THE HEN'S ANNUAL VACATION 



Scarcity of Eggs in Early Winter Due to Natural Causes— Early Hatching 

 of Pullets Will Result in Egg Production at the Desired Time 



George M. Rommel 

 Chief, Animal Husbandry Division, Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department 



of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



IX THE fall of every year, beginning 

 about September 1 and continuing 

 until about New Year, we have 

 what the newspajjcr reporters pic- 

 lurc'squely call a "hen strike." Fresh, 

 new eggs almost disappear from the 

 market stalls. Prices mount upwards 

 with startling agility and never is the 

 ai)petite for fresh eggs so keen as at 

 this time. To satisfy our appetites 

 we are offered eggs of all sorts, under 

 all kinds of names, but most of them, 

 in the language of the darky waiter, 

 "just won't poach, nohow." Our wives 

 talk learnedly of "no-egg cakes" and 

 how to clear the coffee without an egg 

 shell; editors seize their pens in denun- 

 ciation of the egg trust, committees of 

 women's clubs are organized to study 

 the situation and the subject even gets 

 a hearing on the floor of Congress. 



The re])orters' designation carries a 

 grain of truth but really does the hen 

 an injustice. In fairness to her. we 

 should not call this a "strike"; it is a 

 vacation in wholesale, indulged in by 

 every hen of discreet age. It is nature's 

 way of preparing the hens for another 

 season of egg laying and safeguarding 

 the perpetuation of the species. 



Egg production, like milk ]jro(luction, 

 is a ] physiological function, a ])hase of 

 the rejjroductive i)rocess which man 

 has turned to his own advantage. In a 

 state of nature, the time of egg-laying 

 corresponds rather closely to the ])assing 

 of winter and the ajji^roach of sjjring. 

 S])ring, therefore, and early summer 

 months are the periods of greatest egg 

 supply. When the jjhysiological neces- 

 sity for a maximum output of eggs ceases 

 to make its call urgent, the hen's egg- 

 laying machinery relaxes and ultimately 

 stops for a well-deserved rest. Shi- 



132 



changes her feathers (molts) and, with 

 the most serene perversity imaginable, 

 absolutely refuses to lay another egg 

 until she gets ready. Why should she ? 

 Fall-hatched chickens would probably 

 not survive the winter and, if they did, 

 would be puny, stunted, and of little 

 value. From this time until the 

 lengthening days signal the return of 

 spring, the hens enjoy their annual 

 vacation. This has always been the 

 way of hens and it always will be. Let 

 us see what can be done to control this 

 habit with the least possible incon- 

 venience to the hens and the greatest 

 benefit to hiunan beings. 



H.\B1TS OF the hen 



A brief consideration of the habits of 

 hens in egg laying shows how seriovisly 

 this alTeels the fresh egg supply. 

 l£\'ery one knows that a 200-egg hen is 

 a creature of mark and distinction. 

 The famous and late-departed Lady 

 I2glantine is reported to have laid i\\ 

 eggs in a single year. If the days that 

 Lady Eglantine did not lay are put in 

 a row, we have a period of fifty-one days 

 during the year when she was idle. A 

 "200-egger" would have 165 days vaca- 

 tion charged to her. Now records like 

 these are extremes — at the top of the 

 list. Probably no flock of any size 

 has e\'er averaged 200 eggs per year 

 for each female, or even for each pullet 

 in the flock. The average annual 

 l)roduction for the whole country is 

 somewhere between 50 and 70 eggs. 

 Average records of 130 to 150 eggs 

 in carefully managed flocks are exceed- 

 ingly good and are usually confined to 

 the i)ullets, which always lay better 

 than the mature hens. Even in the 

 best of lloeks. with, sav, as good an 



