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IN A previous paper by Baker et al. (1957) the effects of feeding Nicarbazin to laying hens on the yolk quality of their eggs was described. Neither the nature of the damage to the yolk nor the mechanisms involved in causing the damage were known. Experiments were designed to study the possible mechanisms involved. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eggs were obtained from hens fed Nicarbazin. The scoring system used to estimate yolk damage was the same as described previously (Baker et al., 1957). Water uptake of the yolk was determined according to the method of Orru (1939). The intact yolk was dried on filter paper, placed in a tared beaker and covered with the experimental solution. The system was incubated at 37°C. for 3 hours, the fluid drained off and the last traces of solution removed with filter paper by rolling the yolk over the paper. It proved to be practically . . .

One hundred White Leghorn hens in each of two experiments were divided into two groups based on lysozyme content (negative moving fraction at pH 8.5) of the thick egg white. Paper electrophoresis was used to index 260 pullets for experiment 1 and 100 pullets in experiment 2. Fifty birds producing eggs of the highest and 50 with the lowest lysozyme content were used for egg quality studies in each experiment. Data were obtained on an individual hen basis for interior quality of fresh eggs, in Haugh units (H.U.), quality loss during storage, egg weight, shell quality and percent solids of albumen and yolk. Haugh unit values of fresh eggs were similar for high and low lysozyme eggs in both experiments. Differences in shell quality, egg weight and solids content of albumen were not significantly different in either experiment. Quality losses during storage were significantly different in both experiments. Quality losses during storage were significantly (P Differences in solids content of egg yolks were statistically significant (P

AS THE industry moves toward a program of non-storage eggs the year around, methods of preserving the quality of shell eggs during marketing becomes paramount. The use of oil treatment, carbon dioxide atmosphere, thermostabilization or plastic treatment has been suggested by various investigators (Evans and Carver, 1942; Sharp and Stewart, 1931; Funk, 1943; and Yushok and Romanoff, 1949, respectively). However, a direct comparison of the relative efficiency of these methods under varying seasonal and storage conditions has not been made. Flavor is one of the most important factors in consumer acceptability of shell eggs. Few preservation studies, however, have included flavor as a method of evaluation. Mallman and Davidson (1944) and Shenstone and Vickery (1957) reported that oil coatings did not retard the onset of stale flavors during storage. Sauter, Harns, Stadelman and McLaren (1954) found no significant differences in the flavor of fresh eggs produced in the different seasons.…

INTRODUCTION CHLORINATION of an entire poultry processing plant water system at 10, 20 and 45 parts per million chlorine was studied by Drewniak et al. (1954). Twenty parts per million chlorine significantly reduced the bacterial load on chicken carcasses prior to chilling. These results were confirmed by Patterson (1958), who sampled frozen birds produced in a plant using different levels of chlorination in the entire water supply. Without special precaution, however, long-term chlorination at this level can corrode steel, stainless steel, and brass currently used in poultry plant plumbing systems (Mercer and Somers, 1957). This factor makes whole-plant chlorination at 20 parts per million impractical in many areas without installing either deionizing systems to remove minerals and/or pH adjustment using sodium hydroxide. Ranken et al. (1965) and Barnes (1965) indicated that chlorination at 200 parts per million in the slush ice chilling of birds extends shelf-life slightly and reduces the…

IN STUDIES concerning nitrogen metabolism in chickens, the interrelated metabolism of the energy nutrients (carbohydrates and fats) and protein present a problem in the formulation of rations. The effects of dietary energy levels on nitrogen components of the urine has not been extensively investigated. The findings of urinary nitrogen components were reviewed by O’Dell et al. (1960). These workers also presented data on urinary nitrogen components as influenced by various protein sources. It was of interest in this laboratory to determine whether dietary energy levels would affect the nitrogen components of avian urine while being maintained on an iso-protein ration. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twelve hens (S.C. White Leghorn) were selected and placed in an air-conditioned room (75° ± 1°F.). Surgical techniques used for the separate collection of feces and urine were similar to those described by Dixon and Wilkinson (1957) and Dixon (1958) and modified by Richardson et al., (1960).

This paper is the second of a series reported from the Utah Station on the transfer of dietary DDT to eggs and poultry tissues. The first paper was reported by Bryson et al. (1950) on the accumulation of DDT in poultry products. The published literature on this topic has been reviewed and reported by Bryson et al. (1950). EXPERIMENTAL THE alfalfa hay fed in this experiment was from the same field described by Harris et al. (1949). This alfalfa was dusted with 0, 1, 2, and 4 pounds of technical DDT per acre. The harvested hay was ground into meal and 15 percent of this meal was included in the laying mash. DDT was also added to a similar mash made from untreated alfalfa meal at levels of 0, 50, 100, and 200 p.p.m. These diets are reported in Table 1. The design of this experiment is as follows: A . . .

I. Introduction The purpose of this paper, which is one of a series on the various problems of the biology and economics of egg production in the domestic fowl, is a presentation of constants showing the relationship between monthly egg production aud annual egg record in the pullet year in the White Wyandotte breed. From the purely biological side the present paper is a contribution of detail to the quantitative measurement of the interrelationship of the variables which must be considered in any comprehensive study of the broad problem of the physiology of egg production. The specific purposes of the determination of the various coefficients have been fully enough stated in preceding papers,* and will not be reiterated here. A comparative discussion of these correlations for the economically more important breeds of fowl is in preparation; the constants here presented will then be discussed in greater detail. In the meantime, . . .

