Housing 139 



tion or moulting. I found that they did not get enough to 

 eat and that they were consequently a very long time in 

 moulting and coming into condition. 



Here I believe there is a heavy loss and one that has no 

 reason to exist and should be prevented. Every little loss 

 should be prevented, and if a hen is kept back in the moult 

 she is just that much less profitable. 



Hens when moulting should have all the food they can eat, 

 just as at any other period. Never starve your hens, for it 

 does no one any good to starve. It takes food to produce 

 eggs and feathers, and the moulting hen should have lots 

 of food. 



After years of careful watching and experimenting with 

 different devices, I perfected an automatic feeder which pro- 

 vides a separate stall for each hen to feed from. The boss- 

 hen cannot bother the others, and the results obtained show 

 very plainly in the moulting hens because they obtain the 

 amount of food they should have. It also shows an increase 

 in the egg yield, as it guarantees to every hen that she can 

 obtain all the food she requires whenever she wants it. 



SELECTING THE LAYERS 



Book after book has been written, telling you how to select 

 the laying hen from the non-laying hen, and they are about 

 on a par with the books telling you that you can make from 

 $4.00 to $10.00 a year per hen. They are only published to 

 get your money, and after you read the book you feel that 

 you have been swindled again. 



In my poultry system there is more than one wire parti- 

 tion in the building, and in separating the hens after they 

 have all passed through to the other end of the building, the 

 non-layers are confined between two partitions. The layers 



