CHAPTER IX 



Feeding Breeding and Exhibition Fowls 



Good Laying Condition is Good Breeding Condition Extremely High Production and Repression of Egg Produc- 

 tion Prior to the Breeding Season Are Alike Detrimental Moderate Winter Egg Production Keeps Hens 

 in Best Condition for the Breeding Season Feeding Before and After Exhibition Feeding 

 Bantams to Get Small Size With Normal Development 



THE greater part of the poultry grown in this coun- 

 try each year comes from hens that are kept 

 primarily for layers, or that, if not kept for that 

 purpose, lay a considerable proportion of their eggs be- 

 fore and after the breeding season. So, except in the 

 case of a small proportion of hens of unusual standard 

 quality and value for breeding whose eggs are incubated 

 through the entire season of their laying, the work of 

 a hen as a producer of eggs for the table is quite as 

 important to her owner as her work as a producer of 

 eggs for hatching. Both purposes have to be considered 

 in feeding the breeding stock. And even when the breeder 

 of high quality standard stock takes 

 the position that, if a hen of quality 

 gives him -4n the breeding season a 

 few chicks of superior quality she 

 has earned her feed and keep for the 

 year (though she may not lay more 

 than a dozen eggs in the year), what 

 seems financially justified is not bio- 

 logically good policy. 



To be in good breeding condition 

 a hen must be in good laying condi- 

 tion. To show her type truly when 

 exhibited she must be in good laying 

 and breeding condition at the time. 

 That is what the Standard demands 

 and the judge who fails to give due 

 consideration to that requirement is 

 ignoring and perverting the applica- 

 tion of the Standard no less than 

 when he misapplies other .specifica- 

 tions. From what was said in Chap- 

 ter VII of the effects of change of 

 location and treatment upon egg 



production, and of the reaction of such things upon the 

 reproductive system especially just before a pullet begins 

 laying, it is apparent that the policy some breeders fol- 

 low of trying to prevent birds that would lay early in 

 the winter from doing so, in order that they may not 

 exhaust themselves in any measure before the breeding 

 season, has its peculiar risks, and is as likely to defeat 

 as to serve their purpose. 



Refraining from the use of such forcing methods as 

 would be used in efforts to get as high egg production 

 as possible, is about as far as a breeder can safely go in 

 his efforts to retard laying until the approach of the 

 breeding season. To feed light with the idea that the 

 ration will be only a maintenance ration, and the hen 

 will not lay because she has not sufficient extra nutri- 

 ment for egg production does not give the expected re- 

 sults at all uniformly. Some hens will begin to lay and 

 lay themselves poor under such conditions. If they are 

 fed well and kept in good condition and their rate of 

 egg production is moderate through early and midwinter, 

 thoroughly vigorous hens will be in pretty fair condition 

 for producing chickens up to the latter part of April or 

 the middle of May, according to the latitude, but unless 



they have a break in the laying at some time in the late 

 winter or early spring, the chickens they produce in the 

 latter part of the season are not usually worth much. The 

 greater number of hens from which eggs are set lay few 

 eggs before February and, not having been in good laying 

 condition through the winter, usually turn out to be not 

 in very good breeding condition until they have been out 

 on the land for a month or so. 



Where egg production is checked until near the 

 breeding season, either by intent or by failure to give 

 care to put and keep hens in laying condition, the general 

 effect is the same. Men may theorize all they please 



COMFORTABLE COOPS, GOOD RANGE AND REGULAR FEEDING START 



THESE VALUABLE WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCKS ON THE RIGHT 



ROAD TO BEST DEVELOPMENT 



about keeping their hens from laying in the winter that 

 they may get stronger,' more vigorous chickens in the 

 spring, but when fertility is poor and the chickens in- 

 ferior for some time after the hens start laying in the 

 spring, it is clear that the hens would have been no worse, 

 and the poultry keeper would have been better off, if they 

 had laid moderately all winter. Pullets commonly fail to 

 lay as early in the winter as is desirable when they are 

 kept primarily for egg production, because of the diffi- 

 culties of getting them hatched and grown, and into 1 reg- 

 ular laying without being affected by the many things 

 that may retard laying. It is poor policy for a poultry 

 keeper to manufacture such difficulties for the purpose of 

 keeping a pullet from laying for several months after she 

 would begin if not interfered with. 



The breeder who is an exhibitor has to take chances 

 with the birds he exhibits. Their experiences in being 

 shown may or may not seriously interfere with their lay- 

 ing, but to make a reputation for his stock he must show 

 his best birds no matter how it affects their egg pro- 

 duction. For the rest of his stock, the aim always should 

 be to keep it in laying condition and also in breeding 

 condition continuously, yet never to. force beyond the 



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