A GOOD EGG YIELD WHEN EGGS ARE MUCH WANTED 



Facsimile of the egg report for a pen of pullets during January, 1916. This shows an average 

 daily yield of over ten eggs for the entire pen of thirty pullets — technically over 34 per 

 cent. Three hundred and nineteen eggs were laid during the month. The bottom line 

 "Floor" is the report on eggs laid on the floor which, of course, could not be credited to 

 any particular pullet. X signifies broken eggs ; 'N signifies that the bird went to the nest 

 but did not lay. Recordfromexperimentalfarmof the Bureau of Animal Industry. (Fig. 15.) 



average output as 150 eggs, there will 

 be an average annual charge of 215 

 days idleness against the hens and 

 pullets in the flock, a total of over seven 

 months. 



Fortunately for us, the hens do not 

 insist on taking all their vacations in a 

 lump. They spread them out, as the 

 trapnest records in Figs. 15 and 16 show. 

 Some hens lay one day and rest the 

 next; others lay three or four days, 

 rest one or two days and then get to 



work again. All this helps to dis- 

 tribute the egg supply somewhat, 

 and to reduce the total period of 

 inactivity which the molting season 

 inevitably causes. 



THE REMEDY 



vSuch being the facts, can the habits 

 of hens be adapted to the requirements 

 of human beings to make the egg supply 

 more steady than it is at present? 

 We get some help from the hens in their 



133 



