Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1921-08-19
Now Is The Time To
Gull The Flock
(By T. Holmes MARTINI

done IN August and early Sep
TENDER. Culling saves on the feed
bill and puts the feed consumed
by the flock to productive pur-
poses. If the non-productive
hens are eliminated from the
farm flock the wasted feed picked
up by the fowls will go to pro-
ductive hens. At this time of the
year the non-productive hen is
most easily distinguished and
should be eliminated to prevent
her being used as a breeder next
spring. A few low-producing
hens will pull down the egg pro-
duction of the flock if used as
breeders.
One should strive to keep up
| the average production OF the
flock, and this can only be done
by close culling. Hens will stop
laying and go into a moult (shed-
ding of feathers) during the sum-
mer, either because of your man
lagement conditions or inability to
lay. Factors in poor management
which tend to throw the whole
flock into an early moult are TN
derfeeding, absence of milk or
tankage from the ration, presence
OF mites or lice in large numbers,
or sickness. If any OF these fac
tors cause a cessation Of laying,
they should be corrected before
trying tor Gull the flock.
Hens without the ability to lay
will go into an early moult ire
spective OF the care given to the
flock. This is clearly shown by
the trap-nest records of flock of
| IS White Wyandottes on the
Kentucky Experiment Station
Farm. This flock was fed dry
mash of 20 per cent tankagc
throughout the year and averag-
| ed to lay 120 eggs per hen. The
following table shows clearly the
relation of egg production to the
time of moult
1t is very simple matter to
tell a laying hen. She has a large
moist vent, showing dilated
condition and looseness as COM
pared with the hard, puckered
vent of a non-laying hen. Just
below the vent are the two pin or
pelvic bones. two on each side,
projecting: toward the rear. BY
placing the fingers, fiat, between
these bones, the width apart can
be determined. If the ends of
the bone are soft and pliable and
the width Of TWO or three ordi-
nary fingers varying with the
size of the hem can be placed be-
tween them, the hen is, in all pro-
liability, laying at the time of ex-
animation. If the bones are close
together and the points hard, the
| bird is probably not laying. The
comb and wattfes of a laying hen
are bright red and expanded, and
those of non-layer are pale and
shriveled.
Laying uses up the surplus fat
in the body. In yellow skinned
breeds this loss of flesh can read
lily be seen by the loss of the vel
low color. Then different parts of
the body tend to bleach and be-
come white as the hen continues
to lay. The changes occur in the
following order: The vent chang
ed very quickly with egg produc-
ton SO that white or pink vent
of a yellow skinned bird general
ly means that the bird is LAYING,
while yellow vent means a bird
is not laying. 1t should be recog-
nized that all yellow color chang
es, are dependent on the feed.
coarseness of skin and the size of
bird. A heavy bird fed on an
abundance of green feed and yell
low corn which will color the
fat deep yellow, will not bleach
out nearly as quickly as smaller
or paler-c olored bird.
/ The color Soes out of the beak.
beginning at the base and grad
ually disappearing until it finally
leaves the front part of the upper
lbeak. The lower beak bleaches
| faster than the upper and shoulc
be used where the upper beak i:
iobscured by horn or black. Or
1.-THE average, colored yellow skin
Ined bird, b1eached beak mean.
| that the hen has been laying fol
lat least the past four to si2
Iweeks.
1 The shanks are the s1owest ou-
land hence indicate much longel
Iperiod of production than tho
| beak. The yellow goes out from
| the scales on the front OF the
lshanks first and finally from thu
Iscales on the rear. A bleaehed.
II, l. r. IL