
in Fig. 9 and 10, and measure thickness of Pelvic Bone as in
Fig. 11. Her Pelvic Bone may be three eights (3-8) of an inch
thick as in Fig. 27. In that case she would read like this: One
finger abdomen, good condition, three-eights (3-8) Pelvic
Bone. Now look on Chart No. 1 and you will find she is a
16 egg type hen. We will drop her and take another from the
crate and go through the same movements as before. This hen
may be a one finger hen also, in good condition w'ith Pelvic
Bones 1-2 inch thick, as in Fig. 28, and by consulting the
chart No. 1, we find she is an 8 egg type hen.

We drop her and take another from the crate. She may
be a hen with one finger abdomen as in Fig. 12. When we ex-
amine her condition, We find she is like Fig. 20, which
indicates that she is one finger out of condition, (the subject
of condition is explained in chapter 5), her pelvic bone may be
l-16th of an inch thick as in Fig. 24. This hen will read differ-
ent from the other hen that w>as l-16th Pelvic Bone. This
hen is out of condition. She may have been in condition up to
a few weeks previous to our examination of her, the cause of
her lack of condition may be improper feed or care or both,
or it may be due to moulting or she may have been broody. In
any of these cases, it would not be the hen's fault that she was
out of condition and she should not be held responsible for it.
Her condition indicates that there is something wrong and

52 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

it's up to her owner to right the wrong, and when we do
right the wrong, the hen will come back into condition and
her abdomen will then measure two fingers instead of one fin-
ger. We must therefore read her as a two fiingered abdomen
hen, l-16th Pelvic Bone, when by looking on our Chart No. 2,
we find her capacity would be 96 eggs her first laying year if
we kept her in condition.

We will drop her and take another hen out of the crate.
This hen may be a one fingered abdomen hen as in Fig. 12.
When we examine her for condition we find her as in Fig. 21.
This indicates that she is two fingers out of condition; her
Pelvic Bone may be l-16th of an inch. Under her present
condition, she might lay 36 eggs her first laying year, whereas,
if she was kept in good condition she might1 lay 180 eggs.

WTe will drop this hen and take another one. She may be
two fingers abdomen and her breast bone may be as in Fig.
19. Her Pelvic Bone may be l-16th of an inch. We would

CHART 2.
Two Fingers Abdomen.

1-16 pelvic bone 96 eggs

1-8 pelvic bone 87 eggs

3-16 pelvic bone 78 eggs

1-4 pelvic bone 69 eggs

5-16 pelvic bone. 60 eggs

3-8 pelvic bone 51 eggs

7-16 pelvic bone 42 eggs

1-2 pelvic bone 33 eggs

9-16 pelvic bone 24 eggs

5-8 pelvic bone 15 eggs

11-16 pelvic bone 6 eggs

3-4 pelvic bone 0 eggs

read her as a two fingered hen in good condition, Pelvic Bones
l-16th of an inch thick. We will look on Chart two at Pelvic
Bones 1-16 and find she is a 96 egg type hen.

We will drop her and take another from the crate. She
may be two fingers abdomen and two fingers out of condition
as in Fig. 21, with Pelvic Bones l-4th of an inch thick. She
would read two fingers abdomen and two fingers out of condi-

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 53

tion. She would be four fingers abdomen if in condition and
1-4 Pelvic Bones. Being a four fingered hen (if in
condition), we will look on No. 4 Chart, at 1-4 Pelvic Bones
and find she is a 175 egg type hen. We will drop her.

Take another. She may be a two fingered abdomen hen as
in Fig. 13, in good condition as in Fig. 19, with Pelvic Bones
3-4 of an inch thick, as n Fig. 29. She would read two finger
abdomen, good condition, 3-4 of an inch Pelvic Bones. We
will look on Chart No. 2 to 3-4 Pelvic Bones and find this hen
will lay nothing. This does not mean that she is an obsolutely
barren hen, that she will never lay an egg, (I will expl'ain this
when we get to the six finger abdomen hen). She may lay a
few, perhaps half a dozen, in the spring, when the crows lay
but as a commercial proposition, she Will have no more value
than the hen that never laid an egg. Everything she con-
sumes, goes to the making of flesh except what she uses in
bodily maintenance. We will drop her and take another. She
may be a three finger abdomen hen as in Fig. 14. Her condi-
tion may be as in Fig. 19, with Pelvic Bones as in Fig. 24. She

CHART 3.

Three Fingers Abdomen.

1-16 pelvic bone 180 eggs

1-8 pelvic bone 166 eggs

3-16 pelvic bone 152 eggs

1-4 pelvic bone 138 eggs

5-16 pelvic bone 124 eggs

3-8 pelvic bone 110 eggs

7-16 pelvic bone 96 eggs

1-2 pelvic bone 82 eggs

9-16 pelvic bone 68 eggs

5-8 pelvic bone 54 eggs

11-16 pelvic bone 40 eggs

3-4 pelvic bone 26 eggs

13-16 pelvic bone 12 eggs

7-8 pelvic bone .. 0 eggs

would read three finger abdomen, in good condition, 1-16
(one sixteenth) Pelvic Bone. We look on No. 3 chart at 1-16
Pelvic Bone and find that this hen is a 180 egg type.

54 THE CALL, OF THE HEN.

We will drop her and take another. She may be another
three finger abdomen hen like Fig. 14. She may be in good
condition like Fig. 19 and her Pelvic Bone may be 1-2 inch
thick, like Fig. 28. She would read three finger abdomen,
good condition, one-half inch Pelvic Bone. We will look on
No. 3 Chart, at 1-2 in. Pelvic Bone and find this hen is an
82 egg type hen. We will take another hen. She may be
three fingers abdomen like Fig. 14. She may be in good con-
dition like No. 19 and her Pelvic Bones may be 3-4 inch (three-
fourths inch thick), as in Fig. 29. We will read her as a three
fingered hen, in good condition, 3-4 Pelvic Bone. We will look
on No. 3 chart at 3-4 inch Pelvic Bone and find she is a twenty-
six egg type hen.

We will pick up another hen. She may be three fingers
capacity as in Fig. 14. She may be three fingers out of condi-
tion as in Fig. 22, and her Pelvic Bones may be 1-16 of an
inch thick as in Fig. 24. We would read this hen as three
fingers abdomen; three fingers out of condition and l-16th
(one sixteenth) Pelvic Bone. When a hen is three fingers out
of condition, she is in a serious way. She may have been set-
ting or laying heavy and have been underfed. In either case,
good care and plenty of the right kind of feed will bring her
back into condition, provided she has not contracted tubercu-
losis, (going light) or some other wasting disease, I will
cite a couple of cases, out of hundreds that have come under
my observation, one was a barred rock hen that I intended to
set on duck eggs. She was six fingers abdomen, in good con-
dition when I put her on the nest, and 1-4 inch Pelvic Bones.
That indicated that she was a 235 egg type hen. She was on
the nest two weeks before the duck eggs arrived and four
weeks on the duck eggs making six weeks setting. Owing to
stress of other vork and being confined in an out of the way
place she was somewhat neglected and when the ducklings
were hatched she was three fingers abdomen and three
finge's out of condition thus indicating a 138 egg type hen.
Six weeks later she was laying and had developed to six fin-
gers abdomen which was her normal condition. Another case
was where a gentleman was in a class that took instructions.
After the close of the meeting he brought a hen that was
three fingers out of condition. He said that was his best hen
and asked me how many eggs she would lay. She was three

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 55

fingers abdomen, three ringers out of condition and 1-16 pelvic
bones. Her head and actions indicated perfect health. I told
him she might lay 180 eggs her first laying year if her condi-
tion had been the same as it was at the present time but if
she was my hen I thought I might be able to make her Iny
280 eggs. You don't feed her half enough. He replied: "That
is the only hen I have that lays a white egg. I got her when a
pullet before she commenced to lay. She has been laying1 about
a year and has laid 176 eggs. I Wad a small lot of hens at the
time that were so fat they were dying and I cut down their
feed and have fed them sparingly ever since so they
would not get too fat and die. I went to his place and found
he had three types of hens, the typical meat type (one with
pelvic bones one inch and one-eighth thick), some with pelvic
bones a half inch thick, and this hen that layed the white eggs
w*hose pelvic bones were 1-16 of an inch thick. I told him to
segregate his hens into three lots, and feed them according to
their type. Give the egg type all the grain they could clean
up each day in scratching shed with a dry balanced rrtash be-
fore them all the time.. The dual purpose type hens should
be fed all the grain they wished to scratch for, with an occas-
ional mash and the beef type hens should be fed what grain
they could clean up in the scratching shed in about an hour.
The litter should be good and deep in all cases. I did not
mention charcoal, grit, shells and green stuff as that is not my
business. Every man who takes a poultry paper knows that
part of the business and every person who keeps poultry
should take a poultry paper in order to keep 'posted on cur-
rent poultry topics.

The gentlenuan wrote me over a year later that he had
succeeded in bringing the hen up to normal condition as in
Fig. 19, but after laying a while she went back to five fingers
abdomen and one finger out of condition and had layed 238
eggs her next laying year.

We will now take another hen. She may be four fingers
abdomen as in Fig. 15, in good condition as in Fig. 19 and her
pelvic bones may be (1-16) one sixteenth of an inch thick as
in Fig. 24. She would read four fingers abdomen, good condi-
tion 1-16 pelvic bone. If we consult No. 4 chart we will find
she is a 220 egg type hen. The next hen may be also four
fingers abdomen as in Fig. 15, in good condition as in Fig. 19,

56 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

with pelvic bones 1-2 inch as in Fig. 28. She would read four
lingers abdomen in good condition one half inch pelvic bones.
We will see by chart No. 4 that this is a 115 egg type hen. Our
next hen may be a four-finger abdomen hen, condition good,
pelvic bones 1 inch thick. We would read her as four-finger
abdomen, condition good, pelvic bones one inch. If we look
on No. 4 chart at one inch pelvic bones we will find this hen
will lay approximately nothing.

CHART 4.
Four Finger Abdomen.

1-16 pelvic bone 220 eggs

1-8 pelvic bone 205 eggs

3-16 pelvic bone 190 eggs

1-4 pelvic bone 175 eggs

5-16 pelvic bone 160 eggs

3-8 pelvic bone 145 eggs

7-16 pelvic bone 130 eggs

1-2 pelvic bone 115 eggs

9-16 pelvic bone 100 eggs

5--8 pelvic bone 85 eggs

11-16 pelvic bone 70 eggs

3-4 pelvic bone 55 eggs

13-16 pelvic bone 40 eggs

7-8 pelvic bone 25 eggs

15-16 pelvic bone 40 eggs

1 in. pelvic bone 0 eggs

Our next hen may be a four fingered abdomen hen one
finger out of condition, 1-8 pelvic bone. She would indicate a
205 egg type hen under her present condition but we would
read her four fingers abdomen one out of condition that
would mean a five finger hen if in condition one eighth pelvic
bone. We look on No. 5 chart at 1-8 pelvic bone and find she
is a 235 egg type hen.

Our next hen may be a five fingered abdomen hen as in
Fig. 16. She may be in good condition as in No. 19, and
her pelvic bones may be 1-16 of an inch as in Fig. 24. She will
read five fingers abdomen, condition good, pelvic bones 1-16.
We look on No. 5 chart at 1-16 pelvic bones and find she is a
250 egg type hen.

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 57

CHART 5.
Five Fingers Abdomen.

1-16 pelvic bone 250 eggs

1-8 pelvic bone 235 eggs

3-16 pelvic bone 220 eggs

1-4 pelvic bone 205 eggs

5-16 pelvic bone 190 eggs

3-8 pelvic bone 175 eggs

7-16 pelvic bone 160 eggs

1-2 pelvic bone 145 eggs

9-16 pelvic bone 130 eggs

5-8 pelvic bone 115 eggs

11-16 pelvic bone 100 eggs

3-4 pelvic bone 85 eggs

13-16 pelvic bone 70 eggs

7-8 pelvic bone 55 eggs

15-16 pelvic bone 40 eggs

1 in. pelvic bone 25 eggs

1 1-16 pelvic bone 10 eggs

1 1-8 pelvic bone 0 eggs

Our next hen may be a five finger abdomen hen as in Fig.
16; she may be in good condition as in No. 19, and
her pelvic bones may be 3-8 thick as in Fig. 27. We would read
her as five fingers abdomen, good condition, and 3-8 pelvic
bones. No. 5 chart would show us that she was a 175 egg type
hen. The m-.xt hen may be a five finger abdomen hen, condi-
tion good, peivic bones one inch thick. She would read five
fingers abdomen, good condition, one inch pelvic bones. The

chart would indicate that she was a 25 egg type hen.

The next hen may be a six fingered hen as in Fig. 17. She
may be in good condition and her pelvic bones may be 1 1-4
inches thick (one and one fourth inches thick) as in Fig. 31.
I hear the reader say what breed of a hen has pelvic bones as
thick as that, or do you mean that both of her pelvic bones
arc one and one fourth inches thick counting them both to-
gether? No, I mean that each one of her pelvic bones is one
and one fourths of an inch thick. Counting the bone, gristle,
fat and flesh (flank) both of the pelvic bones would be two
and one half inches. When we speak of pelvic bones being so,
and so thick we always means one of them. And as to breed,

58

THE CALL OF THE HEN

this hen is a single comb white leghorn. She is the typical beef
type. You will see by No. 6 chart that she will lay practically
nothing and here I will explain this matter. A man once
brought me a two and a half year old hen that he had trap
nested for two years, and asked me to tell him how many
eggs she had layed her first laying year. I told him she had
never laid an egg. Her abdomen was six fingers, she was in
good condition, her pelvic bones were one and one fourth of

CHART 6.

Six Fingers Abdomen.
Nervous Temperament.

1-16 pelvic bone 280 eggs

1-8 pelvic bone 265 eggs

3-16 pelvic bone 250 eggs

1-4 pelvic bone .. 235 eggs

5-16 pelvic bone 220 eggs

Sanguine Temperament.

3-8 pelvic bone 205 eggs

7-16 pelvic bone 190 eggs

1-2 pelvic bone 175 eggs

9-16 pelvic bone 160 eggs

5-8 pelvic bone 145 eggs

Bilious Temperament.

11-16 pelvic bone 130 eggs

3-4 pelvic bone 115 eggs

13-16 pelvic bone 100 eggs

7-8 pelvic bone 85 eggs

15-16 pelvic bone 70 eggs

Lymphatic Temperament.

in. pelvic bone 55 eggs

1-16 pelvic bone 40 eggs

1-8 pelvic bone 25 eggs

3-16 pelvic bone 10 eggs

1-4 pelvic bone 0 eggs

an inch thick. He cautioned me to be careful as he had always
trap-nested his hens and his record showed how many eggs

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 59

they had laid. I replied if that is the case her record shows
that she has never laid an egg. He said no more then but
brought me another hen asking me how many will she lay. I
examined her for capacity. I found she was a six fingered ab-
domen hen, her condition was good, her pelvic bones were
1-16 of an inch thick. They were both alike as to thickness. I
questioned him as to how he had fed her and if she had been
sick her first laying year. As he is one of the best breeders in
the United States I could depend on him knowing what he
was talking about. I asked him then to take off his hat. I
could see by the shape of his head he was a strictly honest
man. I then told him that I had never raised that breed of
hens. But if it was a Leghorn it might lay 280 eggs its first
laying year and if a Plymouth Rock it might lay 270. He re-
plied her trap nest record shows she laid 276 eggs from the
time she commenced to lay in her pullet year, until she had
ilaid one year. That's alright," I replied, "but what about the
first hen we examined?" "We have never found any in the
trap nest from her," he said, "but she might be in the hab't
of laying in the yard." And as he was offered $1000 for her he
was very anxious to get some chickens from her. I explained
to him that while most typical beef hens could be made to lay
a very small number of eggs in the spring When the crows
laid, by feeding them a little lean meat, and shrunken wheat
and bran on a grass plot of white clover (if the blossoms of the
white clover are clipped off) that his hen could not be made
to lay as she was a barren hen as indicated by the rigid cord
that connected both of the pelvic bones together thus indicat-
ing that nature never intended her to lay. I could name a num-
ber of professors and physicians that have told me they have
discovered the same condition after they had taken my les-
sons.

