EFFECT ON EGG PRODUCTION 



343 



inside, from which it is a tedious job to break her. Everyone 

 who has raised chickens, no doubt, has had an opportunity to 

 observe the tenacity and stubbornness of a sitting hen ; her will- 

 power is almost unconquerable. 



Failure to discourage broodiness is probably the most potent 

 cause for the low rate of egg production in the farm flock, and for 

 which the farmer has nothing to blame but his own indifference 

 or ignorance. The broody hen eats and drinks very little and 

 takes practically no exercise, consequently she soon becomes thin 

 and emaciated and we 

 are apt to marvel how 

 she sustains life at all. 

 She could not survive 

 if it were not for her 

 ability to draw upon 

 her internal store- 

 house for sustenance. 

 It is the depreciation 

 of this store of energy 

 that causes her egg- 

 producing organs to 

 become contracted 

 and dormant, and in 

 the same inactive, 



shrunken condition that we find in the immature pullet or the 

 fowl that is going through the molt. Her entire attitude is 

 that of sluggishness; the abdominal section that was once re- 

 laxed and distended, is drawn well up into her body; the pelvic 

 bones that were formerly pliable and spread far apart, are rigid 

 and close together; and the comb and wattles that were pendu- 

 lous and brightly colored, are now pale and shrivelled. 



Time Lost. — Briefly, when the hen becomes broody she reverts 

 to the state of an undeveloped pullet, and the time involved is 

 very short. Once she has been reduced to this condition, and 

 with all things favorable, from four to six weeks are required to 

 bring her back into laying. If conditions are not favorable; 

 for example, if the weather is very hot, or she is not fed the proper 



Fig. 223. 



—Egg-laying contest house for two pens 

 of birds, Storrs, Connecticut. 



