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Show Forcing Pullets Not Encouraged It is net, uncommon at this season of the year to see the combs on some pullets in the flock shrivel up, the birds stop laying and even go through a complete body molt before resuming production. This is an expensive experience, ex-perience, because it is the period of high prices for eggs and the older birds normally molt and are out of production during the late fall and early winter months of the year, Carl Frischknecht, Utah extension poultry-man, poultry-man, points out. Just why some pullets should stop laying and start to molt while others in the flock continue in production is not too well known. Usually it is the pullets that start to lay first or those handicapped in some way by parasites para-sites that go out of production while the rest of the flock continue to lay. Frequently this condition has been observed ob-served in pullets that were forced into heavy production soon after they. commenced com-menced laying, says Mr. Frischknecht. Very little study has been made of j this problem to date, but poultrymen ;are inclined to believe that it is due largely to the condition and body weight of the bird. It is a mistake to ' force young pullets into heavy pro-' pro-' duction when they first start to lay because all the nutrients they consume con-sume are required for egg production I and the bird may actually lose body ; weight. Pullets that have been cared i for properly should weigh about 3',i I (Continued on last page) - Forcing Pullets Not Encouraged (Continued from page 1) pounds when they come into production produc-tion and continue to gain in size and weight until they average about 4 Va pounds at one year of age. Every poultryman should invest a little money in a good pair of scales with which to weigh his chickens, rullets should be weighed when they first start to lay and it is a good plan to make regular weighings of a certain cer-tain number of designated layers in each pen selected at random, six to ten, as a guide to correct feeding practices. It is often difficult to keep January Janu-ary and early February-hatched pullets pul-lets from molting at this time of the year, but with proper feed and care those hatched later, during the months of March and April, should now be increasing not only in size and weight but in their egg production. |