The reader will please bear in mind that the two pelvic
bones of a hen are not always of the same thickness. Some
hens may have one pelvic bone thicker than the other. When
this is the case add the two together and half of the number
will be the right thickness to judge by. For instance, if one
pelvic bone was one-eighth of an inch and the other was one-
fourth of an inch the added thickness would be three-eighths of
an inch. Dividing this would give you three-sixteenths as the
thickness of one pelvic bone. Where one bone is thicker than

60 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

the other the thinnest one is on the left side of the hen.

Our next hen may be another six fingers abdomen hen as
in Fig. 17. She may be in good condition as in Fig. 19, her pel-
vic bones may be 1-8 inch thick as in Fig. 25. She would be a
265 egg type hen.

Our next hen may be a six finger abdomen hen in good
condition, pelvic bones 3-8. She would read six fingers abdo-
men, good condition, pelvic bones 3-8 of an inch. By consult-
ing chart No. 6 we will find this is a 205 egg type hen.

Our next hen may be a six finger abdomen hen in good
condition, 1-2 inch pelvic bones. This hen will be 175 egg
type hen.

Our next hen may be a six finger abdomen hen in good
condition, pelvic bones one inch. We will look on No. 6
chart and find that one inch pelvic bones indicates the 55 egg
type hen.

Our next hen may be a four finger abdomen hen. She may
be two fingers out of condition as in Fig. 21 and her pelvic
bones may be one sixteenth of an inch thick. We would read
her as four fingers abdomen, two fingers out of condition. This
would make her a six finger hen if in condition. We look on
No. 6 chart to 1-16 pelvic bone and find our last hen is a 280
egg type hen if in condition, and its up to us to put her in con-
dition and keep her there as nearly as possible.

I will admit it is a hard proposition to keep the non-setting
typical egg type hen in condition but the man that comes the
nearest to doing so is the best feeder. I will have more to
say in regard to the matter of condition in the chapter on
judging utility fowls at the Poultry Shows. This work is a
matter of line upon line and I must necessarily repeat the
same matter in some respects time after time. But as this is
an educational more than an entertaining proposition I hope
that my readers will bear with me.

As I have said before there are three types of hens. The
hen listed on chart No. 1 as 1-16 pelvic hone is a typical egg
type hen. Because all she consumes over bodily maintenance
goes to the production of eggs. The hen listed as 3-8 pelvic
bone is a dual purpose hen, half of her vitality is used in pro-
ducing eggs and half in producing meat. The hen listed as 5-8

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 61

is a typical meat type hen. All she consumes goes to the pro-
duction of meat, except what she uses in bodily maintenance.
The hen listed as 1-16 pelvic bone on chart No. 2 is a typical
egg tyPe nen- The hen listed as 3-8 pelvic bone on same
chart is a dual purpose type hen and the one listed as
3-4 pelvic bones is a typical meat type hen the same rule fol-
lows in all the charts. All the hens listed as 1-16 pelvic bone
are typical egg type hens and they can't be made to pay as a
meat proposition. The hens listed in the center of each chart
are the dual purpose hens. They can be used as an egg and as
a meat proposition. The hens listed on the bottom of each chart
are the meat type hens. Nature has fitted them for the pro-
duction of flesh and there is no human agency that can change
them to a paying egg proposition.

Between the above three distinct types, there are combin-
ations of each adjoining types this allows sufficient latitude for
the preference of each individual breeder. A person can
breed the typical egg type hen and cock bird with pelvic bones
1-16 of an inch thick. If he thinks this type is too delicate he
can breed from the 3-16 pelvic bone stock. This is my favorite
type. T,he hen of this type is better able to withstand the vi-
cissitudes of the poultry yard than her finer bred sisters. I will
have more to say along this line in the chapter on broilers. I
think we have given sufficient examples in chapters 3-4-5-6
and 7 to enable the reader to examine a hen so he may be able
to arrive at her approximate value, for the purpose he wishes
to use her for.

In a previous chapter we have said there is occasionally
found a hen seven fingers abdomen. If the reader finds one
he can score her by chart No. 6 and add fifteen eggs to the
number indicated. For instance, if the hen is in condition and
measures seven fingers abdomen and her pelvic bones are 3-8
thick, chart No. 6 would indicate she was a 205 egg type bird,
we then add 15 eggs to the 205 which gives the hen 220 egg
capacity. If she is five finger abdomen and two fingers out of
condition we call her seven finger abdomen and proceed as
above which gives us the same results, There are two other
matters 1 wish to call the attention of the reader to in this
place. One is that I have found hens occasionally that laid a
great deal better by the trap nest than they scored by the
Hogan test, but it was owing to a mistake made in measuring

62 THE CALL, OF THE HEN.

their abdomen, owing to the rear of the breast bone turning
up sometimes almost an inch over normal shape, thus indicat-
ing ^ smaller abdomen than really was the case. The other
matter is a more serious one, in fact very serious in some
flocks. It is the bagging down of the abdomen over the rear
of the breast bone. Every hen used in the breeding pen should
be examined for this defect for if one of them is bred from they
are almost sure to transmit their weak ovarian system to their
offspring. Some of these hens will make remarkable egg
records for a year or so, then will never lay another egg. And
again, the eggs are liable to be very infertile and more or less
thin shelled and if you have great numbers of hens can hardly
tell when these hens stop laying for good unless you trap nest
them as their Pelvic Bones do not close up as readily as hens
in normal condition.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure in this
case as it is very easy to prevent all this trouble. I meet hun-
dreds of the above hens in my visits to poultry plants but never
have a case in my yards. I examine all my pullets when
about a year old for possible breeders. If a hen satisfies me as
to Capacity, Type and Prepotency I then hold her as if I was
testing her for capacity except that I hold her by the right leg
only. I then lay my hand on her breast so that it (my hand)
will conform to her shape and draw it slowly along her breast
bone (or keel) from front to rear. When my hand reaches the
rear, if I feel the slightest indication of her abdomen dropping
the least bit below the rear of the breast bone I reject the hen
as a breeder and thereby save myself a world of trouble in the
future.

CHAPTER IX.
PREPOTENCY.

We will take up in this chapter Prepotency, the
science of breeding poultry so that we can breed with a
definite knowledge of what we are doing and not leave it to
intuition or chance. It is an old saying that like begets like.
This seems to be true in some cases but seems not to be true
in other cases. Students of human nature can readily see
where it has apparently failed. Some children will resemble

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 63

and act like one parent and some will resemble and act like
the other parent. Then again some children will be like neither
of the parents. Breeders of horses and cattle are well aware
of the variations in offspring from the type and characteris-
tics of sire and dam. It is more through persistency in
breeding, than the general knowledge of any scientific prin-
ciple that we have succeeded in producing, the grand types of
animals we see at our State Fairs. The breeding of poultry is
no exception to the above rule. While some breeders have
good success in breeding for the desired type of bird, whether
for fancy, for eggs or for flesh, others will have very poor suc-
cess.

The purpose of this chapter is to explain to the breeder
who has had poor success a method that will enable him to
breed with the full understanding as to what he is doing. It
is a well known fact among the clothing trade, that if a woolen
manufacturer has a sample of cloth presented to him, he can
manufacture thousands of yards that will be an exact dupli-
cate of the sample. The same is true in other industries. But
suppose the reader gives an order to one of our well known
poultry breeders for 1000 pullets, to be delivered at four
months old; these pullets to be housed, fed and cared for as the
breeder designates, and to approximately lay a certain number
of eggs their first laying year, how many breeders do you sup-
pose could fiJl the order. Until a majority of them can do so the
poultry industry will not be on a business basis, but will be
more or less a gamble.

I have said that seemingly like does not beget like in
some cases. We will take, for instance, a hen that is five fin-
gered abdomen in good condition, 1-4 pelvic bones. She will
scale up as a 205 egg type hen. We will mate up a pen of
these hens with a 205 egg type cockerel or cock bird, we raise
100 pullets from this mating and they may scale 175 egg type.
We then say like does not produce like. Here is where we
make a mistake. In one sense we are right; in another we are
wrong. Nature makes no mistakes. We have mated 205 egg
type male and female and we get as a result 175 egg type pro-
duct. That's as plain as the nose on one's face and We throw
up our hands in despair and say it's all luck and chance. An-
other party mates up the same type of birds and gets a lot of
pullets that average 210 eggs their first laying year. Still an-

64 THE CALL OP THE HEN.

other party mates up the same type of birds and does not get
a chick.

The reader may smile, but this is no dream., A number
of such cases have come under my observation. One case was
that of a professor in one of the Southern California public
institutions. He had a pen of twelve Black Minorcas, headed
by a splendid looking cock bird, also a pen of twelve Andalus-
ians. He said there was something peculiar about these hens
and he wanted to know if I could detect it. I tested all the
Andalusians and told him they should average 140 eggs their
first laying year and I would expect twelve eggs out of every
thirteen to be fertile. After testing the Minorcas I told him
they would average about 160 egg type, but if they were mine
I would not set any of their eggs while they were mated to
the present cock bird, because I would not expect them to
hatch and if any did hatch they would be degenerates. He
said, "This is the second season I have bred from the birds. I
always get good hatches from the Andalusians, but although I
see the rooster serve the hens, I have never been able to hatch
a chicken from the Minorca pen." I replied, "He serves the
hens out of sympathy."

Another case was a Barred Rock hen, the only one a
neighbor had in a small flock of Houdans. He called me one
day, saying he had a remarkable pullet at his place and he
wanted me to call over and tell him how many eggs she would
lay her first laying year. She had been laying two months and
he was keeping her record. I went with him, tested the hen
and told him she might lay 250 eggs, but I did not think that
any of them would hatch. After her first laying year was up
he showed me her record. She had laid 258 eggs and al-
though he had a good Barred Rock cock bird with her and had
set a number of settings under hens he failed to hatch a single
chick. I could cite a great number of such cases.

In the first of these cases the fault wfes with the male bird.
In the last case the fault was with the hen. In both cases the
trouble was caused by a lack of Prepotency (amativeness)
and not through any defect in the anatomy of the birds. Every-
thing in the universe is governed by certain immutable laws.
If we understand these laws and can discover a way to control
them we may be able to use them to our advantage. Does the
reader ever stop to consider these matters? What in your

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 65

opinion is the greatest c'.-ort of nature? The writer things it
is the ^flFort to reproduce the species in all their different forms
of a,_ .,ute and inanimate life. If the case was otherwise this
earth would be barren of grass and shrubs, of flowers, and
fruits and of every living, moving thing on land and in the
sea What a desolate old world this would be with only bare
dirt and rocks and water. And when we consider what a won-
der/ul thing life is can we doubt that nature has made some
extraordinary provisions for controlling its inception. In the
wild state the survival of the fittest prevented degeneracy of
the species but under domestication birds cannot follow their
instincts. And their owners should be familiar with nature's
laws in order to be able to breed intelligently.

When the writer was twelve years of age he took up the
study of human nature and later had help from that great
teacher, Prof. O. S. Fowler. Years of practice in dissecting
and in anatomy and in the study of the skulls of animals and
birds gave me the opportunity to study the construction of the
different skulls, and classify them as to the known habits of the
birds or animals under consideration. The knowledge gained
in this way was of inestimable value in later research in the
selection and breeding of poultry. I am positive that without
this early training I never could have accomplished what I
have.

After raising my first lot of Leghorns in 1869 I decided to
disposed of all breeds but the Leghorns and Light Brahmas. I
said I would raise Leghorns for eggs and Brahmas for meat Up
to that time I had not paid much attention to the individual
laying qualities of the birds. Experience had taught me that
the Light Brahma when fed right and of the right age made a
delicious table fowl and I was led to believe the Leghorns
were all great layers. That was a good many years ago. And
we have made wonderful discoveries and progress in science
and the arts since that time. The reader can imagine my sur-
prise when I found by experience that some of my leghorns
laid very few eggs and laid them only in the spring months.
Others laid large numbers and laid late in the fall and early
winter. In those days we had no cold storage plants and while
eggs were very cheap in the summer, they were very dear in
the winter and I decided to experiment writh my Leghorns
with a view to getting more eggs in the winter. After a few
years of study and experiment I mated the best egg type birds

66 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

and from some pens got good results from other pens not so
igood, and from still others very poor results. My previous
studies in anatomy had enabled me to select the matings from
birds that were all of the same type, and I expected to raise
a lot of poultry that would be duplicates of their parents as
iar as their egg-laying qualities were concerned. But after
•numerous experiments in mating the 180 egg type cock bird
with 180 egg type hens I found I could not depend on getting
.definite results.

Some are born rich some are born handsome, and some
are born lucky. The writer was born with none of these gifts
t>ut with a combination of faculties that compelled to inven-
tion, to wander and toil and delve in the fields, the by-
ways, and the mines of the mysterious. These researches with
the aid received by studying the pioneers in the same lines of
investigation led to the discovery as the writer thinks of the
fundamental principle that underlies the reproduction of the
species. After a number of matings that were more or less
discouraging failures I decided to look to the brain of the bird
as the seat of the cause of a great many of the variations be-
tween the characteristics of the offspring and those of the
parents. I had previously demonstrated by experiment that
environment had an influence on the shaping of the skull of
the birds. By focusing on this subject the skull knowledge I
foad gained in the previous nine years I was led to think that
the brain governed most of the functions of the body, and if
-so why not the reproductive function? I reasoned that as I
ft ad mated up several pens of the same type of hens with the
same type of male birds and that as there was no difference in
their temperaments that the hens all looked alike all weighed
alike, and were ah in the same condition or in other words
they were all m p'jifect condition, (to be more exoTici: ihc
hens were tivee hngtis abdomen, pelvic bone 1-15 of an inch
thick all hens were in good condition, the cock bn "!-, were t\vo
fingers abdomen, in iionric1] condition and pelvic bunes 1-16 '<f
an inch thick, all hens were alike and all cock birds were alike
and all were about a year old) — that there must be something
apart from the anatomy and physiology of the hen that gov-
erned or in some measure controlled the reproductive func-
tions. As I had exhausted all my resources in the above lines
J was very reluctantly obliged to enter a new field of re-
search-—the field of Phrenology. I killed the cock birds that

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

61

h"d given us the best results, boiled their skulls until free of
flesh and found them as in No 1, Plate 35. The skulls of the.
cock birds that gave the next best results were like No. 2,.
Plate 35, and the skulls of the cock birds that ^ave the poor-

Plate 35. — Three Degrees of Amativeness. (Otherwise Called Prepotency.)

est results were like No. 3, Plate 35. The arrows 4-5 and 6,
show the base of the brain but the arrow at No. 6 should be
1-16 of an inch further back to be correct. And right here is
where we were on the point of the second great
secret in breeding that would verify the saying that
like begets like. T/he first discovery was, that if we
wished to raise pullets that would be good layers we would
have to mate good laying hens with the same type of male
bird and not with the meat type, that is the male birds would
have to be of the same temperament, of the same anatomy
and of the same physiology as the hen. I found that if I had a
hen that laid 180 eggs by the trap-nest and if I wanted to
raise a lot of pullets that would average 180 eggs 1 could not
depend on the trap nest to aid me any farther than to tell me

