10 
IN. C. Agricultural Experiment Station 
middlings passed through the intestinal tract in three and one-hal hours. Of the 
three Buff Plymouth Rock hens in lay ng ondition, two passed wheat middlings in 
three hours and the third in three hours and five minutes. Of the two White Ply¬ 
mouth Rock hens laying during the tests, corn meal passed through the digestive 
tract, one in three hours and twenty minutes and the other in five hours and twenty 
minutes, or an average for these two of four hours and twenty minutes. An averag- 
of the si x tests with laying hens showed that food passed the entire digestive tract in 
three hours and forty-six minutes. 
Of the three White Plymouth Rock hens that were broody, one passed the wheat 
middlings through the intestinal tract in six hours the second in twenty-four hours, 
and the third in fourteen hours, or an average of these three of fourteen and two- 
thirds hours. Of two White Plymouth Rock hens in a broody condition given corn 
meal one passed food through the digestive tract in seven hours and the second in six 
hours and twenty minutes, or an average of the five broody hens of eleven hours and 
forty-five minutes. 
Of the two chicks weighing approximately two pounds each, one passed the wheat 
middlings through the intestinal tract in three hours and fifty minutes and the other 
in three hours and fifty-five minutes, making an average of three hours and fifty-two 
minutes. 
Of the four Columbian Wyandotte hens not in laying condition, one consumed 5 
gins, whole corn soaked in gentian violet water and voided first excrement in twenty- 
four hours, the second consumed 4 gms. and passed the first tinted excreta in 25 
hours, the third ate 3 gms. and passed the first tinted excreta in twenty-six hours. 
From this it is evident that gentian violet causes constipation followed by a loose¬ 
ness of the bowels, indicating irritation to the mucosa of the bowels. 
Of six Buff Plymouth Rock hens in laying condition, two consumed 30 gms. whole 
corn soaked in methylene blue water, and the first tinted excreta was voided in three 
hours and ten minutes. One consumed thirty-five gms. and voided tinted ex reta in 
two hours and thirty minutes, the fourth consumed thirty-one grams corn meal and 
voided tinted excreta in three hours and thirty minutes, the fifth consumed 8 gms. and 
voided the first tinted excreta in one hour and thirty minutes, the sixth consumed 
7 gms. and voided the first tinted excreta in twenty-three hours. The tendency here 
is for small amounts of methylene blue to cause constipation and larger doses irrita¬ 
tion with specks of blood on the semi-liquid evacuations. There is only one exception 
to this tendency and that is in the case of the bird that consumed 8 gms. of corn 
and evacuated in one hour and thirty minutes. 
SUMMARY 
Digestive processes of the fowl are rapid. The greatest rapidity is shown in the 
laying and in the growing fowl, food passing on an average of three hours and fifty 
two minutes in the case of growing fowls and three hours and forty-six minutes in the 
cases of the laying hens. Next in activity comes the adult hen not in laying condition, 
averaging eight hours, and then the broody hen required an average of eleven hours 
and forty-four minutes. 
It was noted that broody hens behaved the same in the experimental coops as on 
the nest, that is, the evacuations were fewer and the quantity evacuated each time 
increased over that o'.' a normal hen. 
We have not taken as accurate the fowls in which the gentian violet or methylene 
blue were given, as it exercised influence on the normal function of the intestinal tract. 
In all these tests the hens were placed in the coops the day before the trial so that 
the crop was empty when the test feed was given. 
