218 POULTRY PRODUCTION 



thirty to forty-five days later than the American and English 

 breeds, and still mature early enough to begin laying by fall. 



For the north central states, American pullets that are 

 exj)eeted to lay the following winter should be out bet\\een 

 the first of March and the middle of April, fiooflale^ found 

 that in Massachusetts, ^larcli hatched Rhode Island lied 

 pullets gave a mean winter egg production of 42. G5 eggs. 

 A])ril hatched pullets gave a mean winter production of 35.40, 

 while May pullets gave an average winter production of 

 22.50 eggs. 



The Mediterraneans should be hatched late in April or 

 early in May. Schwartz^ came to the conclusion as the 

 result of a set of observations on White Leghorn pullets, 

 that the month of hatch had comparatively little influence 

 on the molt. The Asiatics should be hatched as early as 

 possible. Judging from the results in production at the 

 laying competition conducted by the Connecticut Agri- 

 cultural College, ( 'ard^ concluded that for that state late 

 April or early May was the proper hatching time for Leg- 

 horns. Pullets hatched during this period usually showed 

 an advantage over both March and June hatched pullets. 

 Lewis* has since re]iorted that in New Jersey, February 

 hatched Leghorn pullets could be carried through the 

 following fall withoutmolting by means of the feeding methods 

 made ])osslble by illuminated houses. 



Lewis, in comparing the rate of growth of Leghorn chicks 

 hatched April 1 and June 1, found, as shown in Table 

 XXXI\', that the Ai)ril-hatched chicks averaged L70 pounds 

 liea\'ier in Novendier tlian the June-hatched chicks, although 

 there was an average difference in weight at July 1 of but 

 1.17 pounds. The younger chicks were not able to make 

 proper gains until the cool weather of the fall came. At 

 three and a half months the late-hatched chicks did not 

 weigh as much as the early-hatched ones did at three months. 



' Aiurrican Naturalist, \'(jl. lii, Ni>. G14. 



2 Jour. Am. Assn. [nst.. ami Invest, in P(.ul. Husi.., vol. ^■, No. 10. 



2 ,St,orrs (Conn.) liullvtin, No. 91. 



< New Jersey Experiment Station Annual Report. 



