CHAPTER VI. 



EGGS IN FALL AND WINTER. 



Unless a man breeds fancy fowls and has a good market in the 

 spring for eggs for hatching, the gilt-edged profits come from 

 eggs produced in late fall and early winter. There is no com- 

 modity that I know anything about where the price fluctuates so 

 much in the course of a year as it does on eggs. In the local 

 market eggs range in price from 12 to 15 cents in April and May 

 to 30 to 40 cents around Thanksgiving. In spite of all that has 

 been written and said about eggs in the late fall and early win- 

 ter, there is always a shortage about this time ; and there is likely 

 to be for years to come. 



The reason why it is so difficult to get eggs in late fall or early 

 winter is that it is against Nature. The primary object of a bird 

 in laying eggs is not to please the palate of the epicure or add to 

 the profits of the owner, but to reproduce her kind. Now it is a 

 universal law that all creatures in a wild state bring forth their 

 young at that season of the year when food is most abundant. 

 The hen has been domesticated for more than thirty centuries, but 

 back of this is a period of much greater extent when she was wild. 



No artificial breeding or habitat can ever completely eradicate 

 aboriginal instincts. The natural time for a hen to lay is in the 

 spring and early summer. It is evident, therefore, that in work- 

 ing for eggs in fall and early winter we are working against 

 Nature, and can never hope for that complete success that we may 

 expect when we are working with Nature and Nature is work- 

 ing with us. 



WINTER EGGS COME FROM PULLETS. 

 Eggs in the fall and winter come principally from pullets. 

 At Thanksgiving time, when eggs are at their maximum, the 

 hens have not fully recovered from their moult. They may lay 

 a few eggs, but nothing great. Those who get winter eggs in 

 large quantities are those who follow the advice of this book and 

 plan to have at least two-thirds of their laying stock pullets. But 

 not every pullet is a kyer. It is only those that are well grown 

 and have been handled right that are now giving a good account 



