Must Feed Green Food
On The Corning Egg Farm, when the pullets are brought up from the Range into the Laying Houses, the majority of them have already been laying on the Range, and they are in fit condition to be brought strongly into eggs. They are fed a large quantity of succulent green food, in the form which, perhaps, is more delicious to the hen than any other, that is, Sprouted Oats. The quantity of animal food in their mash is increased, and, with the vigorous digging for the grain in the deep litter, the problem of Winter eggs is solved, and from day to day, the number of eggs coming from the pullet houses, increases very rapidly.
On the other hand, the pullet which has completed its first ten months of laying is well advanced in the moult, and is becoming a yearling hen. Those qualifying under the drastic examination for perfect type are selected for the next year’s Breeders, and are removed to the Breeding Houses, which have been thoroughly disinfected and put in the most sanitary condition to receive them. Those not reaching the Corning Standard are marketed, as we sell culls only to the butcher.
The aim in handling the yearling hen is not to get eggs from her during the Winter, but to give her a long rest, and to build her up, and put her in the pink of condition for the coming breeding season, and it is the aim at The Corning Egg Farm to have as few eggs produced as possible from the breeding pens until about the first of January, when an increased amount of animal food is added to the daily ration for the purpose of bringing the hens into eggs, and within a few days there is a very rapid increase in the number of eggs from these pens.
It must be remembered that the profit in Winter eggs is made from pullets, and to be successful in this line the Laying Houses must be well stocked with them.
Yearling and two year old hens are the proper breeding females. The Corning Egg Farm Method is one of continuous rotation, as follows:
Incubator to Brooder House.
Brooder House to Range.
Range to Laying House. Those selected as coming up to the Corning Standard go to the Breeder House.
At the end of the second year the Breeders are all sold for foundation stock.
This gives an opportunity to the public to procure the very best Breeders at a most reasonable price.
CHAPTER VIII
A Great Laying Strain—The Selection of Breeders to Produce It
The first requisite is to breed from a mature animal, from a real yearling hen. The term “yearling hen” is a misnomer, for, when she is twelve months of age she has not as a rule developed into a true yearling hen. The female has five months of growth, ten months of laying, and then she moults, which process varies in duration from eight to ten weeks.