50 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



trymen, and broody hens are allowed to sit on the eggs all day 

 or longer. 



The Asiatic and the heavy American breeds are especially 

 troublesome in this respect. Where only a few fowls are to 

 be cared for, one does not notice the trouble and bother of 

 these broody hens very much ; but to the poultryman caring 

 for from seventy-five to one thousand hens, or more, it be- 

 comes quite a problem. 



The lighter Mediterranean breeds do not give so much 

 trouble by broodiness, although even the Leghorns are some- 

 times persistent sitters. 



Taking broody hens ofif the nests the first time, or so, 

 when they stay on the nests at night, and placing them in a 

 slatted coup with a slatted bottom, where they can get food 

 and water, and be in sight of the other fowls, will break up 

 most of the lighter breeds in a day or two, when they can 

 be let out to start getting ready to lay again. The slatted 

 bottom on a coup allows a circulation of air to cool their 

 bodies, and thus helps to eradicate the sitting fever. 



As the summer draws to an end, the egg production, if 

 the hens are not fed properly, gradually dwindles down to 

 almost nothing. 



There are several reasons for this : the discomfort from 

 the heat, lack of shade, dead air in the poultry houses, be- 

 cause no provisions have been made to have the air circulate, 

 scarcity of good drinking water, and an irregular supply of 

 water. 



It is false economy in every way to allow hens to be 

 without water for one minute of their business hours. The 

 composition of an egg is -near.ly twO'thirds water, and to with- 

 hold this, the cheapest element in production, is indeed short 

 sightedness. Hens which are laying well, if allowed to really 

 suffer from thirst for half a day or more, will very likely drop 

 off in egg yield at once, and may not get back in form again 

 for a week or more. 



Fall and Winter Eggs 



In late summer, and early fall, the hens will shed their 

 feathers, or go through the moult. This process is the most 

 trying of any through which the hens have to pass, and under 

 unfavorable conditions will prove a severe drain on their 



