Four Methods of Feeding Early Hatched Pullets. 



303 



Forced- 



-Pens T and 2. 



Retarded Pens 3 and 4. 



Fig. 123. — Forcing vs. retarding pullets. A comparison of molting. 



It will be observed that the pullets which were retarded molted most. This is 

 contrary to the generally accepted theory, and needs verification before being 

 accepted as true. 



and the pullets which had not laid, showed, however, fully as great a 

 percentage of molting among the " loafers " as among the layers. The 

 sixteen most prolific hens in the four pens molted, on an average, 82.4 

 days. The sixteen least prolific hens molted 88.2 days. So far as can 

 be discovered from the data of this experiment, the molt is not greatly 

 influenced by early egg production, nor by prolificacy. 



Broodiness. 



There was little broodiness during the experiment. The forced hens 

 lost only three days from this cause, there being only one case of broodi- 

 ness. The retarded hens lost twenty-three days due to eight hens ; a 

 loss about eight times as great as that sustained by the forced heiis. 

 This data would lead us to suspect that broodiness is in some way 

 influenced by food supply but further proof will be necessary before 

 conclusions can be drawn. 



