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Show Drastic Culling Made Necessary By Low Profits For Eggs More important now possibly than ever before is the task of selecting sel-ecting the hens and pullets that are to be kept in the laying pens the coming year, is the opinion of Carl Frischknecht, extension poul-tryman, poul-tryman, Utah State Agricultural college. If birds are not carefully selected select-ed for egg production, the records a year from now will likely indicate indi-cate that the entire flock was fed for twelve months at a loss. With the cold storage holdings of both poultry and eggs considerably consid-erably above thosee of a year ago and the unfavorable feed-egg ratio which exists, it is doubtful if one can afford to keep the mediocre pullet or hen that returns a small profit when feeds are lower and eggs are higher in price, Mr. Fris chkhecht points out. Since the highest-producing hens are still in production and the poorer-produc- ing hens have stopped laying and are molting, now is the time to go into the pens carefully hand-select those that are to be kept another an-other year. Hens that are still laying have combs and wattles that are large, red, full, soft, smooth and waxy; vents that are large, full, white and moist; and public bones that are thin, flexible, and that are wide apart. Contrasted with this the non-laying hens have combs and wattles that are small, pale, scaly, dry and leathery; vents that are small, contracted, round, dry and yellow; and public bones that are thick, rigid, and that are close together. |