PART I. 



An Outline of Present Conditions 



CHAPTER I 



Feeding and Care 



Care and Feed in General 



One of the greatest requisites for success in caring for 

 poultry, and obtaining satisfactory results, is regularity. 



Nothing we can do upsets a laying hen's domestic econ- 

 omy so much as to be left without an expected meal, or to be 

 left without water. 



Attendance must be constant. Some flocks are kept in 

 an alternate condition of feast or famine, and the owner has 

 no right, or reason, to expect good returns from such treat- 

 ment. 



We can all see and observe how wild birds are scared 

 away and made to desert their nests, if they are in any way 

 disturbed, even if this disturbance happens when the birds 

 are entirely out of sight. 



Domestic fowls in the same manner, only possibly modified 

 in degree, have a knowledge and sense of whether conditions 

 surrounding them are such as to be conducive to safety in 

 laying. 



The effect of this trait is easily observed, and any doubter 

 can satisfy himself of its truth, when sudden changes are 

 made in quarters of laying hens, even if the changes are made 

 for the better. 



The hens or pullets, for the time being, are disturbed by 

 the change in appearance of their surroundings, and laying 

 stops in a greater or less degree, according to the mental atti- 

 tude of the birds toward these changes. 



In the same manner, laying is affected by the birds' sense 

 of security and quiet. If they are continually frightened, or 



