Forced Feeding for Egg Production 175 



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 pro- 

 duced 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, therefore, the practice of many poultrymen 

 to keep only young birds for egg production and 

 to force them for this product. When the hens 

 have served a period of forced egg-laying, they 

 are replaced by younger fowls. This method will 

 necessitate keeping older fowls as breeding stock, 

 which is in accord with the most approved practice. 



The question will naturally arise : Will the forced 

 feeding of young fowls for egg production lessen 

 their vitality or in any way injure their value as 

 breeding stock? At the present time there is not 

 sufficient accurate experimental data at hand to 

 warrant a positive answer, yet it is well known 

 that many of the most successful egg-producing 

 flocks have been built up by persistently pursuing 

 this practice for many years. 



Corn. Of the grain foods that are usually 

 supplied to farm poultry, corn has been, and still 

 is, the most popular. This, no doubt, is largely 

 due to the abundance of this grain and to its relative 

 cheapness. If the fowls are somewhat closely con- 

 fined, a corn ration is found to be somewhat too 



