REGULATING THE MOLT. 



A Successful Molt is Necessary for the Well=Being of the 

 Profitable Fowl — The Required Care and Food. 



By T. F. Rigg. 



Fowls which have been properly fed, housed and other- 

 wise cared for molt in August and September, and while such 

 stock demands some special attention at that time there 

 is no need of any loss. Fowls molt in accordance with the 

 law of nature, and molting is no particular strain' upon an 

 •entirely healthy fowl. 



We must keep in mind all the time that we are, in a great 

 measure, rearing and keeping our domestic poultry under 

 unnatural conditions. The fowls of the air and the woods 

 and the prairie molt slowly. This is a wise provision of 

 nature. These birds are subject to all the changing con- 

 ditions of the weather. Naturp does not rob them of all, 

 or practically all, of their feathers at once, as man's treat- 

 ment of fowls very often robs the fowls of their entire coat 

 of feathers. 



I spend some time every fall in search of the prairie 

 ■chicken, the quail and the duck. There is never a time 

 when the experienced person could detect by handling 

 one of these birds that it was in a molt. Nature not only 

 protects them against cold, but never for a day takes from 

 them the power of rapid flight by having them drop all the 

 •old feathers at once. 



We, as breeders of poultry, can practically regulate the 

 molting of our fowls. Where proper attention is not given, 

 the stock often suffers during the molting season. In all 

 his operations the successful fancier — let us designate him 

 as the man who succeeds, for, then we will more strongly 

 impress the reader — knows that the different stages through 

 which his fowls must pass crowd upon one another very 

 rapidly. It is, after all, but a brief time from chickenhood 



