578 COMMERCIAL POULTRY RAISING 



In using artificial light the caretaker should clearly understand 

 the function of these extra hours of light. The lights should be 

 turned on so that the length of the short day is piade equal to the 

 length of the spring day. 



Do not allow the fowls to go to roost in the late afternoon, and 

 then encourage them to leave the roosts in the middle of the night, 

 for extra feed, by switching on the lights. As the daylight fades, 

 along about four or five o'clock, turn on the lights and keep them 

 burning for two or three hours. This prolongs the day naturally. 

 When you want the hens to go to roost, turn off the lights, or dim 

 the illumination, giving the birds just enough light to find their 

 perches. 



In the morning the lights are turned on about five o'clock, 

 whereupon the birds leave their perches and start the day's 

 activities. So long as the hens have from fourteen to fifteen hours 

 of light, there is no difference in commencing a little earlier or 

 later. Some poultrymen burn lights at the close of the day only; 

 others use illumination at both ends of the day; both plans give 

 about the same results. 



A great many poultry houses are so poorly constructed that at 

 best they have very little light, especially on overcast days. In 

 stormy weather, when the birds are kept indoors, this means such 

 gloomy conditions that often the hens are off the perches for only 

 six hours. The alternative is to go out in the storm, which ex- 

 posure is even worse than remaining on the perches. 



Blame yourself, not the hens, if they do not yield eggs under 

 these circumstances. Chickens like cheerful conditions, much as 

 do humans. They dislike darkness. They are suspicious and 

 fearful of it. They never sing in the dark, only in the light. Take 

 the song away from the hen and you put an end to her egg produc- 

 tion. Farmers are the most conspicuous offenders in causing their 

 hens to hibernate for the winter months. And they seldom get 

 any eggs from August to March, which accounts for the scarcity of 

 eggs in cold weather and consequent high prices. 



Some of the foremost authorities on poultry culture pronounce 

 the artificial illumination of poultry houses as one of the most 

 important discoveries in the history of the industry. 



