98 POULTRY CULTURE 



in order to emphasize the rhjrthmical character of egg extrusion. 

 Most hens lay for a period of several days and then skip one 

 or more. The first day of the series the hen lays early in the 

 morning. The time she lays the next day depends largely 

 on the character of her particular rhythm. If the rhythm 

 is such that she lays only every other day, she usually lays 

 about the same time each day — that is, 10, 0, 11, 0, 10, 0, 11. 

 If she lays two days out of three, the first egg is laid during the 

 morning and the second during the afternoon — that is, 10, 3, 

 0, 10, 2, 0, 9, 1, 5, 0. As the period lengthens, the number 

 laid in the morning increases until the larger proportion are 

 laid before noon, thus: 8, 9, 10, 10, 10, 10, 9, 10, 9, 5, 11, 11, 

 5, 11, 11, 2, 2, 4, 0. There is however much variation. Pearl 

 found on the basis of winter egg production that his birds 

 fell into three classes, as follows: high, mediocre, and zero 

 producers. The dividing line between the high and mediocre 

 producers came at about 30 eggs. Goodale has confirmed 

 this work. It has been found that broodiness, age, and the 

 time at which laying commences in the fall all influence the 

 number of eggs laid. Various causes interfere with the nor- 

 mal egg rhythm, as environment, season, method of manage- 

 ment, and such internal factors as broodiness. 



Distribution of Egg Production. — From 52 to 55 per cent, 

 of the eggs are produced during four months — March, April, 

 May, and June. The remaining 45 to 48 per cent, are dis- 

 tributed over the remaining months of the year. The follow- 

 ing data illustrate the distribution of egg production. This 

 pen averaged 152 eggs per hen a year, distributing their pro- 

 duction as follows: January, 4 per cent.; February, 10 per 

 cent.; March, 14 per cent.; April, 14 per cent.; May, 13 per 

 cent.; June, 10 per cent.; October, 4 per cent.; November, 

 3 per cent.; December, 3 per cent. 



The report of the Storrs laying competition ending in Novem- 

 ber shows a very unusual distribution of egg production, as 

 heavy in July as in March — the latter month being abnormally 

 low. That competition is therefore not suitable to use in a 

 general average of figures from a small number of cases. For 

 that reasonthe distribution of production in the preceding Storrs 

 contest is taken, the average egg production in this case being 



