106 POULTRY CtTLTUHE 



A bird with a physical impediment, as deformed feet, cannot 

 secure ample feed. 



In making a physical examination to determine what a 

 bird is doing we must bear in mind that the condition of the 

 . comb, vent, pigmentation, and width between the breast 

 bone and pelvis are indications of what the bird is doing or is 

 going to do. The time when a bird commences to lay or ceases 

 to lay is not dependent on the size of the bird. In a heavy 

 laying bird the intestines become larger and longer, and again 

 shrink after her laying period. This lengthening may be as 

 much as 30 to 40 per cent. This same fact holds true of the 

 oviduct. The laying hen is large posteriorly, and when she 

 ceases to lay, the tendency is to become smaller posteriorly. 

 A hen in a non-laying period stores up fat and with it yellow 

 pigment (zanthophyll) which is used when the hen commences 

 to lay. This fat and pigment disappears more rapidly from 

 those parts with best blood supply, and consequently in the 

 following order — vent, eyelids, ear-lobes, lower mandible, base 

 of upper mandible, middle of upper mandible, tip of upper 

 mandible. Of the shanks the fat first disappears from the 

 sides and in front and later at the back; the last to disappear 

 is on the heel just below the hock. Soil and vegetation is a 

 factor in the amount of zanthophyll supplied and will be one 

 governing factor in the amount of pigment stored. Such feeds 

 as tender succulent alfalfa and alsike clover furnish much 

 zanthophyll. Birds have a tendency to bleach out on sandy 

 soil or soil containing much alkali. Wood ashes will cause 

 bleaching. 



The greatest fat reservoir or storehouse in the bird is the 

 retroperitoneal region; that is, the lower and lateral walls of 

 the abdomen (Fig. 40, No. 6). When the hen ceases to lay, 

 this storehouse begins to fill with fat covering over the pelvic 

 arch, causing the arch to become blunt. The abdomen now 

 takes on a hard texture. The pelvic arches come closer to- 

 gether and as the intestine and oviduct shorten and become 

 smaller the distance from the breast bone to the pubic bone 

 becomes less. 



A hen cannot hold enough reserve material to form an egg a 

 day, so she skips. The power to take in and metabolize food 