68 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

the number of eggs a hen laid, what particular eggs she laid,
and the progeny of each hen, both male and female. I also
found great variations in type in the mature cockerels from
each individual hen, which we considered was due to the dif-
ference in type of the male bird and the difference in vitality
of one or both birds at different times during the breeding
season, sometimes the hen at other times the cock bird trans-
mitting their characteristics. When I was assured of this
through numerous experiments we reasoned that our failures
were because the male birds were of a different type from the
hens, and when I had demonstrated that the male birds were
of a different physiology by practice and scientific measures
and mated accordingly I flattered myself with the assurance
that I had discovered all that was necessary in order to breed
poultry intelligently, but after more experiments I was not
wholly satisfied with results; and as I had adopted the motto,
"Like begets like" I reasoned that although the birds we had
mated were alike as far as we could see, the remaining differ-
ence must be some place where I had failed to look for it. My
knowledge of the different variations in form of the skulls of
animals and birds of the same breed together with the knowl-
edge I possessed of human skulls led me to investigate the
head as the only remaining factor in the problem. When I re-
duced this proposition to a method and when I was able to
measure its potentiality, then I assembled the hens and cock
birds, mating the 180 egg type hens and the 180 egg type
cock bird each bird with the same degree of prepotency. Then
and not until then had I ever knowingly mated like to like.
For years, like many others, I thought I had mated males
to like females but I was mistaken. And here is where
I discovered my second great secret. After this I mated
like to like more intelligntly and the results were more satis
factory. I consider the selecting of the male birds for mat-
ing along anatomical and Physiological lines together with
the proper understanding and use of the faculty that governs
the reproductive function as the greatest discoveries ever
made in the poultry industry. The reader may think there is
very little difference in the skulls on Plate 35. If you add an
inch to the length of a man's legs it does not seem to make
much difference in his height but if you add an inch to the end
of his nose it would make a great difference to his looks. I
found this expansion on the back of the skull corresponded to

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 69

tLj organ of amativeness in the human family. I found that
when it was large in both male and female the parents pos-
sessed the ability to transmit their PREDOMINATING
CHARACTERISTICS to their offspring. If the parents were
fancy birds their progeny would excel, in some cases, their
parents in feather, vigor and other good qualities. If the par-
ents were in the egg type, some of the chicks would be as
good and some better layers, and more vigorous than the
parents. If of the meat type the progeny would be of a strong-
er constitution, of a quicker growth and assimilate their food
better. In a word" if both parents have this organ (called pre-
potency by some) large the chicks will be more likely to be
equal to, and some will excel, their parents along the lines in
which the parents predominate.. If the parents have the organ
small, the chicks will not be so good as the parent stock, but
will degenerate along the lines that the parents excel in. If
a hen is a 200 egg type, and she has this organ small she will
be just as valuable as an egg producer as if she had the organ
large, but she will be of no value as a breeder. She will be an
old maid from choice, and her eggs will not be fertile, if she
has the organ small enough. If the male bird has it small his
eggs will not hatch well ; and if small enough they will not
hatch at all. I have found a few cases where the cock bird had
the organ of (Amativeness) prepotency large and failed to
fertilize the eggs, but the cases are. very rare and I attribute it
to weakened or diseased nerves; as for instance the nerves of
the teeth or sciatic nerve in the human being.

Figure 36. — Holding Hen Ready to Put in Sack.

70

THE CALL OF THE HEN

Fig. 36 shows how to hold a hen before putting her in a
sack to measure this organ.

Figure 37. — Holding Legs With Right Hand and Gathering Sack Around

Legs With Left Hand.

Fig. 37 shows how to put her in the sack, holding legs with
right hand, with back of hen against bottom of sack, and gath-
ering sack around legs with left hand.

Figure 38. — Tying Sack Around Legs So- Hen Cannot Move While
Examining Her For Prepotency.

Fig. 38 shows tying sack around legs so that she cannot
move while examining her for prepotency. (Cut a little off of

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 71

the corner of the sack, just enough to get her head through.
Hen in cut 38 is too far out of the sack.)

The best way for a beginner to learn how to handle a hen
for prepotency is to select a hen you wish for the table. Cut
the corner off of a gunny sack, hold her as in cut 36, put> your
hen in sack and tie her as in Fig. 37 and 38, then make a hook
of wire or a hair pin, attach it to a string with small weight or
stone, hang hen up against barn or shed head down, back
against building, take long-bladed pocket or other knife with
sharp point, insert in hen's mouth and draw across the roof of
the mouth at the back of the brain, at the junction of the neck,
severing the blood veins, then immediately force the knife
through the roof of the mouth into the brain. The knife
should be forced well into the brain, which will sever the
nerves and the bird will feel no pain; then insert hook in the
nostril and the weight will hold the neck straight. The hen
should bleed freely. After bleeding has stopped clean mouth
and surrounding parts of blood and place hen in some conven-
ient place as in Fig. 39. The thumb nail on the left hand and
nail on the forefinger of the right hand should be longer than
the thumb and finger so the flesh on end of thumb and finger
will not prevent the nail from entering the slight depression
between the skull and neck.

We will suppose the reader has handled the hen as suggest-
ed above. Lay the dead hen as in Fig. 39, take hold of comb or
head and pull neck up with right hand and while holding head
up to neck will be stretched out turn the head down with right
hand so the back of the head will point up and beak will point
down as much as possible. This will make the projection of
the brain No. 1, Plate 35 appear more prominent so it will be
easier to locate it; then draw ball of thumb of left hand down
on head until you feel back of skull ; when you feel back of
skull with ball of thumb then turn first joint of thumb down
until thumb nail fits in between end of skull and neck and well
up against base of brain; then while holding left hand and
thumb as in Fig. 39 put forefinger of right hand at base of
brain behind the ear as in Fig. 39 between the neck and the
skull and against the skull behind the ear as in Fig. 39. The
ear can be readily discovered by lifting up the hairy covering
that covers it. The thumb nail must be held perfectly straight
across the neck as in the cut, and not sideways; and the fore-

72

THE CALL OF THE HEX.

finger must be held perfectly at right angles with the thumbr
or the length of projection at arrow 1. plate 35, from the base
of the brain arrow 4, Plate 35 cannot be measured accurately.
The reader will notice that my thumb nail is ahead of my
forefinger nail in cut 39. This indicates that this hen is whol-

Figure 39.— Showing Thumb % of an inch Ahead of Forefinger Indicating
Hen is Totally Lacking in Prepotency.

Figure 40. — Thumb Even With Forefinger Indicating She Has
Prepotency Small.

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

73

ly lacking in the ability to transmit any redeeming qualities to
her offspring, also that she has no desire for offspring.
If this was a male bird the eggs from his matings would be
infertile. Fig. 40, shows thumb on line with forefinger. Mat-

iFigui 3 -11. — Showing Thumb % of an Inch Behind Forefinger Indicating
Hen Has Prepotency Full.

-Figure 42. — Showing Thumb % Inch Behind Forefinger indicating Hen

Has Prepotency Large.

74

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

ings from this type of head would not produce very fertile
eggs, and the progeny would deteriorate each year if they
were bred from stock with heads like this. If the parents were
200 egg type, their egg yield and vitality would be reduced
each generation of breeding. If they were of the beef type
their vitality and ability to produce flesh economically would
diminish with each generation. If they were a fancy type the
breeder would be up aganst a stone wall of discouraging ex-
periences.

Figure 43. — Showing How to Hold Bird Between Knees After You Become
Proficient in Testing Head While Bird Is In Sack.

I would advise the reader to take specilal notice of figure
43, as this cut shows the method of determining prepotency
plainer than any of the others.

Cut No. 41 shows a hen with prepotency full, i. e., thumb 1-8
of an inch behind forefinger. Sometimes a poultryman will be
lucky enough to mate up a lot of pens of the right type for his
purpose with heads like Nos. 41, 42, and 43. His
business prospers and his neighbors call him lucky.

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 75

While others are going bankrupt raising poultry he holds
his own and is making a good living. Nos. 42 and
43 shows a hen with an excellent head for breeding pur-
poses. The thumb in this case is one fourth of an inch behind
the fore finger. If this hen is mated to a male bird of the
same type and prepotency her eggs will be very fertile and a
large number of the progeny will be equal to and some will
excel the parent stock in the lines that predominate in the
parents. By selecting these few specimens each season for
breeding, it is possible to breed a highly valuable type in the
course of time. Cut No. 43 shows how to hold bird between
knees after you become proficient in testing head while bird
is in sack.

76 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

CHAPTER X.
TESTING HENS ON A LARGE SCALE USING

CHARTS 44 AND 45.

I will describe in this chapter how I cull hens when we
have large numbers of them as we have in poultry plants in
California. I shall take it for granted that the reader has no
method of selecting the good from the poor layers, except,
perhaps, the "Walter Hogan System," or some of its pirated
forms that are now used extensively in all parts of the civiliz-
ed world, and which is based on the theory that the value of
a hen as an egg producer depends on the relative distance
apart of her Pelvic Bones and the thinness of same. We will
suppose the reader has three hundred hens, one lot is about
a year and four months old, another lot is about two years and
four months old, and another lot is about three years and four
months old. Each lot has been kept in separate yards, so
there can be no mistake in regard to their ages, or they have
been toe punched or otherwise marked. Wre notice more or
less feathers flying around the yard, thus indicating the season
of the year when moulting is near at hand. Everything else be-
ing equal the poorest hen moults first, and if she is a very poor
layer, she will stop laying when she begins to moult, and will
not lay again until the crows lay in the spring. We consider it
is about time to cull out the poor layers and send them to mar-
ket. The next thing that comes to mind is the question,
"\Vhat is a poor layer?" That all depends on the price you
get for the eggs, the price of feed, houses, etc. I raised poul-
try in Todd Co., Minn., in 1886 and 1887, and sold good lumber
at the saw mill for $5.00 per 1000 feet. Wheat was about a
cent per pound and wheat screenings for chicken feed could be
had for the hauling. It is very evident that a poorer class of
layers might have been kept at a greater profit when supplies
were at that low price, than can be profitably kept when sup-
plies are as high priced as they are at the present time of writ-
ing, June 1913. So the reader can see that the matter of the
profitable hen is a local matter. At this waiting you can buy
nearly two bushels of wheat in some parts of Minnesota for
what you will pay for one in California. I was told a few days
ago that you could buy twice as much oats at the present time
in Minnesota as you can in California for the same money.

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

77

When studying chart 44 and 45, we see there are certain fig-
ures lined off from the rest. This is for the purpose of aiding
the reader at a certain time each year to select the poor lay-
ers from the good ones without using the charts, thereby sav-
ing the time necessary to look over the chart and classify each
hen.

The charts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 as the reader will learn by
bearing in mind the following instructions, need be used only
to determine the laying score of the individual hen.

The first figure underlined in chart 44 is in the column indi-
cating three fingers abdomen from one-sixteenth pelvic bone to

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THE CALL OF THE HEN.

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from one-sixteenth to nine-sixteenth pelvic bone. The fourth is
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white card board, and hang them up in a convenient place in
the yard where the sixteen-months old hens are penned. We
will suppose that the hens are all closed in the house or houses.
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THE CALL OF THE HEN. 79>

in same as in Fig. 1. When there are enough hens in the
coop, shut down slide door that holds them in. In this case it
is necessary to keep only four figures in mind, any four you
prefer will do. Here in California I use Figs. 5-7-9-11, for the
hens sixteen-months old. Figs. 3-5-7-9 for the hens twenty-
eight-months old, and Figs. 1-3-5-7, for hens forty-months old.
We keep large numbers of hens, and in this way we can sort
out the market hens each year in a short time, as we do not
have to stop and figure out the percentage of loss for each
year of age, as these figures come near enough to suit our
purpose. If they do not suit the local market the reader can
use any figures that will

Now take a hen out of the catching coop as in Fig. 3, and
hold her as near as possible as in Fig. 5. Place hand on abdo-
men. She may be one finger abdomen in good condition, her
pelvic bone may be one-sixteenth of an inch thick, her capac-
ity is three dozen eggs her first laying year. She has laid all
these eggs, and will lay no more until the next spring, when'
the crows lay and eggs are cheap. So we decide to put this liner*1
in the shipping crate, to be sent to market. We take another
hen from the catching coop, and go through the same process.
She may be a two fingered abdomen hen in good condition,
her pelvic bones one-sixteenth of an inch thick. This indicates
a hen that may lay eight dozen eggs her first laying year. As
a rule when hens are so fed and cared for they will lay their
maximum number of eggs their first laying year. They will
as a rule lay about 15 per cent less each year after, provided^
they arc given the same care and feed. In this case the hen'
in hand might lay about eighty-five eggs. If you think that will'
pay you let the hen drop out of your hands into the yard
where you are standing. If you think it will not pay to keep
her, put her in the shipping crate for the market. The next
lien may be two fingers abdomen, one finger out of condition
as in Fig. 20, with pelvic bones one-fourth of an inch thick. If
this hen's comb and wattles are red and the hen is strong and
active, being one finger out of condition indicates that she is
not being properly cared for, either in feed or environment, or
both. In the condition she is in at present, if continued the
whole year, she might lay about sixty-nine eggs, while if kept
in normal condition she might lay 138 eggs. (See chart No. 3.)
So we call her a good hen and drop her.

80 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

The next hen may be a three finger abdomen, five-six-
teenths pelvic bone, and in normal condition. If this hen was
in Petaluma we would drop her as she would be a paying hen.

The next hen may be three fingers abdomen in normal
condition as in Fig. 19, and pelvic bone three-eights of an inch
thick. We put this hen in the shipping crate for market as it
will not pay to keep her any longer if in Petaluma. She will
not pay for her board after this time and leave enough profit

The next hen may be four fingers abdomen in normal
condition, and seven-sixteenths of an inch pelvic bone. She be-
ing a 130 egg type hen it will pay to keep her another year so
we drop her. The next hen may be four fingers abdomen in nor-
mal condition, and one-half inch pelvic bones. This hen will lay
approximately 115 eggs her first laying year, but not enough
her second year. So we put her in the shipping crate for mar-
ket.

The next hen may be a five fingers abdomen hen and in
good condition, nine-sixteenths pelvic bone. She is 130 egg
type hen so we drop her.

The ;,ext hen is five fingers abdomen in normal condi-
tion, and five-eights of an inch pelvic bones. This is a 115 egg
type hen so we put her in the shipping crate.

The next hen may be six fingers abdomen in normal
condition, and eleven-sixteenths pelvic bones. She will be a
130 egg type hen, so we drop her.

1 he next hen may be six fingers abdomen in normal con-
dition, pelvic bones three-fourths of an inch thick. She will be
a 115 egg type hen so we will put her in the shipping crate.

The next hen may be three fingers abdomen three fingers
out of condition, and one-eighth of an inch pelvic bones. If
her comb and wattles are pale and bloodless, she is no doubt
diseased and should be disposed of, but if her comb and wattles
are red, it indicates, as a rule, that she is out of condition on
account of accident or lack of feed. In her present condition
she scores 166 egg type. If we get her in one finger better
condition she will measure four fingers abdomen and score
205 egg lype. If we can get her in two finger better condition,
she will measure five finger abdomen and may be three-six-

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 81

-teenths pelvic, bones, on account of becoming a little more
fleshy, and score 220 egg type and if we can get her in three
fingers better rendition, she would then be in normal condi-
tion, and her pelvic bones might be three-sixteenths or one-
fourth of an inch thick, if the latter she would score 235 egg
type. (We will have more to say on the changing of thickness
of the pelvic bone, in la^t of chap'.er 18.)

