The Molting of Fowls. 



373 



ers to be shed were usually the middle pair; the first wing feathers to 

 be molted were commonly the last primary or first secondary on each 

 wing, counting from the tip. The last feathers to be replaced were the 



ones on the inside of the wing just 

 above the primaries and secondaries, 

 a small tuft on the body just in 

 front of the thigh, and the flight 

 coverts (See cover cut, and Figs. 5, 

 6, 7, 12). 



Fig. 8. — Feathering at different ages. 

 Tail and wings well out at 19 

 days. 



The molting of pullets. 

 The pullets appeared to undergo 

 this molt whether they laid or not. 

 After the pullets began to lay, they 

 seemed to shed no more feathers 

 so long as they continued in pro- 

 duction. When they ceased to lay, 

 many of them began to molt. In 

 some cases the molt was complete, 

 extending to the flights and the tail; in others it went no farther than 

 the body feathers, while, in still others, it included only a few feathers 

 on different parts of the body. 



In former experiments conducted 

 at this Station (Bulletin 249) the 

 pullets beginning production be- 

 fore September first, nearly always 

 molted the entire plumage in the 

 fall. The number of eggs laid be- 

 fore molting did not appear to in- 

 fluence the completeness of the 

 molt. One pullet laid thirty eggs 

 and molted completely; another 

 laid one egg and molted just as 

 completely. Some of the pullets 

 which began to lay at a later date, 

 continued to lay throughout the 

 winter and spring, not molting 

 until the following regular molting season. One of these laid 230 eggs 

 between molts — about 58 per cent production for the entire time — 

 thirteen months and six days.* 



Fig. 9. — Body well covered with feathers 

 at 2, A days. 



*llie pullet molts arc more fully discussed in bulletin No. 249 of the. Cornell 

 Experiment Station. 



