191S.1 PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 57a 



DEPARTMENT OF POULTRY HUSBANDRY. 



H. D. GOODALE. 



Egg Production. 



This year's flock is superior to last year's in that a larger pro- 

 portion matured earher, with a corresponding increase in flock 

 production early in the season. Thus the mean October pro- 

 duction of pullets hatched March 18 to April 1 was nearly 12 

 eggs, as compared with -1 eggs for the flock of corresponding 

 age a year ago after families of known poor producers were 

 excluded from the latter. 



Although production in the high strains is very satisfactory, 

 there is room for further improvement, especially in regard to 

 rate of production. Now that a satisfactory degree of maturity 

 has been reached much more attention will be paid to rate, but 

 slower progress may be expected because the demand for space 

 made in the development of the non-broody strain forces us to 

 reduce the flock of high winter layers to one-third its present 

 size. 



An intensive study of our data u'ith relation to the winter 

 cycle of egg production was made during the year. A paper em- 

 bodying this work has been published. It was concluded, first, 

 a winter cycle is a definite biological entity, best recognized in 

 the individual by a pause (usually exceeding ten days in length, 

 and beginning in December, January or, rarely, February) 

 following an egg-production period of considerable length; 

 second, monthly rate of production is not a good index of the 

 winter cycle; third, many individuals lack the winter cycle and 

 lay continuously throughout the winter; fourth, this cycle is 

 perhaps a recessive Mendelian character. 



Trap-nest work was begun last fall (1916) on Brown Leghorns 

 in connection with the work on broodiness. Curiously enough, 



