POULTRY-CRAFT. 137 
such hens over and watch their later performance, will find that hens which 
have once gone badly out of condition are usually uncertain layers afterwards. 
The principal cause of all this trouble is, that, having worried over feeding 
problems all winter, the poultry keeper thinks when spring comes and the 
hens are laying well, that he has the feeding ‘‘ down fine,” when, in fact, the 
hens are laying well in spite of poor management. In the spring every hen 
that can lay will lay; fat hens lay themselves into good condition; sick hens 
lay themselves to death. The fact that a hen is laying, is not by any means 
a reliable indication that she is in perfect health and condition. A heavy egg 
yield in the spring is not particularly desirable. If the hens have laid well 
through the winter, they should be given a rest in anticipation of making 
them do as well as possible through the summer, summer eggs being more 
profitable than spring eggs. If the egg farmer rears his own laying stock, 
(as nearly all do), it will pay him to set as many of his hens as go broody in 
March and April, thus giving each a rest of about a month (if they only 
hatch the chicks) when eggs are cheapest. With the non-sitting breeds this 
course is out of the question. There will also be in nearly every large stock 
of laying hens of the sitting varieties some heavy layers that will not go broody 
until quite worn out with egg production. * : 
Such hens can sometimes be induced to sit by shutting them on a dark nest 
full of eggs. Hens that persist in laying heavily should be given the very 
best of care, and every effort made to keep them in tip-top condition ; they 
will rest later while moulting. Too often it happens at this season that the 
poultryman’s time and thought are so fully occupied with the care of the 
young stock and plans for the coming year, that his laying hens are more or 
less neglected. 
183. Summer Management of Laying Stock.— With the first hot 
days of summer hens that have gone out of condition, and hens not bred for 
continuous laying, are apt to quit. Nearly all the hens will show a dispo- 
sition to stop laying, but judicious care and feeding will keep those that are 
in condition, and have the staying qualities, laying fairly well all through the 
*NoTE.— Some say that, ¢f fed properly, a hen is not exhausted by long continued 
heavy laying. As weil say that a man, ¢f fed properly, cannot be overworked. Good 
feeding is a factor of good laying, but good laying is a drain on the vigor of the best 
nourished hens; they show it in the quality of the eggs, they show it in their late hatched 
chicks, and, nearly always, show it in their appearance. Food, though of the best, and 
abundant, zs zo¢ rest — and cannot be a substitute for rest. Every animal, every part of 
an animal, every animal function, requires periods of complete or partial rest. Is it not 
absurd to suppose that the most delicate of all animal functions can be kept constantly 
working at high pressure? Is it not more than absurd, in the face of the fact, patent 
everywhere in nature, that an overworked reproductive system leads quickly to decay and 
degeneration, to assume that perpetual motion is successfully demonstrated in the hen 
bred for eggs and properly fed? Why, even machines of wood and iron need rest, and 
wear out with less actual work if they do not get it. Every analogy confirms the experi- 
ence of the mass of practical poultrymen. 
