Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 66, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1912 — POULTRY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POULTRY

EARLY MOLTING OF CHICKENS Western Poultryman Gives Excellent Method of Controlling Hens In Changing Feathers. Most people believe that if they can force their hens to molt early they will lay more eggs during the season, but this is not Hens that hava molted late will lay more eggs during the winter than the early molters. Thiß has been shown by the moat careful experiments, but the facts ara not generally known. Molting hens require a large amount of feed containing nitrogen Buch as oil meal, meat and other feeds tein. Molting can be forced by cutting down the feed of hens as it has been shown by experiments that scantily fed hens begin molting earlier than those on full feed, but the former do not finish molting much earlier. Starved hens molt more uniformly than others and this is particularly noticeable fn hens two or three yearn old. In an experiment conduoted by thn Cornell experiment station It wan foynd that on a basis of 100 hens thn fed flock produced eggs to the valun of $29.97 more than by the starved flock. The total Income from all the birdn waß $278 for the starved flock and $350 for the fed flock, a difference In favor of natural molting for the year of about $95. A western poultryman of long experience gives his method of controlling molting as follows: As soon as the hens are through, laying he turns them out on alfalfa, feeding them dry bran only, in addition. Under this treatment they get thin. Then he feeds them a mixed ration of grains and meat, giving a light feed m the morning and all they will eat at noon and night. Under this treatment they finish molting quickly, get new feathers and begin laying in September. By October 1 they are all in good laying condition and make a profit through the fall and winter.