Norwich bulletin., 1919-09-10
FEATHERS AND THE BIRD.

l Culling out the sia clSer, hen is work which can be easily done by any poul- l trynan or poultry woman who will give the matter a, little careful 1 thou ght+ and study. says Roy E. Jones, l poultry specialist for the extension i service of Connecticut Agricultural College at Storrs. Egg production is 8 natural function of the hens repro ductiye organs and however we feed
 or care for our birds. the indications i of production" or non production are l always apparent. Heavy or long con- 1 tinued production slowly but surely 1 cations are very. evident at the end of the laying season.
 The condition of the plumage Is the most noticeable indication of produc- tion which applies to all breeds The heavy layer needs all her energy for
 production, consequently she keeps her old coat of feathers. however worn and ragged they may be.
 In fact the hen whose plumage looks most seiIed. whose wing feath- CTS arc badly worn and whose tail fea- thers are partly broken off from turn ing around in the nest is the best hen, according to MT. Jones. The hen that is n1oulting early or has com
 pleted her nou1t has done very, little
 but take care of herself. The hen that
 is matched early and starts to lay
 early does not necessarily moult ear
 iy the following fall, nor does the hen
 that is matched late and starts to lay
 late continue to lay later the follow
 ing fall. The hen with a natural
 tendency to lay. usually postpones the
 moult until her production Is finished
 regardless of the time she started.
 This applies more particularly to the
 egg breeds, as the general purpose or
 meat breeds sometimes lay and 1nouIt
 a the same time. The feathers are
 dropped and replaced slowly and the
 hen has every other indication of be-
 ing a producer. When this occurs the rate of production is usually rather
 slow Hens may. be forced into a
 noult by irregular feeding, use for in
 cubation and breeding, close houses
 or extremely hot weather. in fact anything which tends to check pro- duction will encourage the nloult. will be found among the saddle feathers over the back just in front of the caii. The length of time since moulting started may be checked up by the number Of new flight feathers in the wing. The flight feather next to the short axel feather in the center of the wing drops first. and the new feather requires about six weeks to grow. The second feather drops two weeks after the first. and is com pletely grown out two weeks after the first. Thus if we count back six weeks for the first feather and two weeks more for each additional feather re- placed, We can get very close to the i date when nloultingF started. The new feathers may be identified by their fresh. glossy appearance and slightly ! shorter length; showing. a break be- tween the old and new. The new fea- l thers are rather soft and easily dis 1 tinguished, even though they are fully 1 grown. MouIting the ten flight feath- i CTS in regular order requires twenty four weeks. and most of the low pro- ] ducers use all of that time. Some of i the late moulting high producers moult somewhat faster and others shed only q part of the flight feathers, ] then start their second year of pro- 1 duction. The plumage of the real high producer frequently. appears dry, l worn and broken. due to the body 1 oils which normally take care of the 1 plltmage, being exhausted by produc- 1 ion