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THE POULTRYMAN'S YARDSTICK

C. T. Patterson, Springfield, Mo.

In fixing standards of measure we find that nature has fixed some standards while man has fixed others. With time nature has fixed the day as the standard, the year is also a fixed standard while the divisions of either the day or year is man's work. The yard as a measure of length, the pound as a measure of weight and the dollar as a measure of value are all the work of man. In fixing a yardstick or measure of a hen's ability to perform, we find that nature has done much to fix the standards of measure. First, nature seems to have fixed a rate of production at an egg per day and that the eggs are far nearer the same size than the hens which produced them. Then we might say that nature's maximum rate of production is an egg each twenty-four hours. Nature has been proclaiming this part of her work in bold type in the form of trapnest records.

The part left for us to do is to decide on the conditions under which the hens are to be tested and the length of time to be used in the test.

The views in regard to both time and conditions automatically place themselves into two groups; one is that the bird should be tested for one year and under adverse conditions while the other is that a short period of time under good conditions show the true or unrestrained ability of the hen.

As a fundamental principle all will agree that if the handicaps are great enough the production will be reduced to nothing. If this is true, which it is, then the hen's true ability can be measured only when the handicaps are reduced or destroyed.

We will have to admit that if a hen can roost in trees in winter and eat a half ration of unbalanced food, yet produce a large number of eggs that she has a wonderful ability, yet that test would not tell what her ability really is.

We often see egg records quoted in papers. Some have produced 200 eggs in one year while others have produced 300, yet we often feel that the hens have the same ability for the conditions or handicaps have made the difference.

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