ANNUAL MOLT IN RHODE ISLAND REDS 

 By F. A. Hays and Ruby Sanborn 



OBJECTIVES OF THE EXPERIMENT 



This study had five primary objectives, as follows: 



1. To discover typical molting characteristics in Rhode Island Red males and 

 females. 



2. To compare molting behavior in exhibition-bred and production-bred stock. 



3. To determine phj'siological relationships between molting and fecundity 

 characters. 



4. To discover possible inherited factors governing annual molt. 



5. To disclose possible relationships between molting behavior and antecedent 

 egg production. 



The term "annual molt" as used here applies onl}' to the shedding of feathers 

 in the different feather regions and does not consider the regeneration of new 

 feathers, since the time required to develop new feathers has been thoroughly 

 studied by such workers as Rice, Nixon and Rogers (1908) and Marble (1930), 

 as well as by Lillie and associates at the University' of Chicago. 



REVIEW OF LITERATURE 



Bennett (1852) stated that hens continue to lay with few interruptions to the 

 end of the summer, when the natural process of molting causes them to cease 

 laying. Molting occurs annually beginning in August and continuing through 

 the three following months. 



Rice, Nixon and Rogers (1908) studied the molting process from hatching 

 through adult life. They observed that hens seldom lay during the annual molt; 

 that there was a wide variability in time of onset of molt and duration of molt; 

 that hens starting to molt late, completed the process in a shorter period and also 

 generally laid more eggs than those starting to molt early; and that a decline in 

 body weight occurred during molt. 



Sherwood (1922) examined, among other things, the molting of wing primary 

 feathers in 128 White Leghorn females hatched during February and March. 

 Their mean annual first-year egg record, from October 1 to September 30, was 

 127. The molt record on wing primaries, taken on October 4 following the com- 

 pletion of the first la^'ing year, showed that an average of 5.086 wing primary 

 feathers had been shed on this date. He reported a highly significant negative 

 correlation of .522 + .043 between the number of wing primaries shed and the 

 previous annual egg record. 



Kempster (1925) noted that in White Leghorns early molting females were 

 inferior layers not only in the first year but also in the second. On November 1 a 

 group of females was examined for stage of molt. Those showing no trace of 

 molt were the best layers in both the first and the second year; those in full molt 

 ranked second; while those that had completed the molt were the lowest pro- 

 ducers. He also showed that birds that stopped laying early were poor lasers 

 in both their first and their second laying year. 



Marble (1930), in a very complete study of molting behavior in relation to 

 egg production in White Leghorns, observed that molting of body feathers pre- 

 cedes molting of wing and tail feathers. He was probably the first worker to 



