The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1927-10-28

The use of artificial lights TO
Iengthen our chickens working day
has been steadily growing and is
now generally adopted by CONNER
cial poultrymen throughout our
entire state. For many of the small
Ter flocks lights have not been used
because of lack of equipment ana
in many other cases because OF the
additional work it causes.
All these are good legitimate
reasons, but if you are poultry
man and are not using lights be-
cause you feel it is not natural and
it imposes a hardship upon the hen,
you are certainly not looking at the
matter from the right angie, for
artificial lights really do the hen q
favor. When poultrymen say thas
they use lights to increase the hen S
working day they really mean thar
they are using lights to increase
its feeding day, and certainly any
thing that will give our birds more
food and give them more physical
comfort is doing them favor
rather than imposing a hardship
on them.
If we will glance a little behind
the scene we will find that our
commercial hen is really a product
of the tropics and her digestive
system is really designed for a
twelve-hour day, so when we bring
her up to these temperate climates
where the days are of irregular
lengths we are imposing a hard
ship on her and lights tend to re-
move that hardship.
Before lights were used and on
farms where they are not used now
we find that egg production anG
length of day are pretty we'll tied
up together, and as the days grow
shorter production goes down and
as they increase production goes up.
Experiments also show that the
weight of the birds acts in the same
way so that lights not only tend
so increase egg production but to
keep the birds in better physical
condition. The New Jersey Expert
ment Station reports an increase
of about one dozen eggs per birG
during the five months from Noyem-
Der to March of lighted birds over
birds getting no lights, and the
other months they are about the
same. So you can see that lights
are profitable practise, for an
extra dozen eggs at season OF
the year when egg prices are high
is worth two dozen produced at
l,A -bOv, al
Not Essential to Have Electric
Lights
After you have decided in your
own mind that lights are a good
thing the question comes as to
what kind, how much and when.
Electric lights are, of course, the
best and the usual practise is to
nllow one forty-watt light for each
fifty to seventy-five birds, or to
each 200 square feet of floor
space. 1t you have no electricity
experience has shown that 500 hens
are enough birds to warrant the
purchase of home electric light
ing plant. 1t you have a smaller
number than that it will paw you,
just as it has many other poultry
men throughout New Jersey, to
use gas lights, gasoline lanterns
or even oil lanterns.
So much for the equipment. Now
as to the time the lights are used.
There are many systems, but three
of the most popular are: first, the
night or evening lunch system In
which the birds are allowed to 60
10 their perches at the regular time,
and then the lights are turned on
at or and run for one hour, an
opportunity being given to FEED
during that time. This is a popular
system because it is economical of
light. 1t gives the birds thei freed.
ing and gives them plenty of resi-,
but the lights have to be turned
on every night at time when
many poultrymen like to be out TO