The Lynden tribune. [volume] (Lynden, Wash.) 1908-current, 1919-10-16
TELLS POULTRYMEN
ABOUT ARTIFICIAL SUN
Former Lynden Man Describes Ben.
efits OF Lighting Up Coops; BE
Moderate, He Says

Shoup, formerly or Lynden, put now
the poultry expert at the Western
Washington Experiment Station a,
Puyallup. Artificial lighting, in Mr.
Shoup's opinion, has been one of the
big factors in making poultry-rais-
ing a success in the Lynden district
but he warns all poultrymen of this
section to be careful of using the ell
ectricity to excess.
Says Mr.. Shoup:
The month of October is the divid-
ing line between the period of suf-
ficient daylight for poultry to eat
enough feed to lay regularly. and the
time when the days are too short for
this all-important phase of their ex-
istence. Artificial lighting of poultry
houses should begin in October, or
even earlier. with early-hatched pull
lets.
The Lighting of Pullets should bs
so regulated that they attain so
per cent production by the time that
Trey are y months old. This would
bring the April hatch into full lay
ing (55 per cent to 20 per cent? by
the first of November, and well-mat-
ured pullets should be able to main
tain thru the entire winter months a
production of 55 per cent to 60 per
cent.
1t is quite easy to lessen the age
at which the flock comes into laying.
by the use of more light and high
protein animal feeds. but the after
results are not always satisfactory.
The immature or precocious starter
will lay an extremely small. egg for a
much longer period than her sister
that waits until she is fully developed
before she starts laying. Pullets that
start laying at or ~ months rare
ly lay a standard egg in all their
lives. They seldom lay an egg which
should be set in an incubator, even
in their second year. Many of these
early starters die OF ovary trouble.
or are easily put out of condition and
go into a partial moult by some slight
change of feed which does not affect
their harder sisters. So do not brag
about your 4-month starters. 1t is
poor management and means GER
tain loss later.
If the flock is self-supporting. or
laying 3S 1-3 per cent, when months
old. the development is about right,
but the caretaker should in the fol-
lowing two weeks about double the
production. This is where artificial
light demonstrates it's efficiency.
In order to induce the pullets to
use the night light. it is necessary to
withhold the green feed until 700 p.
m. and this measure requires that
the birds be confined in the house
and not allowed to pasture outdoors.
II allowed to eat to repletion While
it is still daylight. they will go to
roost at dusk and stay there, no mat
ter how bright the artificial light.
The first step in artificial lighting
should be confining the pullets, and
they should be confined continually
until the following March when the
green pasture comes or again. IL
allowed out on nice days they fret
and worry the next day when confin-
ed and inevitably show a falling-on
in their production. After having
been confined about four days they
forget the delights of the great out
doors. and only few of them Will
show a desire to go out when the op-
portunity is given.
II is very difficult to convince the
beginner that the production OF the
highest-priced November eggs should
be controlled or curtailcd in any way
A compa rison of the yield of his flock
with the unlighted flock Of his neigh
bcr demonstrates very clearly to him
the effect the lighting has on the egg
basket. Or perhaps he has another
neighbor who is getting nearly as
good a yield as he, and In order 'o
keep ahead and demonstrate the mer'
its of his birds and methods, he lights
a little earlier in the morning and
keeps them up later at night. AS
consequence, he boasts OF an 80 per
cent or an S5 per cent yield, and pats
himself on the back and tells his wife
there is nothing to it," In fe"
days he will notice one or two nice
little piles of fluff feathers on the
droppings board when he cleans ou'
in the morning. and in another weei
there are so many feathers he has
difficulty in making good Joo o.
the cleaning. His production is drop
ming even faster than it climbed, ant
he is up against a 6-weeks' slumI
and is lucky to get a 80 per cent la!
in December and January.
There are other manifestations be