We will continue r.'.-.'tcting or separating the good from
the poor layers, in the same manner, keeping every hen for
another year in the tVee finger abdomen class that is five-
sixteenths of an inch pelvic bone and thinner, sending every
hen to market that is over five-sixteenths of an inch pelvic
bone in the t.1 ree hngrr abdomen class, keeping every hen in
the four finger abdomen class that is seven-sixteenths of an
inch pelvic bone and thinner, and sending every hen to market
that is over seven- six teenths pelvic bone in the four finger ab-
domen class, keeping e\ery hen in the five finger abdomen
class that is nine-sixteenths of an inch pelvic bone and thinner,
and sending every hen to market that is over nine-sixteenths
•of an inch pelvic bone thick, keeping every hen in the six finger
abdomen class that is eleven-sixteenths of an inch pelvic bone
and thinner, and sending every hen to market that is over
eleven- sixteenths of an inch pelvic bone thick.

1 want to say acre that there is nothing arbitary in regard
to the chart- 44 and 45. Each poultryman can draw the lines
where he ihinks it will best suit his purpose. A great many
years of experimenting has led the writer to believe these
charts answer the purpose very well.

We have disposed of all the one year and four-months old
hens, and will move our outfit to the two year and four-months
old hens, and arrange catching coop and charts as in the first
case.

The first hen we take from the coop may be a one finger-
ed hen in good condition. All one and two fingered hens in
good condition over one year and four-months old, as a rule
should be disposed of. There is no profit in them after they
have laid their allotted number of egg their first season, or in
other words, after they commence to moult in their first lay-
ing year. So after this we will not consider them in this con-
nection. There is a great difference in the number of eggs a

82 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

flock of hens will lay each year as they grow older. Some wilt
lose 5 per cent, some 10 per cent, some 15 per cent, and some
20 per cent. Some will not lay anything (This will be ex-
plained later) after their first laying year. It depends alto-
gether on the vitality of the hen and how she has been fed
and raised, and the variations in the percentage of eggs laid by
exactly the same type of hens will vary with different poultry
keepers, and also with the same poultry keeper, varying more
or less in each separate pen proving that environment has
more or less to do with egg production, all other things as far
dS human knowledge is concerned being equal. Some people
who aie good mathematicians, but who are wholly ignorant
of animal nature, look surprised when I explain to them the
difference between classifying the production of a number of
like machines, with the production of a number of hens of the
same score in egg production. As a scientific proposition it is
impossible to write a chart before hand that will fit every case.
If we look 1000 hens of any pronounced type, say 100 egg type
w! ich were fed, housed, and cared for in exactly the same
manner, and one of them laid five, ten or fifteen eggs more or
less some year than the other 999 hens, it would prove our
contention or theory, from a scientific point of view. I am .sure
that one hundred expert poultrymen could take 100 hens of
the same general type, that would score the same egg capacity
and would all be in the same condition, and each poultryman
feed and care for his 100 birds for four years the best he knew
how, and very fewr of them would agree on a set of figures that
would give the percentage of decrease in egg production each
year. The one who fed the heaviest and produced the most
eggs, would have the largest percentage of decrease, while the
ones who bred for hatching eggs, and did not force their hens
with condiments and stimulants, would get the least number
of eggs and the lowest percentage of decrease, not figuring the
percentage of decrease from the number of eggs actually laid
but from what the hen would lay each year.

The writer does not claim that he has dicovered a system
that will infallibly give results just as he has written them.
No poultry man needs to be told this, but for the benefit of
the amateurs I have inserted the above caution. The writer
claims by years of investigation and practice to have formu-
lated a poultry code as contained in this book, that is com-
mercially the approximation of perfection.

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 83

We will return to our two year old hens. We said all one
and two fingered hens should be sold, and we will consider
them no more than to put them in the market crates when we
find one. The reader will remember that in selecting the six-
teen-months old hens we retained only those in the three, four,
five and six finger abdomen column, that measured five, seven,
nine and eleven-sixteenths of an inch or less, and everything
below these lines went to market. In the show room when the
writer judges utility birds we use the charts so as to score each
bird according to its capacity for egg production, but when we
cull the poultry on commercial plants, in order to save the
time of looking on the charts we keep in mind only four fig-
ures, for the hens of any age that we are examining. For hens
about sixteen-months old we use the figures five, seven, nine,
eleven. For hens with three fingers abdomen we use the fig-
ures five-sixteenths; for four fingers abdomen seven-sixteen-
ths; for five fingers abdomen, nine-sixteenths; and for six
fingers abdomen, eleven-sixteenths. All under three fingers
abdomen goes to the market and all under the lines go also.

For the two year and four-months old hens, we keep in
mind the following figures, three, five, seven, nine. For the
three fingers abdomen hen three-sixteenths pelvic bone; four
finger abdomen hen, five-sixteenths pelvic bone; five finger
abdomen hen, seven-sixteenths pelvic bone, and six finger ab-
domen hen, nine-sixteenths pelvic bone. Everything below
these figures goes to market, also all one and two fingered ab-
domen birds there may be in the lot.

We now go to the hens that are three years and four-
months old. Any one and two fingered abdomen birds that we
may find go to market, and all the three fingered abdomen
birds below one-sixteenth pelvic bones. For the three years
and four-months old birds we bear in mind one, three, five,
seven. Three fingers abdomen hen, one-sixteenth pelvic bones;
four fingers abdomen hen, three-sixteenths pelvic bones; five
fingers abdomen hen, five-sixteenths pelvic bones, and six fin-
gers abdomen hen, seven-sixteenths pelvic bones. All below
these lines go to market.

If the reader has some good hens that he wishes to breed
from, he can use the Figs. 1, 3, 5.

The fourth year when he wishes to select from the four,

84 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

five and six fingered abdomen hens it will be four fingers abdo-
men, one-sixteenth pelvic bones; five fingers abdomen,
three-sixteenths pelvic bones; and six fingers abdomen five-
sixteenths pelvic bones. Very few will want to keep hens as
long as this. They will be five years and about four-months
old when you will sell them. Most people here sell them about
the time they commence to moult, after they are two years old,
but I selected the hens used at the California State Poultry Ex-
periment Sation, to test this method as far as the egg laying
qualities were concerned, and the hens 1 selected as hens that
would pay at four years, made a good paying record.

The reader will understand that the way we have just
been selecting the paying hens is the \vay we select when we
have large numbers. This is the way I selected sixteen hun-
dred hens in six hours at the poultry farm of the Ukiah State
Hospital, Mendocino Co., Calif., and at other State hospitals
and poultry plants. We do not have to stop to figure out the
percentage of loss of each bird. You can take any combina-
tion of figures you wish, as 1-4 in., 3-8 in., 1-2 in.. 5-8
in., for sixteen-months old birds; 1-16 in., 3-16 in., 5-16
in., 7-16 in., for twenty-eight months old birds, you can
figure out the percentage of loss each year, and take a com-
bination of figures that will suit your purpose. You have
only to carry four figures in your mind. The percentage of
loss each year is computed by good poultrymen to be from
10 per cent to 20 per cent in egg production on plants that
are run for hatching eggs. If you forced your hens with an
excess of meat and condiments the loss will be according to
how you feed them, and no one can tell what it may be but
yourself. Some poultrymen get all there is in a hen out oi
her the first season then sell her.

THE CALL OF THE HEN. &5

CHAPTER XI.
THE MALE BIRD.

This is not a treatise on cattle or horses, but we have
to use them very often to illustrate the matter in hand
Stock raising has been brought to more of a science than poul-
try raising and is well understood by thousands of our pro-
gressive farmers. I have met hundreds of them who could
describe to me the points I would have to consider in selecting
a good paying butter fat, beef or milk proposition, both in dam
and sire, and while there may be as many poultrymen who un-
derstand the selection of poultry, both male and female, for egg
and meat production, I have failed to meet them, and while I
was made the butt of ridicule by the poultrymen when I issued
my first pamphlet entitled the "Walter Hogan System," in
March, 1905, the stock raisers who were interested in poultry
stood by me to a man. The reason was that the cattle men had
been studying along the utility lines in both sire and dam, in
order to develop the milk, butter fat, and beef producing capac-
ities of their cattle. It was a comparatively easy proposition
for them. The form of the animals was plainly to be seen.
They were not covered with a coat of fluff and feathers that hid
the shape and form of the subject. It was easy to distinguish
between the cat ham of the butter fat type, and the full deep
ham of the beef type. It was no trouble to compare the ud-
ders, milk veins, and wedge shape type of the Jersey, with the
full rounded build of the Hereford or Poled Angus .

On the other hand the poultrymen to some extent were
deceived by the appearance of their hens. Take for instance the
Cochin and the Bantam. They would hold about the same re-
lation to each other as the lordly Durham would to the fine
bred Devon, yet I have found Bantam hens with as deep abdo-
men as a great Cochin hen; and it is my opinion that if poultry
were as bare of feathers as cattle are, the poultry industry
would be as far advanced at present as is the cattle business.

The greatest impediment to the successful breeder of
poultry has been the inability to select the male bird of the re-
quired type. The custom in vogue at the present writing with
most poultrymen is to trap nest their hens and raise cockerels
from the best layers as indicated by the trap nest. The trouble

86 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

with this method is that while the hen may lay a large number
of eggs, she may not have the faculty to transmit her laying
qualities to her offspring, and her cockerels may be deficient
in both egg-laying qualities and the ability to transmit what
good qualities they may possess to their progeny.

Again I have seen a great many cases where poultry
farmers would send away and buy a lot of cockerels. The man
that raised and sold them had no knowledge of how to classify
them, and the man who bought them knew he was buying
cockerels and that is all he did know about them. He could not
be sure whether they would increase his egg yield or not. He
had to pay his money and take chances. It was nothing more
or less than a gamble. But the clays of gambling in the poultry
business are past for the intelligent progressive poultryman.
No longer will he be obliged to trust to luck or intuition. He
will be able to select his male birds with as much assurance as
his hens, and instead of groping in the dark he will have the
satisfaction of seeing and knowing just what he is doing, by
bearing in mind the instructions in this chapter.

The reader will by this time be familiar with the different
types and capacities of hens, and will not be surprised to learn
there is a similar number of variations in the male birds ; and if
one wishes to produce a certain type and capacity in a pullet
or cockerel, he must select the parent birds that will produce
that type. We know how to select the hen, we will now take
up the study of how to select the male bird.

We go through the same movements in selecting or test-
ing the male bird as we do in selecting the hen, but we use a
different set of charts. For example it is possible for a hen to
change from six to three fingers in abdominal capacity within
a month, and be healthy and active and in another month to
return back to her original six fingers capacity. But it is not so
with the male bird, after he is mature. I have tested male
birds at nine months of age that scored four fingers abdomen,
one-sixteenth pelvic bone, that did not change for four ye^rs
except that their pelvic bone being one-sixteenth of an inch
thick at nine months old, I have found them to be one eighth

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 87

of an inch thick at eighteen months old. They had increased
in thickness of bone from one-sixteenth to one-eighth. These
Were egg type male birds. The meat type will vary more or
less in the thickness of the pelvic bones depending on how
much flesh they put on or lose, between the different times of
examining them.

It will be easy to distinguish the egg type cock bird from
the meat type bird. The former has thin pelvic bones whether
in flesh or not. While the latter has thick pelvic bones with a
more or less lump of gristle on the end of them whether he is
thin or in good flesh. I have found that in classifying the male
bird as we have the hen as to type and capacity for a certain
egg yield it requires less abdominal capacity in the male bird
than in the female. For instance, the male bird that is two
fingers abdomen and one-sixteenth of an inch pelvic bone is
the same type and capacity for breeding purposes as the three
finger abdomen hen one-sixteenth pelvic bone. The male of the
same class as regards capacity does not require as large abdo-
men as the female. This is so self evident that it would be a
waste of time to try to explain the reason for it.

I have heard poultrymen say that the male bird is half of
the flock. I wonder if they stop to consider whether this is so
or not. My birds are wonderful layers, and I mate one male
bird to every twelve hens, and from a breeder's point of view I
consider my male birds a great deal more than half the flock.
If I mate 100 egg type cock birds with 200 egg hens the
progeny may lay about 150 eggs, thus reducing my egg yield
about 25 per cent in the progeny of each of the twelve hens.
For this reason I have given as much thought to the male bird
as I have to the hen, and in arranging the charts for the male
birds, have experienced a great deal of difficulty, as it takes
years of time and hundreds of matings to arrive at conclusions
that would be approximately correct. In any one case, as
everything else (type capacity and breed) being equal, care
and environment has a dominating influence on the product
whether eggs or meat, consequently if a number of investigat-
ors were working on this proposition using the same system
of selection they could not help but arrive at somewhat uiffer-
ent conclusions, as to figures but that would not affect the
value of the svstem.

«8 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

MALE BIRD— CHART A.

One Finger Abdomen.

1-16 pelvic bone 84 egg type

1-8 pelvic bone 75 egg type

3-16 pelvic bone 67 egg type

1-4 pelvic bone 58 egg type

5-16 pelvic bone 50 egg type

3-8 pelvic bone 41 egg type

7-16 pelvic bone 33 egg type

1-2 pelvic bone 24 egg type

9-16 pelvic bone 16 egg type

5-8 pelvic bone . . . . 7 egg type

11-16 pelvic bone 0 egg type

MALE BIRD— CHART B.
One and One Half Finger Abdomen.

1-16 pelvic bone 132 egg type

1-8 pelvic bone 120 egg type

3-16 pelvic bone 109 egg type

1-4 pelvic bone 98 egg type

5-16 pelvic bone 87 egg type

3-8 pelvic bone 75 egg type

7-16 pelvic bone 64 egg type

1-2 pelvic bone 53 egg type

9-16 pelvic bone 42 egg type

5-8 pelvic bone 30 egg type

11-16 pelvic bone 19 egg type

3-4 pelvic bone 8 egg type

13-16 pelvic bone 0 egg type

7-8 pelvic bone 0 egg type

MALE BIRD— CHART C.

Two Fingers Abdomen.

1-16 pelvic bone 180 egg type

1-8 pelvic bone 166 egg type

3-16 pelvic bone 152 egg type

1-4 pelvic bone 138 egg type

THE CALL OF THE HEN 89«

5-16 pelvic bone 124 egg type

3-8 pelvic bone 110 egg type

7-16 pelvic bone 96 egg type

J -2 pelvic bone 82 egg type

9-16 pelvic bone 68 egg type

5-8 pelvic bone 54 egg type

11-16 pelvic bone 40 egg type

3-4 pelvic bone 26 egg type

13-16 pelvic bone 12 egg type

7-8 pelvic bone 0 egg type

MALE BIRD— CHART D.
Two and One Half Fingers Abdomen.

1-16 pelvic bone 200 egg type

1-8 pelvic bone 185 egg type

3--16 pelvic bone 171 egg type

1-4 pelvic bone 156 egg type

5-16 pelvic bone 142 egg type

3-8 pelvic bone 127 egg type

7-16 pelvic bone 113 egg type

1-2 pelvic bone 98 egg type

9-16 pelvic bone 84 egg type

5-8 pelvic bone 69 egg type

11-16 pelvic bone 55 egg type

3-4 pelvic bone 40 egg type

13-16 pelvic bone 26 egg type

7-8 pelvic bone 11 egg type

15-16 pelvic bone 0 egg type

MALE BIRD— CHART E.
Three Fingers Abdomen.

