A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 55 



truths; but no person can give another the detail knowledge 

 necessary to carry him safely through all his difficulties. The 

 poultryman must have a large share of initiative qualities for 

 his own guidance. 



The action of the birds will always indicate, to the one 

 possessing these qualifications, the needs to be met or fur- 

 nished for the well being and comfort of his flock. Whether 

 he puts it in so many words or not, even to himself, he knows 

 enough to "Ask the birds, their judgment is good." 



Production Under Present Methods. 



Under the methods in present use, egg production has 

 its periods of famine and plenty. In spring and early summer 

 hens produce well, in late summer and early fall the yield 

 falls off, and in fall and winter we have to rely on early 

 hatched pullets to supply most of the eggs. Pullets hatched 

 too early are prone to stop laying, and moult again when 

 winter sets in, and not return to laying again before late 

 winter or spring. The hens, if they moult well, and get com- 

 pletely over the moult before the advent of cold weather, will 

 lay well in early winter, but will gradually drop off in egg 

 yield after the weather gets colder. 



Liberal feeding will produce good results, if the rations 

 are fairly well balanced. The writer always succeeded in 

 getting winter eggs, even when the weather reached low tem- 

 peratures for long periods. 



It was this fact that led to further research as to why, if 

 some of the hens and pullets laid, more of them did not do so 

 under his efforts to supply "summer conditions." 



Every item of feed had to be purchased, as his flocks were 

 continually kept yarded up. 



To give an idea of the liberal feeding, and the resulting 

 production, the following tables are presented for his flock 

 for 1913. In this lot were ninety-six one and a half year, and 

 two and a half year old hens, at the beginning of the year 

 1913, and forty pullets hatched May 3rd, 1912. 



The record of the exact dates when some of these hens 

 were sold, or dropped out of the race, is not available, so that 

 a correct percentage cannot be figured out for this year. They 

 were sold off down to ninety-five during the spring of 1913, 



