The hens which are to be breeders and the producers of the hatching eggs for the coming Spring are selected as early in the Fall as possible. The quarters into which they are to be moved would have been most carefully cleansed, and then disinfected with Kerosene and Crude Carbolic. After this, fresh, clean litter would be put in, and for these yearling hens we make it a practice to place eight inches of straw on the floor, for they have well learned the lesson of digging in the litter and very rapidly knock the straw to pieces.
The tendency of a hen during the moult is to be inactive. In many cases she feels far from comfortable. The growing of her new dress is a process which drains her system of an immense amount of vitality, still she must be made to take a certain amount of exercise, and therefore the litter must be constantly looked after, and kept in a condition which will compel her to work persistently for her grain ration.
Do Not Overfeed
The Mash Boxes are most carefully watched, and the moment there is the slightest inclination not to clean the Mash up thoroughly, the quantity is cut down.
It would be somewhat easier if all the hens would moult simultaneously, but this they do not do, and so the needs of the different individuals during the moulting period have to be looked after.
With the Leghorn, the combs shrink, and almost go down to nothing in many cases. It is quite impossible, in looking over a large number of yearling hens at this time in their lives, to believe that the great, red comb will ever return, and it is a curious fact that, in the majority of cases, the yearling hen’s comb is never as large as it was in her pullet year.
As the combs begin to redden and their size increase, the flock becomes more active, and it is necessary to add to the amount of Mash, and, if it had been found expedient to reduce the grain ration, this also must be brought back to the full eight quarts to one hundred hens.
From day to day the Mash consumption increases rapidly, and the nests begin to receive a good deal of attention, and very shortly the output from the breeding pens becomes a very decided item in the gathering of eggs.
By the second week in January, the pen having been handled in the best possible way, the egg output has reached a point where it will be safe to mate the pen, and in two weeks after this the eggs should be running strongly fertile.