full feeding in confinement a "complete'' and "incomplete" diet. The in- 

 complete diet contained no animal protein, while the complete diet con- 

 tained 3 percent condensed fish solubles and penicillin. Both diets were sup- 

 plemented with vitamin B 12 . Pullets fed the complete diet were heavier at 

 20 weeks of age and reached sexual maturity 10 to 12 days earlier. No 

 effect on egg production, mortality, body weight, or hatchability was found. 

 On any given calendar date egg weights were essentially the same. Appar- 

 ently body weight and sexual maturity can be influenced with very little 

 change in the diet fed. 



Singsen, Matterson, Kozeff, and Stinson (3) reared Barred Plymouth 

 Rock and New Hampshire pullets to eight to twelve weeks of age on a high 

 efficiency diet. During the growing period, on an excellent mixed grass 

 and clover range, high and low efficiency rations were fed both on a full 

 feed and restricted basis. They state that the rations fed during the grow- 

 ing period had a very marked effect on efficiency of feed utilization and 

 body weight to six months of age. no consistent effect on egg production 

 or mortality, and only a slight effect on the size of eggs laid. 



Davis and Watts (4) used a starting period of 10 weeks, a growing 

 period to 20 weeks, and a laying period of 9 months. They studied mash- 

 grain ratios of 70-30 and 30-70 and also restricted total feed. They report 

 that starting treatment may affect laying performance but that growing 

 treatment did not, except to delay sexual maturity. It is stated that egg 

 size appears to be due primarily to age and that meat strain birds differ 

 from egg strain birds in their response to different ration treatments. 



Schneider, Bohren, and Anderson ( 5 ) compared the effects of a ration 

 expected to promote fast growth with a ration expected to allow only 

 slow growth. They found that restriction significantly reduced body weight 

 but that four weeks following full feeding there was no difference in body 

 weight. Sexual maturity was retarded 15 days when measured by average 

 age at first egg, 27 days when measured at 25 percent production, and 14 

 days when measured at 50 percent production. Since severe feed restric- 

 tion was practiced during a six-week period after some of the restricted 

 grown pullets were in production, it is probable that this treatment was 

 a major factor in delaying the attainment of the 25 percent level of pro- 

 duction. 



In this research it was found that egg production was not different in 

 the two groups of birds, but that the production pattern differed. The groups 

 grown with feed restriction laid at a faster rate during the latter portion 

 of the production cycle. It was found also that there was no difference in 

 egg weight at any given age. Laying house mortality was lower for the 

 restricted birds than among those fast-grown on a high protein feed 

 (25.15 percent) full feed. Fertility and hatchability did not differ sig- 

 nificantly, although there was a slight and consistent advantage for the 

 slow grown pullets. 



Milby and Sherwood ( 6 ) reared pullets by full and restricted feeding 

 both in confinement and on range. They restricted the feed from six weeks 

 of age until the beginning of production to 85 percent of the feed con- 

 sumed by the full fed pullets in confinement and 70 percent of the full fed 

 pullets on range. This significantly reduced body weight and increased age 

 at sexual maturity 10 to 15 days. Restricting the feed did not result in 

 any saving in feed cost, primarily because of the longer feeding period 

 required to reach sexual maturity. They found no real effect on egg pro- 



