100 



plus fat in their bodies. The best explanation of the fact that the 

 hen must have fat in her body in order to lay well is that the egg is 

 developed in the ovary, in the form of little ovules. There are hun- 

 dreds of these little ovules so small that we perhaps cannot see some 

 of them with the naked eye. 



Figure 15. Six Plymouth Rock hens, three that are very fat and three that are 

 very lean, with their egg organs removed. Note the difference in development. The 

 three fat hens were in full laying condition, with a hard-shelled egg in the bodies, 

 ready to be laid. The three lean hens are all dormant. This condition is the rule and 

 not the exception. 



(Fig. 16.) These ovules form in follicles and when ripe they 

 burst and let the yolk or ovule fall into the oviduct, and then pass 

 down the oviduct where the white of the egg is formed about the yolk. 

 A chemical analysis of these eggs shows that sixty-four per cent of 

 the dry matter of the yolk of the egg is fat and that it is the only fat 

 in the egg, except a small fraction, the white of the egg being prac- 

 tically pure albumen, the shell being mineral matter. The very first 

 part of an egg to be developed, therefore, must contain nearly half 

 fat. How, then, can the hen start to develop the first part of the egg 

 unless it has surplus fat in its body, and surplus fat is merely stored- 

 up energy. W.e must have hens in reasonably fat condition before 

 they will do their very best laying. It has been found by careful ob- 

 servation that a hen may be in perfect laying condition with many 

 yolks ready to be deposited and because of the unfavorable climatic 

 conditions, rough usage, starvation, lack of water or any other thing 

 that would interfere with digestion, and thus cause the animal to 

 need to draw upon its body for nourishment to use as food, that the 

 fowl may use of the material already stored in these yolks, that is, 

 reabsorb them, so that a hen who was in good condition to lay might 



