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COMMERCIAL POULTRY RAISING 



breeds and with different specimens, and there seems to be no 

 basis for an approximation. There may be a dozen cells in a 

 litter, or five dozen, and in rare cases, such as the hens that have 

 attained wonderful records at egg-laying contests, fowls will con- 

 tinue to lay almost without cessation, and continue to do so for 

 a couple of years. Ordinarily, between clusters there is a period 



(Courtesy Cornell Experiment Station) 

 Fig. 221. — Every laying house should be equipped with a broody hen coop. 



of non-production, a sort of rest period, which varies in duration 

 the same as the size of the litter. It may be a week or a month, 

 or perhaps three months; and not infrequently a hen will lay 

 but the one cluster of eggs and then stay off the nest for the re- 

 mainder of the year. Such specimens are to be rated as drones, 

 and dealt with accordingly. Birds that are impoverished and 

 those that are not bred along the lines of heavy egg production are 