1-16 pelvic bone 235 egg type

1-8 pelvic bone 220 egg type

3-16 pelvic bone 205 egg type

1-4 pelvic bone 190 egg type

5-16 pelvic bone 175 egg type

3-8 pelvic bone 160 egg type

7-16 pelvic bone 145 egg type

1-2 pelvic bone 130 egg type

90 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

9-16 pelvic bone . . . . 115 egg type

5-8 pelvic bone 100 egg type

11-16 pelvic bone 85 egg type

3-4 pelvic bone 70 egg type

13-16 pelvic bone 55 egg type

7-8 pelvic bone 40 egg type

15-16 pelvic bone 25 egg type

1 in. pelvic bone.. . .-.. 10 egg type

17-16 pelvic bone 0 egg type

MALE BIRD—CHART F.

Three and One-half Fingers Abdomen.

1-16 pelvic bone 257 egg type

1-8 pelvic bone 242 egg type

3-16 pelvic bone 227 egg type

1-4 pelvic bone 212 egg type

5-16 pelvic bone 197 egg type

3-8 pelvic bone 182 egg type

7-16 pelvic bone 167 egg type

1-2 pelvic bone 152 egg type

9-16 pelvic bone 137 egg type

5-8 pelvic bone 122 egg type

11-16 pelvic bone 107 egg type

3-4 pelvic bone 92 egg type

13-16 pelvic bone 77 egg type

7-8 pelvic bone 62 egg type

15-16 pelvic bone 47 egg type

1 in. pelvic bone 32 egg type

17-16 pelvic bone 17 egg type

1 1-8 pelvic bone 0 egg type

MALE BIRD— CHART G.
Four Fingers Abdomen.

1-16 pelvic bone 280 egg type

1-8 pelvic bone 265 egg type

3-16 pelvic bone 250 egg type

1-4 pelvic bone 235 egg type

5-16 pelvic bone 220 egg type

3-8 pelvic bone 205 egg type

7-16 pelvic bone 190 egg type

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 91

1-2 pelvic bone 175 egg type

9-16 pelvic bone 160 egg type

5-8 pelvic bone 145 egg type

11-16 pelvic bone 130 egg type

3-4 pelvic bone 115 egg type

13-16 pelvic bone 100 egg type

7-8 pelvic bone 85 egg type

15-16 pelvic bone 70 egg type

1 in. pelvic bone 55 egg type

17-16 pelvic bone 40 egg type

1 1-8 pelvic bone 25 egg type

1 3-16 pelvic bone 10 egg type

1 1-4 pelvic bone 0 egg type

We consider the male bird of so much importance that ---e
have made seven charts for his classification, as to egg" and
meat types. See charts A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.. While
chart A may not be needed, and chart B used very seldom we
thought it best to include them. All old poultrymen an<! stock
raisers know that so many considerations enter into the breed-
ing and raising of live stock of all kinds, that it is ir.. possible
to lay down hard and fast rules that can be depended upon
buore hand to bring definite results in all parallel cases. This
is written as a caution to beginners, especially to those whose
experience has been at the desk or behind the counter.

Figure 46 shows a cock bird four fingers abdomen and, Fig.
47 Lhows the same bird one-eighth pelvic bone, makiug him a
265 egg type bird.

The reader will see by Figs. 46 and 47, we use the same
methods to determine the egg value of a male bird, as wi use
for the hen, except that we do not think it advisable to take
the matter of condition into consideration, or rather it is better
not to lay down rules in the matter as it is very hard to keep
the egg type birds in good condition. But I try to keep my cock
birds in good flesh, and not over one finger out of condition at
any time. There are times before the male birds are a year old
and while their bones are soft, that their abdomens will con-
tract and expand, it depending on whether they are stinted in
their feed or whether they are fed liberally. Egg type cocker-
els selected for breeders should have the best care and feed
(see chapter on selecting cockerels for breeding). In examin-

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

Figure 46. — Showing Four Finger Depth of Abdomen of 265 Egg Cock Bird.

Figure 47.— Showing % Inch Pelvic Bone of 265 Egg Cock Bird.

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

93

Figure 48. — Showing 1-16 Pelvic Bone of 280 Egg Type Hen.

Figure 49.— Showing Six Fingers Depth of Abdomen of 280 Egg Type Hen.

94

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

Figure 50. — 280 Egg Type Hen and 265 Egg Type Cock Bird. Tail of

Cock is Somewhat Cramped for Want of room.

ing the male birds for prepotency, the reader should select them
with the greatest care. I cannot impress this on the reader
too strongly. They should be as good or better if possible than
No. 1, plate 35, and do not forget that the thumb nail on the
left hand and the nail on the forefinger of the right hand (re-
verse the order if left handed) must be somewhat longer than
the flesh, if you expect to take correct measurements.

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 95

CHAPTER XII.
SELECTING THE COCKERELS AT BROILER AGE.

I have tried to impress on the reader the importance of
the careful selection of the male birds, and perhaps he is fully
alive to the value of doing so. He starts out at the first op-
portunity and visits all the poultry plants far and near, with the
determination to purchase the best male bird he can find.
Before starting out he decides ha will have nothing less than
200 egg type. Imagine his disappointment, when after hand-
ling perhaps fifty or more he can find nothing that will come
.any way near the 200 egg type, while if he examined the same
number of hens he will very likely find at least one or perhaps
more that will come somewhat near what he is looking for.
Then he will say that there is no such bird as the chart de-
scribes as a 200 egg type cock bird. T wish to say here that I
think I have at least fifty male birds, at the present writing,
that will scale from 200 up according to the charts. I have over
a dozen that will scale from 250 to 265, and these have all been
developed within six years, from hens with three fingers abdo-
men and one-fourth inch pelvic bone, mated to cockerels with
one and one-half finger abdomen, one-sixteenth inch pelvic
bone.

The first season in California we raised about 300 cocker-
els up to three months of age, which is within the broiler age
for this section. We arranged our house and catching coop as
in Figs. 1 and 2, and went through the same movements that
we do when testing the hens, except that we do not have to
-use all the tests on each one of the cockerels that we use on
the hens. We hold the cockerels as in Figs. 5 and 6, and lay
•our hand on his abdomen as in Fig. 7. As soon as we lay our
hand on his abdomen we can feel instantly whether his pelvic
•bones are straight like Fig. 34 or crooked like Fig. 33. If his
pelvic bones are like Fig. 33, we have no use for him as a
'breeder, and put him in the shipping crate for market. If his
pelvic bones are straight like Fig. 34, we measure the depth of
his abdomen. If it is less than two fingers, we put him in the
shipping crate. If two fingers or over, we examine him for pre-
potency, and if the projection on the back of his head as in
No. 1 plate 35, is less than ^n eighth of an inch behind a line
•drawn at right angles from the back of the ear, (see Figs. 41, 42

96 THE CALL OP THE HEN.

and 43), we put him in the shipping crate no m|atter how good
he is in other points. We take no chances with him because
if we have made no mistake in measuring his head lines,
abdomen and pelvic bones, it will be a waste of time to breed
from him ; but if his head measures up good, we keep him as a
prospective breeder. We say as a prospective breeder, as it is
very evident it will not pay to raise all the cockerels to matur-
ity.

Here in Petaluma where there are over 600,000 cockerels
laised to broiler age in a season, it would be impossible to
raise them all and test their breeding qualities. Neither is it
necessary. If a person has a delicate touch the comparative
value of chicks for prepotency can be judged as well when they
are three days old as at any time later. Then again we are
obliged to keep our chicks until we can distinguish the males
from the females, and as a rule we will lose nothing if we keep
them until they are at least ten weeks old, when if they have
had the right care and feed they will be old enough to test. If
their pelvic bones are thick at this age it indicates they are
more or less of the meat type. If their pelvic bones are crooked
it indicates that they never will be straight, and if they lack
prepotency it indicates that they will always lack it, for they
come out of the shell with this organ relatively large or small,
just as a baby is born with a nose on its face.

I want to impress on the reader the importance of using
the utmost care in measuring the head for prepotency, as it is
very easy for a person to think he has measured the head right,
when he has not done so. Especially if he has self esteem large
he then thinks everything he does must be right. It would be
impossible for him to do anything otherwise, than the right
way. In my classes I have found workers in the machinist
trade to make the most correct measurements, especially if
they had the faculty of human nature large. While I have
found professional men who had human nature small, to make
the poorest measurements. This was owing to prejudice and
not to the absence of the combination of the necessary mental
faculties. I suppose there will always be found those who will
discredit the most obvious fact, if it puts them at a disadvan-
tage from a mental, moral, or financial point of view, but in this
case it would be cutting off your nose to spite your face to be
careless in anv of these tests.

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 97

I have never yet in my investigations of hundreds of poul-
try plants found a degenerate lot of poultry, but that they were
small in prepotency. But to return to the cockerels, as we said
on page 95 we raised 300 cockerels the first year I was in
California. After testing them at three months old as de-
scribed, I found 18 that I considered worth keeping to the age
of 9 months, when I would give them the final test. When
they were 8 months old I tested them again, and while I found
that they all had good depth of abdomen and good prepotency,,
that six of them had crooked pelvic bones. The pelvic bones
on twelve of the cockerels had continued to grow straight,
while the pelvic bones on six of them had grown crooked and
were coming together at the points like the horns on a Jersey
cow. I had to discard these six as breeders and send them to
market.

The reader will see that out of 300 cockerels I had only 12
that were capable of improving my flock.. Last year (1912) out
of about 1200 I had only 200 that I considered good enough
to keep for breeders, and while all my birds have been more or
less squirel tailed, one of last year's 200 is a very well formed
low tailed bird. But he lacks the pure white ear lobes. He
scores 250 egg type and I have refused fifty dollars for him. I
am going to see if I can breed a low tailed type of Leghorn
in quantities that will conform to the present American Stand-
ard and average about 200 eggs per year in large flocks. The
reader will understand that the parents of these cockerels were
selected with the greatest care as to capacity, type and prepot-
ency. . Type and Prepotency are more or less hereditary traits
or features distinguishable in the subjects, if we have the
knowledge necessary to discern them. But the individual in-
herent or innate potentiality of any one or of each bird cannot
be increased or diminished by the breeder. That is to say,,
feed and environment will not materially change the impotent
bird into a potent bird, neither will it change the typical meat
type into the egg type bird.

But (I hear some sarcastic reader say) we certainly can-
diminish or increase their prepotency by alternately starving*
and feeding them well. That is begging the question. You
could affect their fecundity very readily, but what the writer
wishes to impress on the reader is that while type and prepot-
ency are fixed before birth, and also the ability to govern

98 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

capacity, and while type and prepotency can be procured only
by selection, capacity can be governed more or less by environ-
ment, in other words, feed, care, the right kind of houses,,
ground, etc. We will say, for instance, the reader has a pen
of egg type birds, both male and female, with large prepotency
and capacity; and suppose they were all 200 egg birds. There
would be no difficulty in raising chickens from them with the
same degree of type and prepotency; but if he should stint
them in feed of the proper kind and quantity while growing,
they would lose in capacity each generation. I develop the
capacity of both pullets and cockerels from the time they are
three days old to the fullest extent by the most liberal feeding,
care, and surrounding conditions. In concluding this chapter,
I would say that the bird with the desired characteristics is
more or less of a sport; and the value of the "Hogan Test"
lies in the fact that with this knowledge you can discover the
sport and perpetuate it through intelligent breeding. Again I
want to say here that my best cockerels measure four fingers
abdomen at three months old. All my stock is developed as
much as possible at this age and I try to prevent the cockerels
from shrinking. But the pullets will develop until some of
them are six ringers abdomen. The enclosed article from the
Petaluma Weekly Poultry Journal emphasizes what we have
said in regard to the feeding and care of young stock. These
cockerels were not crammed, or penned up and fed, but were
taken off free range and sent directly to market. I wish to
remind the reader here that in examining the cockerels for
prepotency he may be proficient enough in the matter to ex-
amine them by holding them between his knees and not be
obliged to put each one in a sack. The article follows :

Walter Hogan Can Raise Chickens.

Walter Hogan backs up his system ol selecting the good
layers from among the poor ones, but he has never made much
fuss about his ability as a poultry raiser. For that reason some
people have absorbed the idea that he is more of a theorist
than a practical man. But he now has a flock of his own, and
evidently he is making good, for he is getting results that will
convince any one from Missouri or anywhere else who must
be "shown" before believing. For instance, last week there
was a spell of most discouraging depression in the prices which
dealers were willing to pay for young poultry. There were

THE CALL OP THE HEN. 99

large arrivals of eastern poultry in San Francisco besides heavy
receipts of California, and nobody wanted any more. Just the
same, Mr. Hogan received $4 a dozen for sixteen dozen cock-
erels just three months old, when the same dealer was paying
but $1.50 for brids of the same age. Now, what do you think
of that? And Mr. Hogan says these cockerels were not de-
scendants of the beef type of hens, but were hatched from eggs
laid by hens selected as the egg type. They were not especial-
ly fed or in any way prepared for market. They cost 22 cents
each for feed, and thus the profit on the bunch was $21.76.

In speaking of this matter Mr. Hogan made the point that
if all poultrymen would pay especial attention to producing
fine broilers for market — that is in preparing the broilers that
they are obliged to produce in order to have a corresponding
number of pullets — they would benefit themselves greatly. Not
only would they get a better price for the birds, but they would
greatly increase the demand, as many people who now care
nothing for the common dry-meated birds would become pleas-
ed consumers of the improved broilers. The Poultry Journal
man knows by personal experience that the broilers turned out
by Mr. Hogan are simply delicious when properly cooked, and
far ahead of the ordinary article.

CHAPTER XIII.
SELECTING THE SETTING HEN.

"How can I select the best hen for the purpose when I
want to hatch chickens with hens?"

The writer is asked the above question very often. It is
a serious matter with a poultryman when he has a small number
of choice eggs he wishes to hatch and gives them to a hen that
is apparently setting well only to have her spoil most of them.
He very naturally lays the cause to mites, or lice, or both.
While it is true that the nests and surroundings must be kept
fiee from mites, and the hens kept clean from hen lice, the
trouble is not all here by a good deal. Sometimes a great deal
of the fault lies in the hen. Some are born layers, some are
born mothers, and some are born too lazy to get off of the nest
at the call of nature. The hen born a typical egg type is of no
use as a setter; neither is the hen that is born a typical meat

100 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

type, she is too lazy to care for her chicks, even if she is for-
tunate enough to hatch any and not kill them all by standing
on them. She is too stupid any way, and the typical egg type
hen is too nervous, and has no time to attend to them. She
thinks of nothing but manufacturing eggs. So we will have to
look for a hen between the above types which we have in the
dual purpose type, with the following characteristics .

First, she must have prepotency large: that gives her the
mother instinct. Next, she should be in normal condition as
indicated by her breast bone; that is self evident, for a hen out
-of condition lacks more or less of the animal magnetism that
is an aid to successful incubation. I need not mention good
health as indicated by good red comb and wattles as every one
knows that. The hen should be four fingers abdomen since
anything heavier is more or less liable to break the eggs and
anything less than that would not be large enough to cover
sufficient eggs. If the hen is a three fingered abdomen, hen
her pelvic bones should be about seven-sixteenths or one-half
an inch thick. If she is a four finger abdomen hen, her pelvic
bones should be about one-half inch or nine-sixteenth thick. If
you can find hens such as described here, you will have hens
with the mother's instinct. They will not be too lazy to take
proper care of themselves and their chicks nor will they want
to lay so soon as to neglect their chickens. The nearer you can
get to procuring the above type of hens, the better success you
will have raising chicks with them.

CHAPTER XIV.
SELECTING THE STOCK FOR RAISING BROILERS.

A great many of my friends have requested me to write a
chapter on how to raise broilers, but as there are so many ex-
cellent books on the market that describe the process of the
feeding, caring for and raising of broilers a great deal better
than I could do it, I will confine myself to the selection of the
breeding stock only. The writer has raised Light Brahmas and
White Plymouth Rocks for years and has experimented with
them to get the greatest amount of meat from the smallest
amount of feed: to get the greatest weight of meat at three

THE CALL OP THE HEtt 101

months old in the White Rocks, and the greatest weight of
meat in the Light Brahmas at maturity. In the process I have
run up against two distinct propositions: one was a success
from a commercial point of view, and the other, while not a
financial success, was a success from an epicurean point of view.
I will describe the financial proposition first.

