. Commercial poultry raising; a thoroughly practical and complete reference work for the amateur, fancier or general farmer, especially adapted to the commercial poultryman. Poultry. EFFECT ON EGG PRODUCTION 343 inside, from which it is a tedious job to break her. Everyone who has raised chickens, no doubt, has had an opportunity to observe the tenacity and stubbornness of a sitting hen; her will- power is almost unconquerable. Failure to discourage broodiness is probably the most potent cause for the low rate of egg production in the farm flock, and for which the farmer has nothing to blame b
. Commercial poultry raising; a thoroughly practical and complete reference work for the amateur, fancier or general farmer, especially adapted to the commercial poultryman. Poultry. EFFECT ON EGG PRODUCTION 343 inside, from which it is a tedious job to break her. Everyone who has raised chickens, no doubt, has had an opportunity to observe the tenacity and stubbornness of a sitting hen; her will- power is almost unconquerable. Failure to discourage broodiness is probably the most potent cause for the low rate of egg production in the farm flock, and for which the farmer has nothing to blame but his own indifference or ignorance. The broody hen eats and drinks very little and takes practically no exercise, consequently she soon becomes thin and emaciated and we are apt to marvel how she sustains life at all. She could not survive if it were not for her ability to draw upon her internal store- house for sustenance. It is the depreciation of this store of energy that causes her egg- producing organs to become contracted and dormant, and in the same inactive, shrunken condition that we find in the immature pullet or the fowl that is going through the molt. Her entire attitude is that of sluggishness; the abdominal section that was once re- laxed and distended, is drawn well up into her body; the pelvic bones that were formerly pliable and spread far apart, are rigid and close together; and the comb and wattles that were pendu- lous and brightly colored, are now pale and shrivelled. Time Lost.—Briefly, when the hen becomes broody she reverts to the state of an undeveloped pullet, and the time involved is very short. Once she has been reduced to this condition, and with all things favorable, from four to six weeks are required to bring her back into laying. If conditions are not favorable; for example, if the weather is very hot, or she is not fed the proper. Fig. 223.—Egg-laying contest house for two pens of birds, Storrs, Please note that these images
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublishe, booksubjectpoultry
