344 COMMERCIAL POULTRY RAISING 



ration, or if she was never but an indifferent layer at best, the 

 chances are she will not resume laying until next season. In- 

 stead, it is highly probable that she will enter the molt. 



Loss of Plumage. — ^When a hen is permitted to get in poor 

 condition, especially in warm weather, either by illness, idleness 

 on the nest, or by raising a brood of chicks, her plumage, like her 

 body, dries up. It loses its sleek, glossy appearance; the oil 

 in the quills is impoverished, and in consequence the fowl enters 

 an early molt. The early molt is the longest, sometimes re- 

 quiring four and five months, so that on farms devoted to egg 

 production it is seldom considered profitable to carry the early 

 ' ' molters ' ' over to the next season, and they are disposed of as meat. 



Egg Production Is Secondary. — We might term egg production 

 a supplementary function, for such it really is — secondary circu- 

 lation, the result of over-stimulation. Strictly speaking, fowls 

 eat to repair and restore the daily wear and tear to the body 

 tissues — to maintain them in a healthy, normal state. If the 

 amount of nourishment that they consume is merely equal to 

 this task alone, there is none left for the work of stimulating the 

 egg-producing organs to a point of activity. On the other hand, 

 if there is an excess of nourishment, that which is assimilated over 

 and above the daily requirements of the body, it goes into the 

 development of the reproductive organs, which progress no faster 

 than this nourishment is provided. 



In the late winter and early spring the hen will instinctively 

 labor to bring about this excess of nourishment for egg develop- 

 ment. It is the natural season for her to commence laying. 

 With the ^dvent of milder weather she will forage for tidbits 

 of greens, seeds, bugs, worms and other morsels in addition 

 to her regular bill-of-fare, all of which is highly nutritious and 

 places her in the pink of condition. When she has completed 

 laying her first clutch of eggs, especially if it be a long one, the 

 chances are she will manifest a desire to hatch them. Or, she 

 may continue to lay another litter and then try to hatch it. 

 Certain it is that she will try to hatch at least once during the 

 spring months, and maybe three or four times. 



