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Vol. LXXIX. 
Published Weekly by The Rural Publishing Co.. 
333 W. 30th St., New York. Price One Dollar a Year. 
NEW YORK, AUGUS L l («[ | Cp 
A ’. J( U'l -t'jrs.idA 
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Entered as Second-Class Matter. June 26. 187S. at the Post 
York, N. Y., under the Act ot March 3. 1879. 
- ,H .l IJaujoj_ 
No. 4000 
Facts About Artificial Lighting, for Hens 
[A Dumber of our readers are asking whether the use 
of lights iu poultry-houses has resulted iin shoorteniug 
the laying season for the hens. There is a general be¬ 
lief that the use of the lights, if properly handled, will 
increase the yield of eggs during the cold weather, but 
it seems to be understood that this is done at the ex¬ 
pense of later laying, and that the hens will only lay a 
certain number of eggs, so that if the Winter yield is 
increased they will stop earlier than they otherwise 
would. It is also claimed by some that the use of lights 
will hasten the molting of the birds.] 
SUMMING THE MATTER UP 
1. The use of electric lights in poultry-houses dur¬ 
ing the Winter season means giving the laying hens 
a 14-hour working day. Therefore, the use of lights 
increases the number of eggs that a hen will lay 
during the year, but it does decidedly change the 
periods of production. In other words, it induces a 
greater production during the period of highest 
prices. It does not matter a great deal if the pro¬ 
duction does fall off in the Summer when prices are 
relatively low. 
4. There has been a tendency among some poul- 
trymen using lights to want too much: that is, they 
expected to get the heavy Winter production and to 
have the birds continue straight through the year as 
they normally might do. When one stops to think 
high laying capacity before we can expect to get 
large average production. 
6. In a number of cases in New .Jersey flocks have 
been thrown into a molt late in the -Spring when the 
lights were stopped. In most cases this could be 
rather easily explained. A good many of the farm¬ 
ers just automatically turned off their lights the first 
of April. With that procedure came a decided de¬ 
crease iu the amount of food allowed the birds. It 
is this sudden change of diet which threw the birds 
into a molt. The change from a 14-hour day should 
he made very gradually, and the feeding program 
Packing a Crop of High-Class Eggs — Fig. 407 
—Photo by Armstrong Roberts , 
resolves itself into a feeding problem mainly. In 
other words, the birds working for that length of 
time will consume just that much greater amount 
of grain and mash, which results in the increased 
egg production desired. 
-• The proper use of artificial illumination will 
practically double Winter egg production and this, 
as a rule, usually means considerably more than 
double the profits. 
3. I do not believe that the use of electric lights 
this matter out it can be readily appreciated that 
this is expecting too much. 
5. An increased average egg production from a 
flock of birds must come first by careful selection 
and mating of the breeding stock, and secondly by 
the proper feeding and management of the egg-pro¬ 
ducing birds. We cannot increase our average egg 
production too rapidly by means of the latter method 
without having it show some weakness. It is abso¬ 
lutely necessary in my opinion to breed birds with a 
changed just as gradually. I think it is undoubtedly 
true that the Summer production will suffer, but, as 
I have said before, what of it? The profits for the 
year will have been made and greater amounts due 
to the use of the lights in the Winter previous. 
7. So far as I am informed at present. I think 
that electric lights should he used only for the laying 
stock, and not for the breeders. The birds to be 
used for the production of hatching eggs should be 
allowed sufficient rest time in the Fall or Winter 