We will select a pen of hens from our favorite breed, or
from W^yandottes, Orpingtons, Plymouth Rocks, or R. I. Reds.
The hens must have large prepotency: they must be six or
seven fingers abdomen, and their pelvic bones should be 5-8
of an inch thick, in good condition. Now you have hens that
should lay 12 dozen eggs their first laying year, and they are a
paying proposition. Do not breed from them the first year, but
wait until they are over one year old. Then mate them with a
mature cockerel or young cock with large prepotency with ab-
domen four fingers deep or more, and pelvic bones from one
inch, to one and one-fourth inches thick. You should feed the
pen for eggs, and keep them as healthy as possible. If they arc
fed right, you will get lots of eggs, and good healthy chicks
capable of laying on flesh rapidly and fattening very easily. As
a paying proposition for market broilers I have never found
any combination that would equal it.

But for my private use without regard to profit I would
take the same combination as the above except that the pelvic
bones of the hens would be one inch thick, instead of about
5-8. This would give a broiler that would put on flesh much
faster, consequently it would be more tender. I have raised
broilers, the flesh of which would melt in your mouth. I have
a few secrets in the raising of them that I have never divulged
but may do so in a few years.

102

THE CALL, OF THE HEN.

Figure 51.— The Dry Mash Hopper We Use. Closed.

Figure 52. — The Dry Mash Hopper We Use. Open.

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 103

CHAPTER XV.

USING THE HOGAN TEST IN JUDGING POULTRY AT
THE POULTRY SHOWS.

From the Live Stock Tribune, Los Angeles, California-
(Now Pacific Poultrycraft.)

INGLEWOOD POULTRY SHOW.

A poultry show will be held in the Inglewood Poultry
Colony on March 13th and 14th. This show will be the first
of its kind ever given in the United States. All poultry shows
that have been held in this country heretofore have awarded
prizes according to the color, markings, and shape of the
fowls only. The show at Inglewood will be unusual in that
prizes will be awarded irrespective of the color, variety, shape,
size or age of the fowls in competition.

Birds in competition will be judged as to their egg-laying
capacity and reproductive ability only. The judging will be
done by the system discovered and perfected by Walter Hogan,
and now used in practical poultry raising by the members of
the Inglewood Poultry Colony.

First, second, third, fourth and fifth prizes will be awarded
to the best males and females entered from Inglewood. First
prize being $5 cash, second prize being $3 cash, all winners
receiving ribbons. In addition to the foregoing will be the
Jaffa Grand Prize of $25 gold, which will be awarded to the
hen in the show which shows the greatest capacity as a layer
combined with the ability to reproduce her kind.

Entries for the regular prizes will be limited to fowls from
Inglewood, but competition for the "Jaffa Grand Prize" will
be open to all comers. Entries from poultry raisers outside
of Inglewood will be limited to two birds each. No entry fee
will be charged, but all birds entered will be sent at the own-
er's risk as is usual at all shows.

The birds entered will be cared for, and reshipped to the
owners by White Wyandotte Farm, under whose auspices the

104 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

show will be given, and to whom all entries should be sent. No
entries will be received after ten o'clock a. m. on March 12th.

This show will be unique in that it will present the com-
mercial side of the poultry industry, to the exclusion of fancy
breeding. Every step in the poultry business from the hatch-
ing of the chick to the preparation of the mature fowl for mar-
ket, and the packing of the eggs for table use will be illustrat-
ed by actual demonstrations on the famous White Wyandotte
Farm where the exhibition will be given. Incubators will
hatch not less than 2000 chicks during the show, and chickens
in every stage of development, from one day old to ten weeks
old, will be shown as raised in the best brooders with the best
care.

There will be demonstrations on both days of the show of
killing, picking and preparing fowls for market, as well as of
packing fancy eggs. The best and latest in poultry supplies,
fittings and equipment will be shown as actually used by the
capable, successful men who are in the business for revenue
only.

No admission fee will be charged, the show being given
for the purpose of exploiting and demonstrating the poultry
business as it is being developed in Southern California.

The "Jaffa Grand Prize" is given and named in honor of
Professor Jaffa, of the University of California, who was the
first man in public life in this state to test and verify the ex-
cellence of the system discovered by Mr. Hogan.

Transportation from Los Angeles to Inglewood will be
fiee, and it is understood that the Board of Trade of Ingle-
wood will make arrangements to take those who visit the shovv
around the city of Inglewood in automobiles.

Those who visit the Inglewood Poultry Show will see an
chibition that will be more interesting by far than any show
that has preceded it in California, or in any other state, because
one will have an opportunity to see, not the pedigree, but the
money, in the chicken, and a practical way to get that money
out.

In judging the poultry show at Inglewood the manage-

THE CALL OF THE HEN 105

mom made the rule that all birds were to be judged according
to tl e condition they were in at the time they were judged.
And while this rule may be all right in judging the fancy bird
and the beef type bird, it will never do for the egg type bird
as the reader will see when I relate an incident that occurred
during the show in Ingle wood, which was held in Match. A
gentleman had entered a White Leghorn hen that he \ad trap-
uested a ] ear uj. to tlic previous November, and hi 1 her
record with him. The hen scored (as near as I can retuetuber)
two En^eis abdomen, two fingers out of condition, and 3-16
pelvic bone, and according to the rules of the show I w r> oblig-
ed to give her credit for 78 eggs her first laying year, when «.c-
cording to his trap nested record she had laid 180 eggs. He
said she had been sick and had just commenced to improve
shortly before he sent her to the show, and he wanted to prove
whether or not I could tell how many eggs she had laid her
f rst laying year. I told him I could not tell how many eggs
she had laid but I could tell how many she could have laid if
she had been fed and cared for right, barring accidents and
sickness. That her capacity was 190 eggs her first laying year.
He then showed me her record which was 180 eggs.

In the autumn of 1911 George D. Holden, ex-president of
the American Poultry Association judged the fancy, and the
writer judged the utility birds at the Pajaro Valley Poultry
show held at Watsonville, Santa Cruz county, Calif. In judg-
ing that show full credit was given each bird both male and fe-
male, as to what they were capable of doing, whether in meat
or eggs, and for prepotency, without any regard as to how their
owners cared for them. Or in other words without regard to
their condition. And the owners of the birds who were inter-
ested in knowing, were instructed how to rectify any deficiency
there may have been in the birds. It seems to me this is the
best way to encourage and develop the poultry industry. I am
sure the American Poultry Association could formulate a code
of rules that would greatly aid in judging utility poultry, and
thereby add greatly to the interest of our poultry shows. In
fact I am advised that such a proposition is being considered
at the time I am writing this, July 25th, 1913.

106 THE CALL OF THE HEN

CHAPTER XVI.

STAMINA IN POULTRY.

When I came to California and told the poultry raisers
that I was going to take their birds and in the course of time
breed a flock of 200 egg hens from them, they declared it
could not be done. They said if it was possible to breed up a
large flock of 200 egg hens, their progeny would be so weak I
could never raise them and that their eggs would be so mis-
shapen, and thin shelled they would not be marketable. I re-
plied that perhaps they were right but I saw no reason why I
could not do so here, as I had bred up one lot in the eastern
states and another lot in Minnesota. Both lots were Leghorns
and I thought it would be easier to develop Leghorns in Cali-
fornia than in Minnesota, and I have now demonstrated in Cali-
fornia that the following can be done : First, the 200 egg hen is
a fact and not a theory. Second, that she can be bred and fed
to lay as perfect an egg as any other class of hens. Third, that
her eggs are as fertile and will hatch as strong chicks as the
hen that does not pay for her feed. The breeder need not take
my word for the above statements. The Frontispiece shows
five of this type of birds that the writer bred and raised in Cali-
fornia. These birds laid the greatest weight of eggs (131 pens
of five birds to each pen competing, including three pens of In-
dian runner ducks) in the National Egg Laying Contest at the
State poultry experiment station, Mountain Grove, Missouri,
U. S. A., for the 12 months ending November 1st, 1912. These
five hens laid 131 Ibs. of eggs which reduced to No. 1 eggs as
rated in Petaluma would be 229 3-5 eggs for each hen. The
eggs these five hens laid while moulting were put on exhibition
in the Chamber of Commerce in Petaluma and were pro-
nounced by good judges to be as fine a lot of eggs as they ever
saw, and that is saying a great deal, as there are more eggs
produced within a radius of ten miles from Petaluma than in
any other like part of the world. We have hundreds of letters
from our customers testifying to the value of this stock, a few
extracts of which we will introduce here, to prove to the reader
that because a flock of hens are great layers it does not follow
that they are of low vitality.

THE CALL, OF THE HEN. 107

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS.

Portland, Ore., 5-23-1912

"Received eggs. None broken. Very nice. Fifteen infer-
tile out of 150." C. F. Perkins.

Lihue, Hawaii, 6-11-43.

Eggs arrived O. K. None damaged. Have 14 chicks
four weeks old doing fint. Am well pleased."

E. H Br, \adhent.

(These eggs were shipped over twenty-two hundred miles
by rail and steamer to reach their destination.)

"Watsonville, Calif., 4-21-12.— Eggs received. Finest we
ever had. Got 49 fine strong chicks from 64 eggs."

Ora L. Hill.

Vancouver, British Columbia, 5-13-12..
"The 100 eggs received. Express and customs ran price
to $14.00. Am very well satisfied. Hatched 70 per cent beau-
tiful chicks, doing well." G. W. McLelland.

Quincy, Washington, 4-14-12,
"Chicks received; not a dead one in the bunch, which

speaks well for the vitality of your stock."

H. L. Johnson, Treasurer and Manager, Quincy Lumber

and Grain Co.

Victoria, British Columbia, 4-19-13. Sub. P. O. No. 1.
"Received, the 100 chicks four dead. Think that is very
good coming that journey." James D. West.

Salem, Oregon, 4-19-13.

"Received baby chicks. They are just lovely; not one
dead, which we think is great. They came in fine shape."

Mr. and Mrs. Hayre.

Seattle, Washington. 8-25-12.

"Received the 1040 chicks about ten weeks ago. There
were five dead in the boxes. Hav lost about seventy-five1- of
them all told." S. K. Suttle, Seattle, Wash.

Tucson, Arizona, 2-17-13.

"Received chicks in good condition, one dead, six hundred
and twenty-three alive and kicking." L. E. Smith.

108 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

Reno, Nevada, 3-11-13.

"Chicks came through fine, one dead in seven hundred,
which speaks well for their vitality. They surely are a spry
bunch." A. L. Rice.

Reno, Nevada, 7-22-13.

"Chicks are fine. They are the largest and best looking
ever seen in Nevada. They are just four months and twelve
days old. One of them laid yesterday. Every poultryman
that sees them remarks it's too bad I haven't a thousand."

A. L. Rice.

The above extracts are taken from a few of the many un-
solicited letters I have received from my customers during the
last two years that I have been selling hatching eggs and day
old chicks. I have repeatedly shipped hatching eggs to the
Hawaiian Islands and as far east as Minnesota: and day old
chicks where they would be over 72 hours on the road. Last
season I turned down over six thousand dollars worth of orders
that I could not fill at $10 per 100 for eggs and $15.00 per 100
for day old chicks. 1 am aware I will have a hard time convinc-
ing some of my readers that what I claim for the 200 egg hen
is true, but it seems to me any progressive poultryman would
be satisfied with the proof I offer him. I will admit that the
eggs and chicks from the 200 egg type hens as now bred are
not all we would desire, but that is owing to lack of proper
knowledge of breeding. As I have said before, by using the
"Hogan Test" the reader can breed as fine or as coarse as his
conditions require; and by selecting only those birds with
large prepotency he will be assured of success.

CHAPTER XVII.
"AT SEA OVER MATING."

What shall it be; The Trap Nest, Mendelism or the Hogan
Test?

From The North American, Philadelphia, Pa., Nov. 24, 1912.

"At Sea Over Mating."
America has some good layers, unheard of and unknown,

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 109

'tis true, but we are evidently all at sea in the matter of rrating
for egg production.

Can it be possible that Mendel's law obtains in egg produc-
tion, just as it does in leathers and form?. Do we elim':»;ite,
according to Mendel, tlio. lacror governing certain things in o^j;
production, just as we dc m the attempt to control coloring »1>
birds, fcv\ls, animals a,id flowers? If a son of a heavy-laying
female is mated to a non-layer and this son does not carry the
excess of laying proclivity, do we get poor layers or good lay-
ers? If a 100 per cent producing hen (200 eggs or more) is
mated to the son of a 100 per cent producing female, it does not
follow, if Mendel's law applies, that the mate to the second 100
per cent female inherited egg-laying proclivities; therefore,
why should the offspring of the second mating be prolific egg
producers? And how far back must we go to get the excess of
female inclination to reproduction ?

Predominance of inclination exists somewhere in some
tangible form, but we do not seem to be able to find it under
our present system. That we will is conclusive, but we must
do so quickly, in order to offset the growing increase of food-
stuffs.

The trap nest identifies and gives you the number of eggs
a hen lays, and is absolutely necessary if we wish to line breed
or raise pedigreed stock. The writer has studied Mendelism
since the spring of 1910, as he has, numerous other scientific
works in the endeavor to find something that would be of aid!
in getting out this work. I must confess that the title, "The1
Call of the Hen," was suggested while on a visit with Comrade
Jack London, and that is all I have been able to find that has
aided me in this case. Mendelism may be found an aid along
the line of feathers, but I doubt if there is anything in it that
will aid the poultryman in the selection of breeders for type,
stamina, and the production of eggs, or meat. It may be that,
having eyes I fail to see it. Even if there should be anything
of value in Mendelism, it would take two or more years to get
it out, while the Hogan Test indicates the value of a bird in a
few minutes, at most. It looks to me as if the poultrymen will
have to look to the trap nest, and the Hogan Test to develop
and maintain the high scoring meat and egg producing hen.

110 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

The best pullets can be selected at maturity by the Hogan
Test, and then trapnested when the poultryman is breeding
pedigreed stock: while the cull pullets, lacking in prepotency
and other points, can be kept as market egg producers. In this
way it will be necessary to trap nest only the cream of the
flock, and thereby save an immense amount of labor. The cock-
erels can also be selected at three months of age, and the most
promising saved from slaughter. By this method poultry
breeding will be reduced to a science, and become a pleasure
where now it is a brain racking proposition.

CHAPTER XVIII.

HOW CAN I TELL A LAYING HEN?

I am asked this question very often and in reply \vuuld
say from a Scientific point of view it is impossible to tell the
laying hen, except with the X-ray. I was at a place in San
Francisco lately where this subject was brought up. There was
a small party present, all of whom had my System. One of the
party worked in a large meat market where they bought and
dressed live poultry. He said that occasionally he dressed a
hen that showed no indications of being a laying hen, but upon
being opened an egg would be found in her. I told him the
hens that he had described were those that laid a very few eggs,
and laid them only in the spring. . Their pelvic bones expanded
only while the hen was being delivered of the egg. This hen
has practically but one egg under process of development at a
time, consequently her abdomen does not have to expand to
make room for only one egg. Whereas the hen that lays 150
eggs per year has a number of eggs developing at the same
time, and her abdomen expands in proportion to her needs.
The 200 egg hen has a still larger number of eggs developing,
and she requires more room for them, hence her abdomen ex-
pands in proportion. The 250 egg hen has a still larger num-
iber of eggs of all sizes developing and her abdomen expands
still wider than the 200 egg hen. When the hen's abdomen ex-
pands her pelvic bones, being literally a part of and continua-
tion of her abdomen, must expand and contract with it. When
she is through laying for the season her abdomen contracts
and the pelvic bones must come closer together. Which
they do, although there are exceptions to this rule.

