EGG-LAYING EXTRAORDINARY.

Northland Age, Volume IV, Issue 42, 22 June 1908, Page 7

EGG-LAYING EXTRAORDINARY.

■ —— 4~ * American scientists of the poultry yard are variable people. Some time ago we were able to report the wonders they were effecting in causing hens to lay by means of artificial light. Now we are told they employ "artificial night to make two days out of one and thus increase the daily output of eggs 100 per cent.” Some months ago a storm that hung over Arlington and the Gasconade (U.S.A.) country generally caused it to become nearly as dark as night for about three hours. The chickens went to roost, and about three hours later the sun shone again and they came from their perches. Several of the hens cackled and laid a second egg. It gave Mr. Ward the idea of fooling his chickens. He constructed a hen house with' heavy dark curtains outside the windows and ventilated by pipes so that when apparently closed tight, the air is fresh, and it is as dark as night. In the long day season he has been letting his hens out at daybreak, keeping them out until 11 or 12 o’clock, noon, and then turning them into the house half-darkened and then darkening it completely. After four hours he turns them out again into the sunlight. They scratch around and there is the usual awakening of the barnyard as though day had just broken. Refreshed by their sleep, the hens, Mr. Ward says, in many instances lay again. His average is about 30 eggs a day from twenty hens.