White Plymouth Rock hen, which laid 281 eggs during the year, while, of the other hens of the same breed in her pen, one laid 218 eggs and the other three only 314 eggs between them. Thus the individual championship went to a hen from a pen which won no place at all in the big race. But that poultrymen realize the vital importance of the egg-strain in the development of their industry is shown by the fact that immediately after the contest Lady Showyou was sold to a Chicago breeder for $800 cash.

This hen was two years old when she entered the contest and weighed six pounds. Her record for the year is within one egg of the best known record in this country, held by a Barred Plymouth Rock hen at Guelph, Canada, but the

latter's eggs were small and contained in a thin shell, while Lady Showyou produced a uniformly large egg in good shell. Her eggs averaged a little more than two ounces apiece, a total weight slightly more than 36 pounds of eggs, or six times her own weight for the year. She did not become broody during the contest but took a month's rest during January, when the weather was very cold. She broke all known records for consecutive laying by producing 82 eggs in 82 consecutive days ending June 24th, missed one day and continued laying an egg a day for the rest of the month. To insure accuracy each contestant had a numbered metal band fastened to its right leg and all the hens were trap-nested. As

TYPE OF COOP USED FOR

BREAKING UP
BROODY HENS.

The bottom of the coop has one-inch spaces between the boards. to give plenty of air underneath the hen. This is more humane and less injurious than dousing with cold water or kicking the fowl off the nest.

the egg gatherer released the hen from the nest, he read the number of her band and immediately marked same with pencil on the end of egg before placing it in the gathering basket. Numbered nests in the egg storage room corresponded to numbers of the pens and all of the eggs from each pen were accumulated in the corresponding numbered storage nest. The eggs were weighed at least once a week and always at the close of the month and the pen credited with

the weight. The egg gatherer also made out daily credit slips showing the number of every hen which laid, together with a lot of other information for the records, such as the temperature inside and outside of the houses at 9 o'clock in the morning and at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Reports were also made daily of each hen which was sick, broody, or otherwise out of laying condition.

All of the grain, mash, grit, and other feed consumed, was charged to each pen as delivered and the tickets turned in to Mrs. T. E. Quisenberry, the wife of the director, who was asked by the Poultry Board to assume full charge of all records connected with the National Egg Laying Contest.

Each pen had a page a month in the record books, ruled to show the individual egg laying results each day and the total for the pen each day and month; the amount of feed consumed and cost for the month; the revenue from the eggs at current market prices for the month and the profit or loss for the month; the total weight of eggs produced

and the standing of the pen for the month.

Some breeds consumed larger quantities of vegetation than others. The thirty-six acres occupied by the Missouri Poultry Experiment Station covers part of a very large bearing apple orchard. The trees were sprayed three times during the season and otherwise cared for and the crop was much larger and of a finer quality on the trees in the chicken yards than in any other part of the original orchard, showing that poultry can help the fruit trees by fertilizing the ground and by destroying large numbers of insects, at the same time getting their ground rent free. Dry mash and grit were always available in self-feed hoppers and a grain mixture was fed morning and night. The following proportions were used:

Grain Mixture-200 pounds cracked corn, 200 pounds wheat, 100 pounds oats.

During this year the grain feed will be two parts of corn and one part of wheat for the winter months, and one part corn with two parts wheat for the summer months, eliminating the oats from the grain feed for the reason that the hull caused some trouble. In order to overcome this loss of

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table salt, 25 pounds powdered charcoal. The cost of this feed was about one and one-third cents per pound for the grain mixture and about two cents per .pound for the dry mash.

One-half pint of the grain mixture was fed each morning in the litter to five hens. A little larger quantity was fed in the litter at night. The dry mash was available at all times. At 1 o'clock each

day a handful of the dry mash which had been moistened with buttermilk or skim milk. was fed in a trough to each pen. This was just enough to add variety and the hens gathered around the trough as soon as they saw the feeder coming, for they were very fond of it. During the season when green vegetation was not available in their yards a handful of sprouted oats was also fed at this time.