THE CALL OF THE HEN. Ill

We will take the 145 egg hen, for example, of the san-
guine temperament. She will be four fingers abdomen 3-8 pel-
vic bone, when in normal condition, with pelvic bones of good
shape. We draw our hand along her breast bone (keel) from
front to rear and find her abdomen does not drop down the
least bit below the rear of her breast bone. This hen we might
call a normal hen. Her pelvic bones will in all probability ex-
pand and contract in conformance with her condition of laying;
if she was in the flush of laying her pelvic bones may be about
one and three-fourths inches apart: later in the season, when
she is not laying so frequently, her pelvic bones may close to
about one and a half inches; and when she stops laying for the
season her pelvic bones may close to about one and one-fourth
inches. This will very likely be repeated each year. ,;^. •

Now we will select a hen of the 250 egg type. We draw
our hand along her keel, as with the last hen; we find she is all
right, close built and firm; we drop her and take another 250
egg type hen. In drawing our hand along her keel (breast
bone) we find a slight bagging down in the rear. The abdomen
seems to drop below the rear of the breast bone slightly. We
will say this is a pullet, perhaps six or eight months old. She
is well developed and you call her one of your best hens; you
are proud of her and have decided to set every egg she lays.
Don't you do it. This pullet should be put in a yard with
others of her formation, after she is sixteen months old and
trap nested. She may stop laying any time and never lay an-
other egg, or she may continue to lay another year or so. In
any case she has been such a continuous layer that her frame
has become set to that form and her pelvic bones, as it were, set
and will contract very little. They will indicate that she is
laying when in fact she may not have laid for years. I have
kept such hens until they were six years old, and some of
them have never laid an egg after they were about 16 months
still others after they were two years old. This is where a trap
nest will save you money. When you select your hens by the
charts 44 and 45 at 16, 28 and 40 months of age the ones that
bag down the least bit should be put in a yard by themselves
and trapnested to discover the ones whose ovaries have broken
down and will lay no more. This is not difficult to discover as
the hen that is over the 205 egg type lays more or less at all
times during the first two years of her life, if not stimulated to

112 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

over production her first year. 'A little learning is a dangerous
thing', is an old saying applicable to this case. When a man
says, "Dont Kill That Laying Hen," he should furnish you
with an x-ray outfit that will enable you to comply with his
request.

The writer has used the pelvic bone proposition for over
forty years in selecting the laying hen and has found the fol-
lowing to be a very good method in selecting the hen that is
not laying: The hen that scores 130 eggs her first laying year
would measure about 7-8 of an inch between her pelvic bones
after she stops laying for the season. The hen that scores 150
eggs her first laying year would measure about one inch be
tween her pelvic bones after she stops laying for the season.
The hen that scores 200 eggs would measure about one and
one-fourth inches between the pelvic bones after she stops
laying for the season. The hen that scores 250 eggs would
measure about one and one-half inches between the pelvi,:
bones after she stops laying for the season. The 250 egg hen
does stop more or less after her second and sometimes after
her first season, if not cared for right: but if feed and environ-
ment are right, she may continue to lay more or less until
three years old, when her frame may become set. When she is
done laying her pelvic bones may remain two inches apart. As
liens grow older their pelvic bones become thicker during the
winter months when they are not laying. The thickness varies
according to their type, the typical egg type changing
little or none, while the more pronounced the meat type be-
comes, the more the pelvic bone changes, owing to the increase
or decrease of flesh on the abdomen (flank) of the fowl, as it
takes on or loses flesh as indicated by her breast bone.

On pages 17 and 82, we have called the attention of the
reader to the subject of CONSTITUTIONAL VIGOR AND
VITALITY.

As we have now reached the end of "The Call of the Hen,"
I wish to impress upon the reader's mind the importance of the
five propositions that govern the Selection, Breeding, and
Profitable eeping of Poultry are as follows: Capacity, Con-
dition, Type, Prepotency, and Vitality or Constitutional Vigor.

No doubt you have a good working knowledge of the
first four subjects, and you wonder why I have not written a

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 113

•chapter on Vitality. The reason is that when I decided to
write "The Call of the Hen," I told my wife that I would write
nothing that even a blind man could not understand and prac-
tice. I have tried to do so, for to her patience, perservance
and untiring zeal, I owe much of the success I have had in
getting out this book.

The writer can see only three ways of detecting vitality
in a fowl. The most ancient is intuition, then, observation, and
lastly, the trap nest. A hen may be a typical 250 egg type hen ;
she may have the very best of care and feed, and yet, for lack
of vitality, may not be able to lay over 150 eggs per year. Let
us take the steam engine for example. There are a great many
types of engines besides the high and low pressure ones, as
there are a great many types of hen and cock birds. The
diameter of cylinder, length of stroke, and revolutions per min-
ute give you the capacity of the engine^as the length and depth
of abdomen in the fowl gives its capacity. The fuel fed into
the fire box generates the steam (vitality) to run the engine,
as the food fed into the hen's abdomen generates her vitality.

The writer has owned steam engines where there was de-
fective fire box construction: scale in the boiler, and tubes,
loose rin^s in the piston head, cylinder worn out of true, and
other defects that reduced the efficiency of the power system
a great deal, or in other words, lowered the vitality of the en-
gine. In just the same way, a weak digestive system in a 250
egrs: type hen will reduce her egg yield. But do not think that

O O -> ' 1 O O •/

you can make a 150 egef type hen in perfect condition lay 200
eggs by any of the feeding formulas now in vogue. If you try
to force her she will go to flesh and then break clown with
liver trouble.

If you lack the intuitive faculty, and lack the time to
carefully observe individual hens, I would advise you to select
the hens by the chart you wish to breed from. When they
are about a year old you can breed from them. Then if you
wish to breed from only those with the greatest vitality, trap-
nest these hens for the next two or hree years. The hens with
the greatest vitality will be great layers and strong vigorous
birds, and save the time wasted in trapnesting a lot of birds
that you will eventually have to discard.

114 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

CHAPTER XIX.

This Chapter relates wholly to the system published by
Walter Hogan, November 20, 1904. A friend to whom I had
confided my poultry secrets some years previous advised me
not to publish any more of them then than are contained
in the following Chapter. Saying that I was a hundred years
ahead of the times, and if I gave all my secrets away then I
would have nothing to fall back on later. We have added the
old System, contained in this Chapter at the request of our
friends so the readers could compare it with the new one, en-
titled "The Call of the Hen."

This chapter contains "Walter Hogan's System" as the
writer wrote it. I did not write "The Walter Hogan System
of Increasing Egg Production by Selection and Breeding." I
furnished the notes to a literary gentleman and he wrote it
without strict regard to the text. But I admit that I wrote
the "'Call of the Hen" and as I claim no literary accomplish-
ments the reader will no doubt discover the difference in the
work. The 'Walter Hogan System' was sold under" Promise of
Secrecy which is declared null and void on the issuance of this
book.
Petaluma, Calif., July 31, 1913.

Signed: WALTER HOGAN,

Showing the "colony system" of housing hens much used
at Petaluma. This method is inexpensive but not advisable
where the climate is either very hot in summer or very cold in
winter.

116

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

WALTER HOGAN'S SYSTEM

WALTER HOGAN
The Originator of the Walter Hogan System

There are two ways of selection described in this docu-
ment.

When hens are in flush of laying, selection by the pelvic
bones alone is the easier way. But when not in flush of laying,
the pelvic bones together with the abdomen will be found the
most ready way. (See supplement next page.)

Please bear in mind that the hen with thin pelvic bones
and large, soft abdomen is the heavy egg laying type.

The hen with thick pelvic bones and large fleshy, fatty
abdomen is the large beef type.

The hen with medium, thick pelvic bones and large'
medium fleshy and medium fatty abdomen is the dual pur-
pose type, and can be made to lay fairly well or made to pro-
duce flesh, it being a matter of how she is fed.

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 117

The hen with small abdomen is of small account, either as
an egg or as a meat proposition, as she lacks the abdominal
capacity to digest and assimilate food enough to sustain the
every day wear of her system, and at the same time to pro-
duce eggs, or flesh, in paying quantities.

Everything related here applies to the male bird as well,
only in a lesser degree.

The remarks in regards to pullets refer to mature pullets,
as Leghorn pullets are at five months old in the New England
states.

My birds in Massachusetts were bred for eggs only, for
years, and their type became set and their pelvic bones con-
tracted, when not laying, to average about 25 per cent, but I
find that hens bred promiscuously contract about 50 per cent.

The points to be borne in mind in using this system are
that selection by the pelvic bones alone is best made in the
flush of laying.

That thin pelvic bones and soft abdomen indicate the egg
type.

That thick pelvic bones and hard, fleshy, fatty abdomen
indicates the beef type.

The size of the abdomen indicates the capacity of the bird,
either as an egg or as a meat proposition as the case may be —
large abdomen, large capacity; small abdomen, small capacity.

The same rules apply to the cockerel, cock, male bird or
rooster, as he may be called.

In order to determine the capacity of £. hen for egg pro-
duction by one selection, she should be in normal condition
and not more than a few days broody.

The estimates in this document refer to hens about one
year old. As a rule they will lay less each year as they grow
older — how much less depends on the vitality of the hen, other
things considered.

118 THE CALL OP THE HEN.

SUPPLEMENT TO WALTER HOGAN'S SYSTEM.

If you will get a little one-foot rule to check yourself up
while getting used to measuring with the tips of your fingers
as in figure 4, you will have no trouble in applying its principles
right. You can hold the bird feet up and head down between
your knees while you are measuring; then hold as in figure 4
and learn to estimate the width right. Anything under one
inch will not pay, all over 1 1-2 inches will pay; from 1 to 1 3-8
are doubtful ; 2 inches is about the 200-egg type, and 2 3-8
inches about the 250-egg type and 2 3-4 inches about the 280-

Hens measuring from 1 to 1 3-8 inches should be put in a
yard while being fed well and looked over once a week at
night in the dark for about eight weeks if you wish to make a
careful test. Any that come up or down in measurement can
be put in the good or bad yards as the case may be. Hens will
go up or clown about 25 per cent in measurements as they are
in flush of laying or not. The best time to examine hens is
after dark while on roost, which should be about 18 inches from
the JAoor. Place left hand on back of hen, lift up tail with
thumb of right hand and apply tips of fingers to pelvic bones.
With a little practice you will be able to inspect 30 per minute.
It is admitted by all Physcians, Professors and Students of
Physioiogy that I have talked with in regard to this matter
that the abdominal capacity of a hen together with a strong
v-tai temperament has everything to do with her value as a
laying proposition. The pelvic bones (being a continuation oi
the body structure of the fowl and subject to very small
changes in the formation of flesh), are, when comparatively
straight and thin, an index to the width of the abdomeu and
the best if not the only one we have, as they protrude from
the body nnd may be easily measured. The depth of the abdo
men can be taken by placing the palm of the hand crosswise
below, between the pelvic bones and the rear of the breast
bone. Somet:mes it will be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 fingers. ( A finger
means three-uiviiters of an inch). Also place fingers between
pelvic bones and tail bone. Sometimes it will take 1, some-
times 2 fingers In this way you can judge the size of tbe ab-
domen which with the pelvic development will be a rule as to
a hen's value as a layer, except in rare cases of misplaced or

THE CALL OP THE HEN. 11£

diseased organs. Sometimes a hen will have a large abdomen
but her pelvic bones will grow crooked and come almost to-
gether, like the horns of a Jersey cow and she will lay better
than the distance apart of her pelvic bones will indicate but
never will do as well as she should and should not be bred
from. She wastes too much nervous force in laying. The farth-
er you get away from the crow formation the better your hens
will be.

As a rule fowls are almost twice as long coming to matur-
ity in California as they are in the east and middle west states.
Wnat the reason is I suspect but do not know, but will find out
in the next two years.

No document purporting to be a copy of Walter Hogan's
System is genuine without my signature as is set hereunder:
Wishing you the best of success, I am sincerely yours,

THE WALTER HOGAN SYSTEM OF INCREASING EGG
PRODUCTION BY SELECTION AND BREEDING.

It has been estimated that to add one-half dozen eggs to
the annual producing capacity of every hen in the United
States, would result in additional returns from our poultry
sufficient to pay the national debt within less than a year. Al-
lowing this to be true, we are prepared to show that the method
of selection and breeding herein outlined, is capable of paying
off our great debt several times during a single year, without
having to increase the number of hens kept a single bird, or the
cost of keeping them a single dollar.

The method — or discovery, we might call it — has been
tested by the writer in every conceivable way, regardless of
expense, time or trouble, and has been found absolutly faultless
in every particular. It has been submitted to one government
Experiment Station (as will be shown later) with the same un-
erring results; and also to a number of the foremost poultry-
men of America, who fully and without exception corroborate
all that is claimed.

This, you will agree with us, means a revolution in
economical egg production. It means, too, that no poultry-

120 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

man, however small his flock, can afford to go on in the old
way a single year longer.

Every animal on the farm has a well defined mission all
its own, outside of the general one of producing meat. The
.great mission of the cow is to produce milk, the sheep wool,
and the mission of the hen is evidently and pre-eminently egg
production. This being the case her value varies, or should
vary, largely with her ability to produce eggs. And still it is a
well known fact that, while every farm animal has been select-
ed and bred for the best there was in it along its own peculiar
line, and all prizes have been awarded accordingly, the hen has
been bred largely, and prizes awarded her almost wholly, for
feather and markings, the judges seldom or never dreaming it
important to know whether she was capable of laying at all 01
not.

The writer was amazed to find this state of things when,
some years ago, he turned his attention from managing woolen
mill interests to trying to manage a poultry yard. But, in spite
of the fact that he was wholly unable to find bird or strain that
were known to be exceptional egg producers, he succeeded
within six years after starting, in building up a flock that aver-
aged annually considerably over 200 eggs per hen.

Before deciding to publish this work I found, after diligent
inquiry among the leading poultrymen of the United States
and Canada, and some correspondence reaching to other coun-
tries, that there was no known method — other than the slow
and costly one of trap nesting — of selecting birds of great egg
producing capacity. Trap nesting, in addition to the faults
mentioned, which make it almost impracticable for the farm-
er, had a still more serious one in the writer's judgment; it
could not trap nest roosters, which I have found to be more
than "half the flock." For this seemingly insurmountable diffi-
culty I have found an easy solution, and can as readily identify
the male as the female and as unerringly.

The facts of which this document treat are a discovery, a
method, and a development, all in one. The happy inspiration
and discovery came within a few hours; but it has reached this
workable and absolutely reliable form by a costly analytical
and experimental process extending through years. After the
underlying principle had been found, it had to be tested and

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

121

proved to my own satisfaction. Then the various objections
and criticisms, which will occur to many readers, had to be
answered or met by actual practical experiences.

The method enables one, First — to easily and without er-
ror, weed out all the worthless birds from a flock; those that da
not lay at all, also that lay so little that it is a loss to keep them.
This alone means millions to this country. Second — to separ-
ate just as unerringly all pullets before they begin to lay: indi-
cating the coming great layers, the fair layers, the very poor,
and the ban en. The latter will be found in nearly all flecks.
Third — to tell those not liable to lay when disposing of old or
other hens for the table or market, or for other icasons.

