1906.] 



Eggs versus Table Poultry. 



525 



they fail to do so they will either have to suffer a penalty or lose 

 their customers. To accomplish this result they must be pre- 

 pared for a surplus at some seasons which may be sold tor what 

 it will command, or made into butter. Profit is made by the 

 regular business done, for the surplus seldom does more than 

 cover its cost. That stage has not yet been reached in the egg 

 supply, and it should be the object of every poultry-keeper so 

 to distribute his produce that the surplus may, to some extent, 

 be transferred from the plentiful to the scarce season. 



The output of eggs in the winter can be greatly increased by 

 systematically arranging for a succession of young pullets, by 

 hatching at the right period, and by keeping such breeds 

 as are naturally most prolific during the colder months of the 

 year, namely, what are called the " general purpose " fowls. It 

 is only by determined and persistent efforts that good results 

 can be obtained, but the profits w^ell repay the trouble involved. 

 Winter laying cannot be induced by what is called heavy feed- 

 ing. Under ordinary conditions all fowls are in the plumpest 

 condition during the autumn of the year, owing to the plentiful 

 supply of food available in the late summer, and carry a large 

 amount of fat, which is intended to serve as a source of warmth 

 during the cold weather. By the spring these reserves are 

 exhausted, the body muscles are in hard condition, and the 

 internal organs are active. That is the natural time for hens to 

 commence egg production. What must be aimed at, if we 

 desire hens to lay in the autumn and winter, is that they shall 

 be brought into like condition, or nearly so. The greater the 

 amount of food given at that time the more are the fatty 

 reserves increased, and the process of egg formation is retarded 

 rather than expedited. To accomplish the production of eggs 

 in winter both pullets and hens should be given full liberty ; on 

 the richer lands they may be compelled to find all their food for 

 a period limited to three or four weeks, or given only one feed 

 a day, in order to exhaust the reserves of fat, and then be fed on 

 nitrogenous foods in not too great a quantity, encouraging them 

 all the time to forage for themselves. On the College Poultry 

 Farm, Theale, we have found marked results follow the adoption 

 of a sparing diet. Birds in the open fields, even in winter, are 

 given only a half-ration of hot food, that is, half as much as 



