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FATNESS AS A FACTOR IN FEEDING FOWLS FOR EGG PRODUCTION. 



One point in connection with the subject of feeding fowls. Here 

 is the picture of a hen (Figs. 13 and 14) that emphasizes the import- 

 ance of having hens reasonably fat to give good production. We 

 killed her because she was so fat that to all appearances she might 

 die on our hands. This hen was not a bad hen to look upon, but she 

 was so ''dead fat" that her body hung nearly to the ground, and she 



Figure 14. The hen shown in figure 13 after being dressed. Note the excessive fatness. 



had at least one pound of solid fat in her body. You can see the 

 extent of her fatness. When we cut open the hen we found an egg 

 with hard shell ready to be laid and any quantity of yolks, full size, 

 which showed that she would have gone on laying for weeks to come. 



(Fig. 15.) A shows three of the fattest hens out of a large num- 

 ber that we killed and three of the leanest hens. Below the fowls 

 are shown their egg organs as they^ were when we took them out, and 

 in each of the three fattest hens you will see that there was an egg 

 hard-shelled and ready to he laid. We killed them early in the morn- 

 ing in order to get them in that condition before they had time, to 

 lay. Here (Fig. 15 B) are the three leanest hens and their egg organs, 

 and in each instance they an- ahsolutely dormant and probably would 

 not have laid an e.irur in at least a month nr six weeks time. 



We must give our hens the ri_rhi kind of feed and sufficient feed 

 to keep them in the best laying condition, and that means with sur- 



