CHAPTER VII 



What is the Winter Layer? — The Properly 

 Hatched and Reared Pullet 



Many people have a very erroneous idea with re- 

 gard to getting Winter eggs. They seem to think 

 any hen should produce eggs in Winter. The hen 

 generally moults in the early Fall, and Nature has 

 provided this time of rest for her. The egg organs 

 cease to produce, for the hen finds she has all she can 

 do to supply the necessary material for her new dress, 

 and this is a very serious drain on her system. The 

 natural time, however, for a pullet to begin to lay 

 is when she reaches maturity, and, as the pullet 

 hatched in the early Spring, properly cared for, should 

 come into eggs in the early Fall, the pullet, then, is 

 the Winter layer. 



It must still be remembered that the domesticated 

 fowl of to-day is a bird of evolution. In its wild 

 state a pullet did not begin to lay eggs in the Fall, 

 and neither did she lay a large number of eggs at 

 any time. With the coming of Spring, and an abun- 

 dance of succulent green food, and large quantities of 

 animal food in the shape of a great variety of worms 

 and .insects, she laid and hatched her brood. There- 



68 



