REPORT OF THE POULTRY MAXAGEB 289 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



To make fall layers, pullets should not be hatched out later than second week 

 in May. Pullets should be gently pushed from time of hatching. 



Early-hatched pullets should not be fed too much stimulating food, or they will 

 begin to moult instead of laying. 



Pullets intended for early layers should have a separate run and not be crowded. 



Some strains mature much more quickly than others. This applies to all varieties. 



Where eggs only are desired, a pullet from one of the Leghorn, Audalusian, 

 Minorca or Hamburgh breeds will be found to make rapid maturity. 



Where early egg-laying and flesh development are required, one of the Plymouth 

 RocJc. Wyandotte, Orpington, Dorking or Faverolle varieties will be found suitable. 



Evei-y effort should be made to hatch chickens from none but the best strains, i.e., 

 the most prolific egg-layers and best market types. This may entail some extra 

 trouble, but it is necessary to ensure the beneficial results, almost, sure to follow. 



ARE FOWLS AS GOOD LAYERS OKE SEASON AS ANOTHER ? 



This is a question of great import. It is an interesting feature of poultry -keep- 

 ing worth inquiring into. Records of egg-laying by pullets and hens in our depart- 

 ment, extending over eight years, go to show that pullets which laid well during their 

 first winter did not make as good layers the next, when hens. It was also shown thac 

 pullets which were poor layers during their first winter season did remarkably well 

 when hens the next one. If the experience in the first instance was not offset by 

 that of the second, it would go far to warrant the practice, on the part of many 

 poultry keepers of holding their pullets for only one year and then disposing of them. 

 Doublle-ss it will take the results of several years, yet to come, to confirm or modify 

 the experience already noted, but meanwhile it is a phase of modern poultry-keeping 

 worthy of remark as having made itself conspicuous on more than one occasion. 



REASONS WHY FOWLS SHOULD BE KEPT LONGER THAN THEIR FIRST YEAR. 



While the practice of keeping pullets for only one year has many advocates and 

 some good features, experience has led to the conclusion that its general adoption is 

 not advisable in the poultry interests of the country, for the fallowing reasons, viz. : — 



Pullets, as a rule, do not lay as large eggs as they do when they are hens. 



The larger egg of the hen receives the better price and is preferred by city dealers. 



Hens are preferable for breeding stock, for a pullet is admittedly an immature 

 fowl. Writing recently on this subject, an eminent breeder strongly advises, ' that the 

 breeding pen should always be composed of two-year-old hens of undoubted merit.' 



At twelve months of age a fowl is not old enough to prove her worth as an egg- 

 layer, or as being of suitable market type. 



EXPERIMENTAL AVORK OF THE YEAR. 



Preparation for winter work began (as it should do in every case) in the fall. 

 By the end of September last a number of the laying stock were well over their moult; 

 a month later found them all in new feather and good condition. As in previous years 

 care was taken to avoid getting these prospective winter layers in an overfat condition, 

 which, through a desire to hasten winter Inyiug by too heavy feeding, is often done. 

 As noted in a previous page there is apt to be a tantalizing delay from the time the 

 layers complete their moult until they recommence laying. It is likely, as a result 

 of the improved methods now in vogue, that this interregnum will be shortened, and 

 in the near future. 



On November 10 the cold weather set in and the fowls went into their winter 

 ([uarters. The different breeds were culled of undesirable specimens and were ar- 

 ranged in the pens of the different poultry houses as shown on page 255 of report of 

 last year. 1903. As far as possible the pullets and older hens were placed in separate 



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