294 POULTRY CULTURE 



they wish, hens that are not laying eat lightly and keep fat on a 

 light ration, and when, as the hens begin to lay, the amount of 

 food consumed is greatly increased. This is most apparent with 

 old hens that have failed, for a while, to lay under most favorable 

 conditions, though stimulated in every possible way. 



Regularity and comfort are so closely associated that they are 

 not readily separated for consideration. The general physical con- 

 dition of a creature is affected by the regularity or irregularity of 

 its life. Effects of irregularities on particular functions may be still 

 more marked. The reproductive organs seem especially susceptible 

 to such influences. Within limits, the comfort of a creature de- 

 pends as much upon its condition as upon the conditions of its 

 environment : thus, a debilitated fowl shows that it is uncomfort- 

 able on a cool morning, when to robust birds the atmosphere is 

 invigorating and excites greater activity, and a bird that is chilled 

 cannot keep warm at a temperature comfortable for a bird in per- 

 fect health. On the other hand, discomfort often causes irregulari- 

 ties : thus, heat which may not prostrate a bird may be debilitat- 

 ing, affecting digestion and egg production ; cold which a bird 

 withstands without marked physical discomfort may check laying ; 

 moving a bird from one pen to an adjacent pen identical with it, 

 and with all other conditions remaining the same, often checks 

 laying for days and may stop it for a long period. Irregular feed- 

 ing unfavorably affects egg production, even though the total 

 supply is sufficient and of suitable quality. Disturbances in flocks 

 on account of the presence of a strange person or animal, and un- 

 usual movements of the attendant, often have an immediate and 

 marked effect of decreasing egg production. Individual birds vary 

 greatly in susceptibility to such influences, and the difference be- 

 tween small, nervous hens, like the Leghorns and Hamburgs, and 

 large, phlegmatic hens, like the Asiatics, is pronounced. The facts 

 as to the effects on egg production of irregularities of the kinds 

 mentioned are accessible to any one who will keep a record of egg 

 production and of conditions which may affect it ; they demon- 

 strate very clearly the importance of regularity in everything which 

 may influence laying. Such regularity, complete at every point, 

 is the exception rather than the rule in the management of lay- 

 ing stock, nearly every one being careless in some particular. 



