| Show HENS SKELETON NO EGG LAYING GUIDE early maturity and molting bolting dates important structure of the skeleton of the hen tins has nothing to do with her egg laying ability and therefore should bp be disregarded when hen culling poor layers front from the alie stock hock according to recent experiments peri ments reported by IL E cray extension specialist in the depart department departie me nt of poultry husbandry at the ohio state university the experiments were conducted by scientists on the staff of the united states department of agriculture measurements were made ot of the length breadth and depth of the head the skull and the back of length of the keel and of brain capacity of several thousand hens no relation was found to exist between skeletal measurements and egg laying ability other characteristics proved important guides the age that a pullet begins to lay had an important effect on production six months was the best age for leghorns leg horns and seven months for the heavy breeds early maturing birds laid most eggs but those that laid too early produced many small eggs in the yellow fleshed breeds pigmentation of the shanks and beak wa was found significant by june the yellow color of the beak and shanks had faded if the hen ben was laying well birds that molted bolted late and quickly recovered from their first molts molt laid most eggs birds that molted bolted before Sept september ber made poor records so called beefiness of the head bead was shown to be undesirable I 1 the he other important guide was the general health of the hen ben |
