Eighteen Months Old
When she has completed the moult, her entire anatomy has undergone a change, and she is a mature animal, about eighteen months of age, a fit specimen to reproduce her kind, and her off-spring will be strong and vigorous youngsters.
The great mortality one reads of among chicks can be traced more to breeding from immature females than to any other cause.
The general method of selecting breeders for a great many years has been by the use of “trap nests.” Surely the use of a mechanical device is a poor method to determine what hens are proper for breeding purposes, and really the trap nest tells you nothing.
In every pen there are daily a number of eggs which are not laid in the nest at all. To what particular hen does the attendant credit eggs found in hollows scooped out in corners under the dropping boards? It is a peculiarity of “Biddy” that where she sees an egg she almost always decides it is a good and proper place for her to lay another. Thus, on some days, where trap nests are in use, it may be necessary to make a great number of guesses as to which hen did not lay in the traps, but on the floor.