150 ARTIFICIAL LIGHT TO INCREASE 



ARTIFICIAL LIGHT TO INCREASE 

 EGG PRODUCTION 



By the use of artificial light in the laying houses, it 

 has been found possible to make hens lay more ej;gs 

 during the months when the daylight is shortest and 

 the price of eggs is highest. 



Writing in February, 1919, Professor James E. Rice, of 

 Cornell University, says: "One of the most sensational 

 developments of modern poultry husbandry is the dis- 

 covery that by the use of artificial light as an aid to 

 feeding and activity the distribution of egg production 

 throughout the year can be radically changed. So great 

 is the change and so certain the results when artificial 

 light is properly applied to the right kind of stock, in 

 conjunction with proper methods of feeding, that it is 

 destined to revolutionize egg production and the market 

 egg receipts. 



"It will have the double effect of (1) materially in- 

 creasing the production and hence the market receipts 

 of the autumn and early winter eggs, and (2) propor- 

 tionately decreasing the production and receipts during 

 the spring and early summer months. 



"The place where the most marked results from the use 

 of artificial light are seen is in the more rapid develop- 

 ment of late-maturing pullets and hens which under 

 normal conditions would not have laid until toward 

 spring. Here the difference due to the use of artificial 

 light is truly surprising. Here also is where the largest 

 profits are to be made by aiding the hens to lay the eggs 

 in the autumn and winter months when they are nor- 

 mally highest in price, instead of boarding the hens 

 until spring and then getting the same eggs when they 

 are cheap. Then, however, nearly as many eggs are 

 produced in the spring as if the hens had not laid during 

 the autumn and winter. Those which have ceased to 

 lay in the spring after a winter of heavy production can 



