218 



PRACTICAL POULTRY PRODUCTION 



are used hens will complete their molt sooner than they 

 would otherwise. 



The period of artificial lighting. The period during 

 which artificial hghts are used in the poultry house ranges 

 from the 1st of September or October to the 1st of March 

 or April, these being the months during which the days are 

 shortest. The three methods that have been used as con- 

 cerning the period or time of the day during which lights 

 have been turned on are as follows: 



1. The hghts are turned on an hour or two before day- 



Figure 212. — The interior of a poultry house illuminated with electric lights. 



light in the morning and again in the evening before it gets 

 dark, so as to make a twelve-hour day for the hens. 



2. The hghts being turned on only in the evening before 

 it gets dark and remain on so as to give the hens the same 

 number of hours as mentioned above. 



3. To turn the hghts on in the morning only, usually 

 about 4:30 a. m., and turn them off as soon as it becomes 

 sufficiently light in the house for the hens to see. When 

 this plan is used the lights are not turned on in the evening. 



Considering all these plans, the latter seems to be the 



