THE MOULTING SEASON.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1037, 28 January 1911, Page 10

THE MOULTING SEASON.

The following excellent article is taken from "Poultry" :—'''■

'-. About this time in the year the poultry publications begin to publish articles ivarfiing poultry -keepers"to givo their fowls extra care because they will soon

be subject to.tho "strain" of moulting. This is ono of tho absurd notions which is handed on from one theoretical writer to another, and strange as it may seem souio of our experiment' stations have the same notion. AVliy anyone should imagine that a perfectly natural aud necessary condition, should produce an extraordinary strain wo cannot conceive. • It would bo just as sensible to warn cattle and horso owners to bo careful of their animals at the timo they are shedding their .coats, of hair. Nature never makes a mistako of this kind. Its operations are performed without undue'strain on tho vitality of any living animal; every natural function is' prepared for beforehand and it is no more of a "strain" on a hen to change.., her coat of plumage than it is to produce ' eggs. In fact, it is altogether probable • that it is a greater strain on a hen to produce four or iivo times as.many eggs in a year as she would under a perfectly . natural condition than it is to go ■- through the process of changing, her plumage. One of tho preparations that nature makes before tho moulting season begins is ,to stop reproduction by putting tho ovaries in such shape that they do not produce eggs. It is plain that the hon that does not lay has less strain on her vitality—if egg production is strain—than is felt by a hen that is laying regularly. If she stops laying she is no doubt as well prepared, for moil's-. ing as she could bo by any possible caro on the part of her owner.

It is necessary that tho birds should change their plumage at intervals in order to keep their bodily covering in good order. Feathers become broken and torn and if-they were not renewed regularly; fowls, and other birds .would soon.present..a ragged and untidy appearance.' Nature has decreed that once a year is enough for this purpose,, and tho moult-', ing season occurs in the fall when a, perfect coat of feather will be of most use in protecting the bird from the stress of- severe weather.

The only thing which need worry the poultry keeper when preparing-for the moulting season is on supplying proper feeds to furnish .materials for the new .coat of feathers. In her natural state \ 'the. hen no- doubt instinctively sought tho kind ,of feed she needed most for, her condition. Being frco to choose'_ among a large variety she probably found \ a supply of nitrogenous feeds ready to .. hand in the autumn of tho year, tliese, consisting of seeds, green vegetation, and tho larva of insects, which abounded • in her natural habitat.

'■ With this guide the poultryman should , ■ supply his fowls during the moulting uea-' son with liberal quantities of rich-food,.'■ among which meat feed of some kind :• should have a rather important places This is the kind of feed we feed laying hens, you may say.- . Certainly, ■' the av- . erago reador might be very much sur- . prised.if he were .to see the analysis, of feathers and of an egg displayed side' by side. Both are r:!ch in mineral ele- ■ ments, and both are rich in nitrogenous elements. The best feed for a laying hen' '■-' will be tho best feed for one that is moulting. ,

Do not try to. forco tho moult by starv-, ing yourhens until they become thin and then feeding the:n a.fattening ratiou. The .experiments at Cornell, conducted by Professor 1 R'co and Miss Clara' Nixon; pointed directly to tho nselessnessof trying-to'improve-on nature's method in this matter. Forcing the moult does not increase the egg produc-tion-uor does it in any apparent wayhelp tho hen. On the other hand the conclusions-published' contained -a-.'note-of warning that it might be possiblo-that the forced moult - might result -in loss rather than gain, this was not asserted in set terms.'

' The moulting season should be a season of full feeding with such feeds as help without unduly 'stimulating- every vital-function. -Further than this, -the poultryni'an hc'ed'rna'ko no' particular eft fori to help this hens. . '