Moderate Feeding 161 



course of forced feeding for egg production, their 

 period of usefulness is materially shortened. This 

 no doubt will be true in many instances, when 

 the fowls have been injudiciously fed. Experi- 

 ence has shown that it is possible with ordinarily 

 vigorous animals to carry the forcing process so 

 far that many individuals will be permanently in- 

 jured. These cases, however, should be consid- 

 ered as extreme and do not come within the 

 province of judicious feeding. The injury done 

 to dairy animals by forced feeding is undoubt- 

 edly chiefly due to the injudicious feeding of un- 

 natural foods. The injury is associated mostly 

 with the digestive functions. It is quite possible 

 to injure the digestion of laying hens by a sys- 

 tem of forced feeding. 



Egg production is a reproductive function, and 

 in this respect differs somewhat from milk pro- 

 duction in the dairy cow. To what extent this 

 reproductive function may be injured by feeding 

 has not been fully determined. It has been ob- 

 served many times that after a year of forced egg 

 production the number of eggs laid has been 

 somewhat decreased; that is, it is possible, by 

 means of extra food and care, to induce fowls 

 to lay more eggs than would be produced under 

 good average conditions; but it is not possible 

 to keep up the highest degree of egg production 

 through two or three successive years. It is, 