The hens had fresh water available at all times. A small quantity of permanganate of potash was placed in the drinking water to prevent colds and diseases. A small quantity of Epsom salts was fed in the moistened mash once or twice every month.

oats in the grain mixture, the amount of oats in the dry mash has been increased to three hundred pounds and the use of sprouted oats will be continued. This year the beef scraps have been increased to 250 pounds in the dry mash and the powdered charcoal has been increased to 35 pounds. Last year's dry mash was composed as follows:

100 pounds wheat bran, 200 pounds middlings or short, 200 pounds corn meal, 200 pounds rolled or ground oats, 150 pounds dry beef scraps, 75 pounds alfalfa meal, 50 pounds gluten meal, 25 pounds O. P. oil meal, 8 pounds fine

Under the heading "Lessons Learned," Mr. T. E. Quisenberry, the director at the experiment station, has issued the following notes for the guidance of all poultry raisers:

1. That there is no variety of breed which far excels others in general use as far as egg production is concerned.

2. That more depends upon the strain of a variety as to the number of eggs it will produce than upon the variety.

3. That some hens have a born tendency to lay and others have a born tendency to put on fat. The latter kind should be culled out in establishing a laying strain.

4. That more depends upon the breed

ing of the male as to number of eggs the offspring will produce than upon the female, yet it will pay to breed from your best layers in preference to the poorest.

5. That you should select the variety. which suits you best as to color, size, and shape, and breed them up until they satisfy you as to quality and productiveness. You make a mistake by jumping from one breed to another trying to discover a better layer.

6. That it will pay the average poultryman to trap-nest his flock in the fall and winter months and breed from the pullets which lay earliest in life and from the pullets and hens which lay in the winter.

7. That the style of house used in this contest is one of the best for this climate. We find it cool in summer and comfortable in winter, and properly ventilated.

8. That hens like sprouted oats as much or better than any other green food, and they do well on it, as it aids digestion and increases egg production.

9. That a little moistened food is relished and will increase egg production.

10. That many high producers lay thin shelled eggs and that the germs are often weak. A few high producers are able to lay large numbers of eggs, fertilize them, and put vitality into the chick.

11. That the Mediterranean Class can stand more protein and fattening food than the birds of the American, Asiatic, or English classes. There is not so much danger of the Mediterraneans becoming too fat, and they require a richer food than the other classes mentioned.

12. That the egg yield from Mediterraneans is affected by extreme cold more than the other classes of fowls, because of the fact that they are closely feathered, have large combs and smaller bodies.

13. That if you give a hen reasonably good shelter, feed, and attention, she will net a reasonable profit if properly bred.

14. That the purpose of properly feeding and housing a hen is not to feed eggs into her body but to so feed and care for her that you may get out of her the eggs which breeding has placed there. Proper feeding, housing and care have a bearing on the number of eggs produced by a flock, but breeding is most important.

15. That nens must be fed and fed liberally if you expect eggs in quantities, especially if you expect winter eggs.

17. That hens must not be excited or chased, but should be handled gently..

18. That rape will color the yolk of the egg green, and onions or fish scraps will cause the eggs to taste of these if fed in too large quantities.

19. That the ground should be kept fresh, shade provided in the hot summer months, and the house kept clean. The hens cannot do well if covered with vermin.

20. That most high layers will lay practically all the color out of their legs and plumage in one year.

21. That hens lay a few more eggs if males are not in the pens with them.

22. That most good layers moult late in the season. They look tough, dirty, and weatherbeaten as a rule, as a result of their hard year's work, but the poor layers spend their time in dressing up and putting on a fine coat of feathers.

23. That the best producers have broad bodies. The back is broad and the ribs are widespread, giving plenty of room for the egg organs and digestive organs. Their bodies are solid and the birds are not loose jointed but compactly built.

24. That good layers are big eaters. A bird must have capacity to eat and digest a big amount of food if she is to lay well.

25. That a big decrease in the egg yield in winter months can be brought on more quickly by great variations in temperature, sudden changes in weather conditions, than by continued or prolonged spells of either cold or rainy weather.

26. That it will pay to keep a good hen until she is four years old. We had several hens four years old which laid over 150 eggs each.

27. That most of the high producers have good sized combs for their breed.

28. That there is much room for improvement in all varieties and breeds as far as egg production is concerned, and it is up to the breeders of this country to get busy. There are wonderful possibilities along this line.

On November 15, 1912, a second egglaying contest was begun with 600 hens representing twenty varieties of poultry gathered from England, Canada, and twenty states of the United States. Each variety is represented by thirty hens.