SUMMER MANAGEMENT 275 
Reduce the Ration Gradually, According to Range Conditions. — 
Discard all special concentrated commercial feed if it is possible 
for birds to get the equivalent from home-grown sources. No 
sudden changes should be made from one method of feeding to 
another. When it is impossible to provide summer layers with an 
abundance of range and green feed; they must be fed right through 
the summer practically the same rations which they received 
during the winter. Extensive forcing of layers at any season should 
be discouraged, as it is apt to weaken them physically, shorten 
their term of profitable production, and at the same time unfit 
them for breeding during the breeding season. Feeding for forcing 
can be successfully carried on during a few of the winter months 
without injury, but not in the summer. The birds should then be 
given a rest in which to get back any lost vitality or vigor. 
In the management of the summer flock an important requisite 
is that the houses be cool with an abundance of fresh air. This 
can be secured by leaving the curtains up and windows open, and 
by admitting cool air from the back of the house. Any of the open- 
front convertible houses can in this way be made into desirable 
laying houses for summer. This is especially important in low 
shed-roofed houses covered with paper, as they are apt to be very 
hot in the summer. By inducing a circulation of cool air during 
the night, the birds will keep in much better condition, and 
respond with a larger yield. 
Selection of Layers for Second Year.—The age when birds are 
most profitable as layers depends almost entirely upon their man- 
agement during the pullet year, and upon the health and vigor 
of the birds at the end of their first laying season. There are two 
general methods on commercial plants regarding the holding of 
birds for laying. 
The first one is to keep only pullets for commercial egg pro- 
duction. They are brought to maturity and forced for continuous 
maximum egg production, and at the end of one year’s laying are 
disposed of for meat. A start is made again each year with an 
entirely new lot of layers. This method necessitates the hatching 
of an exceedingly large number of chicks every year, and great 
risk is run in the danger and liability of late hatches and poor 
broods. 
The other method, which is quite extensively followed, is to 
keep a definite number of birds during the pullet year,—say, for 
example, one thousand. At the end of the first year select five 
