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Show GET PULLETS INTO WINTER QUARTERS Time to Prepare for Young Birds' Comfort Now is the time to make final preparations for the winter egg supply, it should be remembered, says a writer in the Missouri Farmer, that the great bulk of winter win-ter eggs come from pullets hatched last spring assuming they were hatched early enough so that they are now practically mature so while the older hens should not be neglected the poultryman should pay special attention to the pullets. Every effort should be exerted to bring them into laying at earliest opportunity. One of the important things to do Is to get them into winter quarters. The chief reason for this Is that if laying while on the range, these laying pullets are very apt to suffer a set-back when transferred to permanent quarters. Frequently this set-back is so serious seri-ous that it precipitates a fall molt and the pullets may experience a winter or early fall molt just at the time when eggs are higher in price. One of the problems of the poultry-man poultry-man is to avoid this fall vacation and early housing will tend to reduce re-duce the danger of this trouble. The usual recommendation is to house the pullets when as many as 5 per cent of the flock are laying, but generally speaking from now on the earlier the pullets are housed the better. By early housing hous-ing the pullets become adjusted to their new quarters before starting in on their year of production and in addition they will probably be less susceptible to fall colds which always cut down production. In the housing of pullets emphasis empha-sis should be placed In the preparation prepara-tion of the winter quarters. First of all plans should be made to house the pullets in separate houses or pens as pullets fail to make satisfacory development if mixed with older hens. The presence pres-ence of older hens not only exposes the pullets to diseases to which the hens may have become immune and yet may be able to transmit to the pullets in which immunity has not been established. Then, too, there is always the danger of the pullets pul-lets becoming infested with externa ex-terna parasites. Again the presence pres-ence of old hens causes the pullets to be reluctant in frequenting the feed hoppers and consequently with . limited feed consumption growth and maturity are retarded. |