84 



HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT 



has carried so large a laying stock through the winter that 

 he has to reduce in the spring, it is good policy for him 

 to sell both fat and thin hens, keeping for himself those 

 that stay in best condition under his feeding and handling, 

 and that, when tested by modern culling methods, give 

 evidence of being good layers. If he has the room, needs 

 the eggs, and will give the matter attention, he can sort 

 out his hens after they have been laying long enough to 

 show how his system suits and affects them, and by giv- 

 ing the several types he has separated appropriate treat- 

 ment, a large proportion of them may lay as well as the 

 hens fed and managed according to his regular method 

 and for a much longer time than if all are fed the same 

 way, and with more profit than when those the method 

 dees not suit well are not identified until they are too 

 much out of condition' to come back within a reasonable 

 time by any treatment that it is practical to apply. 



Though at first thought the plan of sorting the lay- 

 ing hens as just suggested, and varying the feeding to 

 suit the different types, appears contrary to the general 

 advice to eliminate those that do not thrive under the 

 methods used as soon as possible, it is really in line with 

 it subject to the understanding that "as soon as possi- 

 ble" is construed in a common-sense way to mean with 

 due consideration of questions of profit and loss. The 

 case of the pullet reared to maturity and carried for sev- 

 eral months after beginning to lay is somewhat different 

 from that of the bird which at maturity appeared an un- 

 promising layer. The latter is reasonably certain not to 

 lay enough to warrant keeping her through the period 

 when even the best layers are usually giving their smallest 

 returns. The former has been carried through that period 

 and into the period when eggs are easiest to get. The 

 plan suggested is essentially the same as sorting the sec- 

 ond-grade layers at the beginning of the winter and 

 forcing them for eggs, or as finishing any kind of poultry 

 for market. It differs only in that, as long as the hen 

 will lay eggs at a profit and is not taking room that could 

 be used to better advantage by another bird, she is kept 

 for egg production. 



Thorough inspection and appropriate assortment and 

 disposal of the laying stock is generally postponed until 

 early summer, and the most common practice is to try 

 to cull out at that time all hens that are not regarded as 

 worth carrying a second year. This culling is applied 

 generally to flocks that have uniform conditions and 

 treatment. It is obvious that this both fails to get their 

 best production out of a considerable proportion of the 

 birds culled out then, and also that it misses the birds 

 that would be culled out in a careful inspection a few 

 months later. Thorough economic culling of poultry for 

 any purpose is a continuous process, not one that can be 

 allotted to one or two particular occasions in the year. 

 There are various occasions when a thorough inspection 

 and culling are made more conveniently than at other 

 times, but all culling should not be left to those occa- 

 sions. Birds that are plainly going wrong should be taken 

 nut of the flock as soon as observed, and such steps as 

 are necessary to insure that birds kept will be profitable 

 should be taken. One of the most important of these is 

 to ascertain, after the hens have been laying a little while, 

 what must be done to get as many eggs as possible from 

 ALL the hens while they are kept. 



Summer Management of Laying Stock 



The summer feeding of laying stock is subject to 

 the same conditions as the feeding of growing chickens. 

 What was said in Chapter VI about feeding chickens in 



hot weather applies equally to feeding laying hens on 

 range. Laying hens in confinement should be liberally 

 supplied with green feed, and with milk if it is obtain- 

 able. Hens that are to be kept through another laying 

 season should not be forced to keep up egg production 

 which can be done, as long as they will stand it by feed- 

 ing more grain than they would voluntarily take if well 

 supplied with feeds that they relish better in hot weather; 

 but where it is desirable to get all the eggs the hens will 

 lay, hens that are to be sold when through laying for the 

 season can be given as hearty a ration as they will eat. 

 In feeding heavy rations in hot weather the poultry 

 keeper should recognize that he is taking extraordinary 

 risks, especially with hens that are a little fat, and 

 should be on the lookout for any symptoms of trouble 

 that may appear. It is wise to make table poultry of 

 every hen that may attract his attention as apparently 

 more affected by the heat than others. Such hens are all 

 right for the table, but peculiarly susceptible to heat 

 apoplexy, and of course if killed in that way are a dead 

 loss. It is well in such cases to use the hen while she is 

 suitable for poultry. 



Many hens begin to molt before midsummer. In 

 general these are the less persistent layers, but that is. 

 by no means an invariable rule. There are enough in- 

 stances of hens that were indifferent layers in their first 

 year being heavy layers in their second year, and some- 

 times in their third year, to show that the hen with capac- 

 ity for heavy laying does not always fully exhibit it the 

 first year. When we consider how many things may tem- 

 porarily affect egg production, and how any check to 

 egg production in warm weather is likely to start a molt, 

 we can easily see that the fact of an early molt, alone, 

 ought not to be taken as conclusive that the hen is not a 

 desirable hen to keep over. Other things should be con- 

 sidered the condition of the hen in other respects, her 

 previous laying, and above all, any possible special cause 

 for what appears as premature molting. 



Feeding Molting Hens 



The ration for molting hens need not be materially 

 different from that fed them at other times. The quantity 

 should be as liberal as the hen can use to advantage. The 

 old idea was that hens molting should be fed nitrogenous 

 rather than carbonaceous feed. It was doubtless where 

 this practice prevailed that the benefits of feeding sun- 

 flower seeds, rich in fat, appeared greatest. As most 

 hens are in heavy molt in the fall when the weather is 

 often quite cool, the liberal use of corn in the ration- 

 keeps up' the heat of the body while its natural covering- 

 is deficient, and it will generally be found that hens that 

 are a little fat at molting time grow their new plumage 

 more quickly. The live feather contains a considerable 

 amount of fat (oil), and more during its growth than 

 afterwards. A hen that, when well fed during the molt, 

 appears to be taking on fat rapidly and becoming rather 

 sluggish, may be regarded as unlikely to resume laying 

 immediately after molting, for these symptoms indicate a 

 general condition not favorable to the production of eggs. 



Artificial Lighting 



This subject, which was briefly mentioned on page 

 8^T is very fully treated in "Use of Artificial Light t>> 

 Increase Winter Egg Production" (published by the Re- 

 liable Poultry Journal Publishing Company), which gives 

 in complete detail all the latest facts as observed at vari- 

 ous experiment stations and commercial poultry plants, 

 and allows the reader to draw his own conclusions. 



