670 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



White Crested Black Polisli, Buff Cochin. A gi-eat deal may depend upon the 

 strain, as it is known that some hens of any breed normally lay larger eggs 

 than others of the same breeds. 



" The weight of chicks when hatched does not seem to be in direct proportion 

 to weight of eggs." 



Temperatures of a Rhode Island hen taken during the incubation period are 

 reported. The morning temperature varied from 103 to 105° F. and the evening 

 temperature from 102 to 104.5°. Included in the bulletin are also tables which 

 give full data on amount of grain eaten, the weekly gain in weight, and the per- 

 centage of blood, feathers, and other by-products of the slaughter test. 



General infoi'matiou on the management of poultry is presented. Colony 

 poultry houses and a trap nest are figured and described. Data are given on 

 the selection of breeding stock, management of incubators, and the feeding and 

 fattening of chickens, construction of fattening crates, killing and dressing poul- 

 try, treatment of roup and gapes, and preserving eggs. 



The molting' of fowls, J. E. Rice, Clara Nixon, and C. A. Rogers (Ncio 

 York Cornell Sta. Bui. 25S, pp. 19-68, figs. 22).— This includes a study o^ se- 

 quence in plumage in the domestic fowl and exiDeriments in trying to "force the 

 molt " by partial starving. 



It was found that a Leghorn chick has pinfeathers for flight when it comes 

 from the shell. " In 2 or 3 days it develops pinfeathers that will become main 

 tail feathers. The down grows longer and on certain areas of the body de- 

 velops shafts. Within a few days the shafts burst open, allowing the web of the 

 feather to spread out, but the down often clings to the tip of the opened feather. 

 The ragged appearance to be noticed on 2 or 3 weeks' old chicks is due to this 

 clinging of the down tips. The first body feathers to appear are those at the 

 throat, just above the crop. From this point a line of feathers extends down 

 each side of the crop and breast. When this line begins to show, a tuft appears 

 on each thigh and a line down the spine. The feathered areas increase in size 

 as the chick grows older, so that at the age of 4 or 5 weeks they have grown 

 together and the healthy chick looks to be well feathered. . . . The first feathers 

 were stained red and those that replaced them were stained black. At the age 

 of 8 weeks all the red feathers in tail and ^ings had been molted, and at 13 

 weeks all the black feathers had been replaced by white ones." 



Just before maturity another molt takes place. " 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 production. 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 differ- 

 ent parts of the body. . . . The first mature molt comes at the end of the first 

 year of laying. . . . The rotation followed closely that of the prenuptial molt 

 before egg production commenced — the oldest feathers being shed first." 



To test forced molting 232 single comb White Leghorns were divided into 6 

 lots. " The attempt to force the molt was by means of restricting the amount of 

 food rather than by changing the quality of the ration. The starvation period 

 lasted for 4 weeks. In the first week the amount of food was gradually reduced 

 to one-half the usual quantity. In the following 2 weeks about one-third rations 

 were fed, which were gradually increased in the fourth week till, at its close, 

 the flocks which had been starved were given all they would eat." To aid in 

 observing the molt and to detect quickly fowls that had escaped from the pens 

 the hens were dipped in proprietary aniline dyes, orange, violet, carmine, and 

 green being found to be the most enduring colors. 



