Till-: Molting of Fowls. 395 



for periods varying from three or four days to four weeks. In no instance 

 did a hen shed more than a few feathers while broody. Some hens which 

 had begun to molt and had subsequently become broody, ceased molting 

 until broken of broodiness. When broken up they began to molt quickly, 

 and shed and re-feathered rapidly and completely (Table VIII). 



The hens in the starved flocks showed considerably more broodiness 

 than did those in the fed flocks. During the experiment there was, 

 among the starved flocks, an average of 67 individuals broody for each 

 flock, having an average loss per flock of 459 broody days, as compared 

 to an average, among the fed flocks, of 38 broody individuals, having an 

 average loss for each flock of 320 broody days. 



It will be seen (Table VIII) that with the fowls of different ages there 

 were all told, 66 three-year-olds broody, 140 two-year-olds and no one- 

 year-olds. The days lost were: three-year-olds, 396 days; two-year-olds, 

 1,140 days; one-year-olds, 802 days. Just why the two-year-old hens 

 should have been more broody than fowls of the other ages is not under- 

 stood. 



Mortality. 



The mortality in all the pens was large. It averaged 18.8% among 

 the starved and 20% among the fed flocks. The two flocks of three- 

 year-olds had a mortality of 21%; the two-year-olds, 16%, and the one- 

 year-olds, 20%. The figures are for the entire experiment of one year 

 and 90 days, and included all the hens in all the pens. There was no 

 especial selection as to vigor when the experiment began and no sub- 

 stitution of strong fowls for those which became weak or died during 

 the progress of the experiment. 



Influence of method of feeding on egg-production and molt. 



Production is the real test of a method of feeding. The starved 

 hens averaged 17.3 eggs from the close of their individual molt to April 

 first, while the fed hens averaged 16.6 eggs during the same period; an 

 average in all the flocks of 16.9 eggs. The yearly production was, 

 however, not in favor of the starved hens, which gave only 102 eggs 

 per year while the fed hens laid 119 eggs each in the same period 



It is considered important that hens should quickly resume production 

 after molt. In this experiment, the average days after molt before 

 production began, was, in the trap-nested flocks (65 hens), 39 days 

 after the completion of the individual molt. The starved hens began 

 to lay in 35 days and the fed hens in 44 days, or nine days later. . 



