II 4 WINTER EGG PRODUCTION 



hens large quantities of onions and I venture to say 

 you will find the eggs laid by your hens unfit to eat. 



The color of the yolk of an egg is also affected by 

 the feeding. A bulletin issued by the Utah Experi- 

 menting Station says : " It has been observed by poul- 

 try keepers that the yolk of eggs laid by the hens in 

 winter is frequently very pale. This has also been 

 noted in the eggs laid by hens in our experiments. 

 The color approaches that of a lemon, while the nor- 

 mal color is more that of a ripe orange. Such eggs 

 are not classed as select, which of course affects their 

 saleable value. 



"To determine whether the color of yolk is af- 

 fected by the food, several tests were made during 

 the past winter at the station. On February Qth 

 pen of six White Plymouth Rocks had lucern (alfal- 

 fa) leaves added to their ration. The leaves were 

 fed dry, being thrown on the floor of the pen daily. 

 None of the other twenty-five pens were given any. 

 The green food consisted of sugar beets. Pen 6 had 

 sugar beets also. 



" On February 2/th an examination was made of 

 the eggs laid by this pen, and it was found that the 

 yolks were uniformly normal in color, while the eggs 

 from the other pens continued to have yolks uni- 

 formly pale in color. The pens were not all fed the 

 same ration, but the only ration that produced eggs 

 of normal color was the one with lucern leaves. 



"Pen No. 5 as well as pen No. 6 was fed a corn 



