I .
28 Cfrculttr N0. 12. l 
keep. Poultrymen soon learn that hens should be tested as .. 
accurately and as carefully as dairy cows and they are inspired . 
to keep only productive and profitable flocks. It has been found { 
that the average hen in Kentucky produces four or five dozen
eggs during the course of a year, while the average production in ·
egg—laying contests has approximated 150 eggs for each hen, and ; 
the best hens in the contests have produced over 280 eggs in i 
twelve months. All of this serves to show that there is now too ,
much difference between the most productive birds and the
average chickens kept on farms. It is hoped therefore that this
Egg-Laying Contest may serve to increase egg production in
Kentucky and that it will cause our farmers to keep better
poultry.
One lesson that has been learned from the two great contests
that have been held at Storrs, Connecticut, and at Mountain
Grove, Missouri, is that the breeding of chickens requires the
same amount of care and skill that is required in the breeding of
productive dairy cows. It was determined that hens that
produced the greatest number of eggs came from excellent strains
- that have been carefully bred for years. It has been found by the
authorities in charge of the two contests mentioned that good
laying strains are to be found in many, and almost all varieties
of chickens. Occasionally, pens of heavy birds from productive
strains have laid more eggs than the lighter birds.
The purpose of establishing a contest at the Kentucky
Agricultural Experiment Station is to advance the poultry
‘ interests of this commonwealth. It is believed that a considerable
interest will be created among the farmers of the State. and
among the fanciers, and that Kentucky farmers and their good
wives will be led to pay more attention to the use of pure bred
poultry on the farm. If this end is attained the Experiment
Station will feel repaid for any effort it has put forward in
establishing this contest.
History of Egg—Laying Contests. C
Probably the first Egg-Laying Contests were held in
England, but the early ones covered short periods of a week or