166 POULTRY BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT 



It should not be concluded, however, from what has 

 been said above, that the best kind of housing for chickens 

 is in the trees. It should not be inferred, either, that we 

 should avoid all so-called artificial methods in poultry- 

 keeping. "While housing may be an artificial condition 

 for fowls, nevertheless good housing is necessary if we wish 

 to get the greatest profit. In a state of nature, fowls lay 

 only during the breeding season, and it is necessary in 

 order to get eggs during the winter season to surround the 

 hen with conditions that are more or less artificial. If 

 winter egg production is an artificial condition, then we 

 must resort to artificial means to induce the fowl to lay 

 in that season. The danger is that we are liable to forget 

 the nature of the hen and compel her to live under con- 

 ditions too highly artificial. 



In a state of nature where the only purpose of egg pro- 

 duction is reproduction, the hen does not lay all the year. 

 The spring is the natural breeding season. A hen will lay 

 in the spring under all sorts of conditions, but when eggs 

 are 50 cents a dozen about the easiest way to make her 

 lay is to chop her head off. Winter egg production is a 

 fight against nature, against the wild nature of the hen. 

 The troubles in housing poultry come from failing to 

 recognize the nature of the hen, and in forcing the process 

 of domestication too far. In a state of nature her wings 

 answered the purpose of a house; she flew into a tree to 

 get away from her natural enemies. She does it yet, 

 but the enemy now is the man who builds houses that are 

 as deadly as the prowling jackal of the jungle. Her wings 

 were given her to escape her enemies. But we have no 

 use for her wings. They cause the poultryman a good 

 deal of trouble and expense. But the wings teach us a 

 lesson. If the house doesn't suit, the hen will use her 

 wings to get away from it. She prefers the tree to a 



