EGGS ARE LAID IN SERIES 



341 



usually in this class, and for which the poultryman should keep a 

 sharp lookout ; they are not fitted for the highly organized egg plant. 



Intervals Between Litters.^Generally speaking, hens that lay 

 short litters take but a few days to the intervals between them, 

 whereas those that lay from thirty to sixty eggs in almost daily 

 succession will require a much longer period, which seems per- 

 fectly natural. Egg production is a severe tax on the hen's 

 body; if is a secretory and a reproductive process combined, 

 and as such it de- 

 mands time in which 

 to recuperate. 



When a hen com- 

 pletes laying a litter, 

 especially during the 

 spring months, she is 

 usually attended by a 

 maternal instinct — a 

 desire to hatch the 

 eggs, all of which is 

 very natural, indeed, 

 but not in accordance 

 with the poultryman's 

 views on the subject. 

 Producing eggs for 

 table purposes does 

 not concern Mistress 



Biddy. She performs her labors in response to the highest 

 ideal — that of reproducing her kind, and having completed the 

 first step in the operation, the laying of the eggs, she cannot 

 acquit herself of the responsibility until they are transformed into 

 a fluffy flock of youngsters. It is a noble resolve, but, unfor- 

 tunately for the hen, it has no place on the commercial egg farm. 



Hens of the general purpose and meat varieties, such as Ply- 

 mouth Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, Wyandottes and Brahmas are 

 more addicted to this form of domesticity than are the lighter 

 breeds; though the desire is pretty well founded in all classes of 

 poultry, even to the so-called non-sitting breeds — Leghorns, 



{Courtesy Missouri Experiment Station) 



Fig. 222. — Outdoor coop for breaking up broody 

 hens. Note the slatted bottom. 



