342 COMMERCIAL POULTRY RAISING 



Campines and Minorcas. The non-sitting breeds, however, 

 are not so habitually broody, nor so likely to be difficult to dis- 

 courage. 



In the fall of the year strict attention is paid to the require- 

 ments of the pullets to induce them to commence laying, and 

 during the severe winter months that follow everything is done to 

 sustain this yield. By March, which is the natural season for 

 egg production, wherein almost anything that resembles 5. chicken 

 is giving a good account of itself, the poultryman relaxes his 

 vigilance over the egg basket and turns his energies toward other 

 problems — mating, fertility, incubating and brooding. There 

 is such an abundance of eggs at this time that this phase of the 

 business seems to take care of itself. 



Watch Out for Broodiness. — March, April and May are the 

 months of heaviest production, after which the egg yield will 

 fall off very rapidly if the poultryman is not watchful of his 

 flock — on the lookout for broody hens. From the first of March 

 and well into the summer the poultry keeper should make it a 

 hard and fast rule to go over all the nests every evening, an hour 

 after the last feeding time is best, and remove therefrom any fowls 

 that show signs of broodiness. Very few hens lay after four 

 o'clock in the afternoon, and inasmuch as they have no business 

 on the nests after nightfall anyhow, it is a pretty safe practice 

 to take up all birds found in the nests at that time, on the assump- 

 tion that they are suspicious characters, and confine them in 

 quarters specially built for their accommodation, which will be 

 described in another paragraph. 



Easily Broken at First. — Those who are inexperienced may rea- 

 son that it seems unnecessary to make this a daily task, and that 

 to go over the nests once a week or every few days will answer the 

 same purpose; but such is not the case. A hen removed from 

 the nest on the first day of her inclination to sit is very much 

 easier to discourage than when she has been permitted to indulge 

 her fancy for a week or more. She is usually rather indifferent 

 about the matter at first and can be diverted with little effort, 

 whereas at the end of a week the notion is a confirmed habit — 

 a firm resolve, lodged crosswise in her mind and clinched on the 



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