PO UL TR T- CRAFT. 1 35 



into it wearing clothes different from those usually worn, or carrying an 

 unfamiliar object, will often send panic through a whole flock. Changing 

 the quarters of laying hens is a thing to be avoided, if possible, unless it can 

 be done without making a disturbance. The best way to move hens short 

 distances is by driving. If this is done carefully, egg production may not be 

 affected at all. If the hens must be carried, they should be very carefully 

 handled, moved only at night ; not caught or carried by the feet. Moving 

 short distances, they can be carried in the hands, one at a time ; or under the 

 arms, two at a time. When this mode of handling is too tedious, the transfer 

 should be made in coops. With gentle handling the bad effects of moving 

 are diminished. During the natural laying season laying hens are less 

 influenced by disturbances than at other times. 



179. In Coldest Weather. Extreme cold weather is no bar to good 

 egg production if the hens come to it without having been suddenly 

 checked. The weather condition favorable to winter laying is uniformity. 

 It is often said that winter eggs depend on the poultryman's submitting his 

 hens to counterfeit spring conditions. This is but partly true. Hens that are 

 comfortably housed can be made to lay well in almost any kind of weather or 

 climate, provided fluctuations in temperature and humidity are not too great 

 or too numerous. In extreme cold weather a very carbonaceous ration may 

 be the best laying ration. The most highly carbonaceous ration that a fowl 

 can digest will fail to keep up the heat of the body and leave sufficient surplus 

 for a goodly number of eggs. A warm house helps, but in addition, (to 

 prevent unnecessary expenditure of food) the hens must be prevented from 

 chilling themselves with icy water and ice cold grain. Warm water should 

 be given. It ought not to be always warm. The hens want some cold water. 

 The point is, to make sure that they cannot, when very thirsty, drink freely of 

 water so cold that it chills them to the marrow. If the water is warm when 

 put into the drinking pans that is all that is necessary. For fowls with crests 

 and beards, and for males with long wattles, drinking fountains which prevent 

 the head furnishings from getting wet, should be used. In cold weather wet 

 damp crests are almost certain to cause roup. In a fairly comfortable house 

 the wattles of hens and of short wattled males are rarely frost bitten ; but the 

 long wattles of Leghorn and Minorca males may be nipped while wet, when, 

 in the same degree of cold, they would not be injured if dry. When there is 

 danger of water freezing in the pans at night, the pans should be emptied 

 every evening ; otherwise valuable time may have to be given to removing the 

 ice from them in the morning. It is of little use to warm small grain that is 

 to be fed in litter ; it remains warm only a few minutes, and the hens cannot 

 eat it fast enough to be chilled by it, anyway. Grain that can be eaten 

 quickly, it is an advantage to warm. 



180. Ventilating in Cold Weather. When it is so cold that the 

 poultry house has to be closed during all but six or seven of the twenty-four 