Beginning my investigation — as I was compelled to — with
birds selected wholly without egg record, I was soon greatly
impressed with the dissimilarity of formation of the pelvic
bones and surrounding portions of the body, particularly of the
former. Some I found nearly closed up, hard and unyielding:

Cut No. 1.— A Leghorn Hen Showing This Development Has the
Laying Instinct at its Maximum

122 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

others barely admitting one finger between these points; while
a very few would easily admit the ends of three fingers between
the tips of the pelvic bones, and these were generally thin,
tapering and elastic. With this clue I was not long in finding
that my great lavers were the latter and my barren and nearly
barren ones, the first mentioned. My atttention was next forc-
ibly called to this by seeing a long row of dressed pullets and
hens in a butchering establishment. Noticing the great differ-
ence in the formation I secured the privilege of numbering the
hens and having the entrails, as they were removed, left by the
side of each bird. In every instance I found my suspicion veri-
fied; the indications of large numbers of eggs and ample
machinery to go with them, with the wide pliable pelvic bones;
and just the opposite condition with the narrow ones, the very
least, or no egg indications whatever, with the bones very close

Cut No. 2. — This is a Hen of Medium Development. It is a Fair Layer.

together at the points and unyielding to pressure, hard, thick
and rounded in. This experiment was tried again and again,
with different breeds, but never with different results.

THE CALL OF THE HEN.

123:

I was satisfied I was on the right trail now, and determined
to spare neither time nor money to make sure I was right. For
several years following these discoveries I spent much time and
money visiting well known poultrymen and others, frequently
paying as high as $10 for best known layers only to kill them to-

Cut No. 3. — Hens With this Development are of Little or
No Value as Layers.

prove or disprove my conclusions — to photograph the live bird,
next her dressed body, then her skeleton. In every instance I
found my theory correct. I divided my own flock according to
my findings into three flocks, and the very first day's lay proved
my theory beyond question, so far as one day could. I then
divided other and many flocks ; but wherever they were and
whatever breed, without an exception the same result followed.

Skipping a number of years, I might say right here that in
1904, I divided the flock of Leghorns, Wyandottes and Ply-
mouth Rocks at the Minnesota Experiment Station at Crooks-
ton, into three pens. First — the best; second — medium — to
poor; third — very poor or barren. I was about twenty-five

124 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

minutes doing this in the presence of Mr. C. S. Greene, at that
time the manager whom nearly all the leading poultrymen
know; and Mr. T. A. Hoverstad, then Superintendent of the
station. These gentlemen then had absolutely no faith in the
method! not knowing anything about it; but were assured by
me that if the barren pen laid an egg, or either of the others
failed to perform as I indicated, they were at liberty to publish
the method and me to the world as a fraud. The first day
showed pen No. 1, 45 eggs; pen No. 2, 20 eggs; pen No 3, no

Cut No. 4. — Showing a Convenient Method of Holding Fowls
When Testing Them.

-eggs; and this continued with slight variations, the entire per-
iod of the experiment which lasted for weeks; though not a
single egg appeared in the barren pen. The per cent of eggs to
the 100 hens for the entire time was: First pen, 60 per cent, per
•day; second pen, 37; third pen nothing. But for lack of room,
I might give many more experiments and tests fully as startling
as the above.

But to go on ; within two years after selecting my first
layers in this way, I had a flock, the larger part of which was
laying 200 eggs and above per year, individual layers greatly
exceeding this.

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 125

Then came another discovery, fully as important as the
•first. I noticed that, though I hatched all my pullets from the
best layers' eggs, some of them were exceedingly poor layers,
now and then one of them barren. I studied upon this for a
long time; spent more money and killed many more birds. Then
with another idea which, as suddenly as the first dawned upon
me. I made for the slaughter house once more. I soon had a
row of forty or so dressed male birds this time, laid out before
me; and then at a glance I saw my long sought solution. There
was the same great difference in the pelvic formation, found in
the hens. 1 examined my roosters to find that half of them
were absolutely worthless. Why do I say that the rooster
"is MORE than half the flock?" Because later I found, as
many know, that the female offspring take largely after the
lather, and the male offspring after the mother. It is so with
.all animals, and almost always so in the human family. Had
I used males of my own raising, I shouM have done better, but
1 had not. By the way, I found two high priced and "high
scoring" birds used at the Crookston station in 1904, absolute-
ly without value, and Mr. Greene now agrees with me fully
that they were; although he was at the time quite indignant
when I pronounced his costly beauties worthless.

I may say here that, while I found one very good exhibi-
tion bird in this experiment station flock that was wholly
worthless as a layer, I am, pleased indeed to be able to state
that one bird which had taken several prizes for markings, etc.,
I found to be a priceless layer. I never saw but one bird that
came anywhere near being that hen's equal ; I found one, how-
ever, with very poor markings that outranked any hen but
.her.

From this time on, breeding hastened matters fully as
tnuch as selection, and I soon had, or rather — to be accurate—-
at the end of six years from my first start I had a FLOCK
AVERAGING CLOSE AROUND 250 EGGS EACH PER
YEAR; A FLOCK PAYING ME MORE THAN DOUBLE
THE PROFIT MY FIRST FLOCK COULD. During the
last few years of this period I again and again, for experi-
mental purposes, mated excellent hens with narrow pelvic
"boned males and every time a crop of pullets that varied
greatly in egg yield, was the result. Again and again I bred
wide pelvic boned males with narrow boned females, with the

126 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

same results. But wide pelvic boned males with hens of the
same formation, (with the exception now and then at far apart
intervals, a freak), brought excellent layers. Occasionally a
male bird failed to transmit well; but this I afterwards found
was only when it was wholly lacking in masculine qualities, as
denoted by the width and depth of head and back of neck,
with other indications common to masculinity in all other
animals. From this time I began mating wide pelvic boned
males with my widest hens a marked increase in the number
of great layers was evident; in fact the third year it was the
great exception to find anything but first-class layers among:
the pullets.

ITS ADVANTAGES.

The advantages of this method for one owning even a.
small flock of birds, are so apparent that space need not be
given to discuss it. To one having a large flock it means, must
mean, a small fortune in additional profit, with no more labor
or investment. To those engaged in selling eggs for hatching
it is bound to mean everything in the near future. It would be
simply suicidal for a farmer, or anyone depending upon the
eggs of his flock for the profit, to be so unbusinesslike as to
buy eggs for hatching from untested flocks. We do not be-
lieve it would be possible to find one who would do so, after
knowing from experiment stations and otherwise that the
method is unfailing.

Some of the advantages over trap nesting have been
stated; perhaps the. strongest being that we can not trap nest
roosters. In addition 1 might call attention to the fact that
trap nesting a single bird must extend over the entire year, to
be at all accurate, and would take many times the amount of
time it would require — by this method — to settle the laying
possibilities of a thousand pullets. A little more time would
settle the laying powers of a large mixed flock at mixed laying
seasons; which might require two, or at least three examina-
tions, a week or ten days apart.

Again, a worthless pullet can be found when she is from
five to six months old, and fatted and sold, without having to
keep her a full year in order to do it safely. Besides, handling
hens almost always tends to disturb and discourage laying.

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 127

Trap nesting will, if persistently followed the entire year, give
nearly the exact individual record, which is not material to one
egg man in a thousand. It can not be exact, however, as a
shut in and otherwise disturbed hen never does her best.

This method applies to other birds as well; turkeys for
instance. Last fall I bought two turkeys for experiment. One
was SMALL with LARGE egg development; the other
LARGE with SMALL egg development. The small bird has
laid and hatched out two litters of fourteen each, the present
season, and has at this date laid twenty-three eggs towards a
third litter. The large one laid and hatched fourteen eggs ear-
ly in the season, and has shown no signs of laying since ; but
has taken on much more flesh than the laying turkey. This
would, in addition to indicating laying turkeys, also show what
to breed, if large birds only are desired — as would nearly al-
ways be the case with turkeys.

The absolute surety of never killing a bird for market or
home consumption that is laying, about to begin laying, or is
liable to lay in the near future, is another decided advantage
over the trap nest; and one of the quickest available advan-
tages of the system.

Again, the process requires no investment in patent nests,
leg bands or other fixings, which amount — in trapnesting — to
many times the first and only cost of this method. For accur-
acy in all the advantages claimed for this method, we will
most gladly submit a test with the greatest expert trap nester
that can be selected, if it can be so arranged that some high
authority in poultry matters or some government experimental
station shall have charge of it. This unconditional offer we
make to the world.

HOW TO SELECT.

As the basic principle of this method of identifying capac-
ity for egg production is the width and relative condition of
the pelvic bones and surrounding construction, it is obvious
that exact measurements can not be given unless a distinct
breed be designated. A Cochin lays a large egg and is built
accordingly. A Bantam lays a small egg and its pelvic devel-

128 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

opment, in inches, is correspondingly smaller. It would be
manifestly misleading to apply the same measurements to the
two birds.

While the ability to make this allowance will come to the
operator quickly — almost intuitively, after a very short ex-
perience— I have thought best to confine all my descriptions
and measurements here, to one breed of fowls only, — the Leg-
horns, these being a medium sized, representative bird, well
scattered over the entire country. It will be easy from the
measurements to work up or down as the birds on hand may
be larger or smaller. It is all a matter of comparison, and, all
things being equal, the bird with the widest and most pliable
pelvic bones, will be the greatest layer; while the one with
very narrow, contracted pelvic formation will lay little, if at
all. Behind the pelvic bones lies the egg machinery, and it will
be found more abundant and roomy the wider the bones.

SELECTING PULLETS.
(Leghorns.)

Perhaps the best time to select layers for a flock is when
the pullets are from four to six months old. If all are in .1
uniformly thrifty condition at this time, it is next to impossible
to make a mistake. The best pullets at that age should show
a width of about two inches, while the best matured laying
hens should show a development of about two and one-eighth
inches. See cut No. 1.)

Pullets of Plymouth Rocks and their class should be se-
lected about a month later, and then show slightly larger,
about two and one-eighth inches. The best Asiatic pullet
about two and one-fourth at seven or eight months old ; the
Leghorns being earlier maturers. At the end of six years oi
careful selecting and breeding, I found my Leghorn pullets
quite as wide and well matured at four months as my first
rnes were at five months.

Second class Leghorn pullets from five to seven months
eld will show a development of about one and five-eights
inches. (See Cut No. 2.)

At six months old, all Leghorn pullets showing only an

THE CALL OF THE HEN. 129

inch or less pelvic development should be discarded regard-
less of feather or comb. They will never make layers. (See
Cut No. 3.)

All things being equal, the earlier a pullet begins to
lay, the better and longer will she lay.

SELECTING MATURE LAYERS.

The next best time to ascertain a hen's laying qualities
is when the whole flock is in the flush of laying; in other
words, when about all are at work. Those found then to meas-
ure about two and one-eighth inches are extremely good lay-
ets. Some flockr have very few of these priceless birds in
them, while ouiers have good numbers. From this class of
layers, and above that measurement, and from the<c only,
should eggs be saved for hatching.

Occa^'ctially hens are found measuring as high as two and
three-fourths inches. These hens with the best of care will
lay as high as 280 eggs per year. Those measuring about two
and three-eights may be depended upon to go as high as 250.
The fact that this kind of hen can be found is ample 'proof that
with proper selection they can be bred in large numbers.

Hens found at this time measuring from one and seven-
eights to two inches are real good layers, and should not be
discarded if one wishes to build up an at all large flock; but
they should not be bred from. Hens, in the flush of laying,
measuring only one and one-fourth to one and one-half inches,
arc poor; and those showing from an inch down should be
discarded regardless of shape or color.

A large enough flock of the first mentioned hens would
make any poor man rich. The second kind would keep them-
selves and their owners going; while many of the last named
class would make a rich man poor.

Poor layers kept well and fed a large variety of scraps

and other foods, will sometimes make pretty fair egg records
for a short time ; and birds of the best quality, under exception-
ally hard conditions, will make poor records. There are also
occasional freaks in both extremes of measurements, but they
are so infrequent as to not be at all important. Approximately,

130 THE CALL OP THE HEN.

280 egg hens that measure as high as two and five-eights
inches in the flush of laying, will show about three-eights to
one-half inch less when not laying, and this shrinkage in
measurement, will apply to all other grades in about this pro-
portion.

SELECTING FOR FALL MARKETING.

We do not like to kill birds about to begin laying, that
are laying, or really good ones that are just through laying;
particularly when there are plenty in the flock that do not
come under any of these heads.

In this alone, the cost of this method, when once well
understood, can be saved several times in a single season with
a good sized flock of birds.

While the exceptionally good layers can be told readily
and at almost any time, laying or not, and an absolutely worth-
less bird can be told the same way, there is a time, just when
the real good layer is resting and the common to poor layei
is doing her best, when they come — for a short time only —
close together in pelvic appearance.

While it is not safe to kill a bird that measures one and
one-eighth inches or over, it is possible for a very fair layer to
not be much wider than that at the close of laying out her lit-
ter. Some good layers, that in the flush of laying will meas-
ure one and three-quarters to two inches, at the close of their
laying period will sometimes close up to about one and one-
eighth inches. A very poor layer in the flush of her laying
time, might be one and one fourth to one and one eighth in-
ches, so care must be taken at this period not to con-
found the two conditions, which do not exist at any other
time. This is referred to in the introduction. To wholly pre-
vent this — when it is desired to save every at all good layer —
it is well to make two, or possibly three examinations, a week
or so apart. In this way there will be no danger of confound-
ing the one about to begin laying, with the one about to quit ;
ind the poor layer can be told from the good one.

When killing a whole flock at two or three years old, as
many do, no hen measuring one and one-eighth inches and un-

THE CALL OP THE HEN. 131

der is worth keeping; particularly is this true if the birds have
oeen well fed and stimulated to about their full capacity. No
hen of any value for egg production will have an egg in her at
this time and measure so small unless she is a slow, infrequent
layer at her best. Sometimes this kind of a hen with very
small measurements will be found laying an occasional egg late
in the season.

SELECTING ROOSTERS.

We have said how important it is to have males of the
right formation, to mate with the great layers for breeding
purposes. We need not emphasize this. It is so evident that
we can not trap nest a rooster, and equally so that years of
trap nesting hens can be ruinously upset in a day by crossing
with an inferior male, that it would reflect upon our estimation
of the reader's intelligence to say more about it.

I have found Leghorn roosters, that measured one and
three-fourths inches, but they are rare and priceless. A good
m-uured bird should measure one and one-eighth inches and
a pretty fair one an inch. I would not use one that measured
less if I could possibly help it. Many fine looking birds meas-
uie only one-half inch, but such ones will ruin the offspring of
the best layers, and should be discarded whatever their quali-
fications in feather, tip of comb or anything else.

Now and then the objection reaches us that the high type
roosters referred to can not be found. I have found them as
ethers have, and I believe there are nearly or quite as many in
proportion as there are of the 250 and above hens; but we do
not save all the roosters as we do all the pullets, and they are
correspondingly scarce among mature males. By selecting al-
ways from large numbers of males before they are killed off,
this objection will be largely and quickly overcome.

The fact that males of this class can be selected, is of it-
self a discovery sufficient to revolutionize the whole poultry
business without the examination of a single hen — were time
enough taken — but the two together bring absolute and imme-
diate results.

132 THE CALL OF THE HEN.

In the hands of a slightly experienced or an at all com-
petent person, the element of chance is entirely removed by
this method of selecting layers and males; (and one is just as
sure of the results sought as that a hen will die if her head is
cut off.

We ask but one thing; that judgment be withheld till this
method be tried. If the tests are fairly conducted there can be
no failure.

Crude infringements and imitations of this discovery and
system — as of everything else of value that has cost years of
investigation and experimenting — are liable to spring up, but
the safety and economy of going direct to the fountain head
need scarcely be suggested.

Dated November 20, 1904.

THE END.