Poultry houses ; Poultry-house management Poultry feeding Natural incubation Natural brooding Artificial incubation Artificial brooding Laying hens Market eggs Market poultry

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1910 Excerpt: ...is plainly apparent in all good layers of all kinds, the length of body from point to point, the width between the thighs, and the depth from top of back to the lower margin of the breast bone, being as important in the Plymouth Rock, which is shown in Fig. 28, as in the Leghorn. The same conditions are of equal importance in the Wyandotte, which is shown in Fig. 29, and, in general, this rule of proportion governs in all kinds and varieties of fowls. Summing up, it may be said that hens to be good layers must be able to consume, digest, and assimilate sufficient food to sustain the body and to leave a surplus of food elements for eggs; that a high degree of vitality is necessary to endure the continuous drain on the system entailed by continuous egg production; that a body to be well balanced must have length, breadth, and depth enough to accommodate amply all the organs of the body, including the egg-producing organs. 54. Age at Which Pullets Should Be Selected.--Although some pullets are so far advanced at the age of 4 months that they are almost ready to lay, their average development is not sufficient to permit the selection of the most desirable pullets until they reach the ages of from 5 to 6 months. Leghorn laying pullets may be safely selected at the age of 4 months, but those from birds of larger and of slower development may be selected at 6 months. Pullets hatched before the middle of May should lay during the same year, but those hatched after the first of June seldom begin to lay before the following March. The most satisfactory development results from a regular and continuous growth, and if growth is retarded at any time, the loss is seldom regained. Pullets grown under the best conditions are frequentlv more fully developed at the age of 6 ...