A SURVEY of the literature on the vitamin A requirements of the growing chick revealed that at least eight papers on this subject have appeared since 1926. (Almquist and Meechi, 1939; Bearse and Miller, 1937; Biely and Chalmers, 1936; Record, et al. 1937; Ringrose and Norris, 1936; Sherwood and Fraps, 1936; Tepper and Durgin, 1938; Wilson, et al. 1936). These papers were examined with the following criteria in mind: (1) Practicality of the ration used, (2) Nutritional adequacy of the ration, except for vitamin A, (3) The number of birds per test group, (4) The attainment of what might be considered normal weight at 8 weeks of age, (5) The presence of a group whose growth response is less than normal, (6) The use of a practical source of vitamin A or carotene, and (7) relatively small differences between levels of vitamin A. None of the experiments noted met all . . .

IN THE first paper of this series (Lorenz and Starr, 1952; referred to hereafter as 1) the results of a study of washing eggs by different methods in the laboratory were discussed and pertinent literature was reviewed. The experiment reported here was intended to obtain more extensive information on some of the variables discussed in that paper and to compare washing in the laboratory with washing on the ranch. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eggs from a single nearby poultry ranch only were used in this trial. Three days each week during 4 consecutive weeks the entire day’s production of this ranch was brought to the laboratory immediately after the final collection for that day. These eggs were then segregated at once according to cleanliness, and eggs that had checked or grossly imperfect shells were removed. The sound shelled eggs were then cleaned at once, except for two instances in which washing . . .

This paper supplements a previous article on the same subject which appeared in P oultry S cience , Vol. 6, No. 3. In the former article the data was secured from fourteen White Leghorn hens. The material in this paper was obtained from thirteen Rhode Island Red hens. The experiment was conducted in the same manner as the one previously reported, except that the period over which the hens were trapnested and eggs were examined was of two month’s duration instead of three. The White Leghorn hens used in the other experiment were obtained from a flock in-which practically no, or at least very slight, losses from bacillary white diarrhea were said to have occurred during the past two or three years. On the other hand, the Rhode Island Red hens employed in this experiment came from a flock in which rather heavy losses occurred during the previous spring. The owner of . . .

THE work described in this paper was undertaken in an attempt to obtain further information on comparative physical, chemical and cooking qualities of eggs stored by five different methods of preservation that could be easily duplicated in the home. Methods chosen for study were waterglass, freezing, application of a commercial creamy emulsion, oiling, and coating with a plastic. The eggs were tested at the end of three and six months’ storage. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS Clean, grade AA eggs from New Hampshire hens were delivered daily from the college poultry farm to the laboratory during a three-week period. All eggs except those to be frozen were dated, numbered, weighed and marked with their individual fresh weights. The eggs treated by means of commercial creamy emulsion, oiling and plastic coating were packed, small end down, in paper egg cartons. All eggs were stored in the dark at 50 to 60°F. and at a . . .

THE preceding papers in this series by Cuckler et al. (1956) and Cuckler and Malanga (1956) showed that nithiazide [1-ethyl-3-(5-nitro-2-thiazolyl) urea] was the most effective antihistomonad (blackhead) agent in a series of closely related compounds. Furthermore, nithiazide was found more potent and less toxic than 2-amino-5-nitrothiazole in experimental enterohepatitis. This paper presents the results of studies on the absorption and excretion of nithiazide by turkeys and chickens and the effect of this compound on their growth, maturation and reproduction. These studies have shown that chickens and turkeys tolerated nithiazide better than 2-amino-5-nitrothiazole or 2-acetylamino-5-nitrothiazole, chemically related compounds. MATERIALS AND METHODS The turkeys and chickens used in these studies were obtained from commercial sources when 1 day of age. Straight run Beltsville White turkeys and White Rock cross chicks were used in the laboratory experiments, and the birds were kept in electrically heated battery brooders. The floor-pen growth trials involved White . . .

INTRODUCTION SELECTION is considered to be the best tool for genetic improvement in a given population. Heritability of a character is an important factor affecting genetic improvement. In a previous paper, Issawi et al. (1963) studied heritability of fertility and hatchability in Fayoumi. The present paper deals with the study of heritability of body weight in Fayoumi. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Many investigators estimated heritability of body weight in chickens. Spector (1956) summarized the different estimates of this character and concluded that it was highly heritable. In Single Comb White Leghorn, Lerner et al. (1949) stated that heritability of body weight at twelve weeks of age was 0.475, and 0.597 and 0.506 on the basis of the contribution of sire, dam, and both, respectively. Fagan (1949), reported similar figures for heritability of body weight at twelve weeks of age, being in the range from 0.35–0.50. El-Ibiary and Shaffner (1951), reported…

This paper is a preliminary report on some results obtained in attempting to estimate the gross maintenance requirement of White Leghorn chickens from data obtained from feeding experiments specially planned for that purpose. The expression, “gross maintenance requirement,” as employed here, is used to designate that weight of feed (in grams) which a chicken requires each day for all purposes, except for increasing its live weight and for producing eggs. The feeding experiments were so planned that a number of pens of chickens were fed at levels of feed intake which differed from one another by a fixed amount, all the levels of feed intake being less than that required for maintaining live weight. The daily allowance of feed for each pen was weighed and placed in small paper bags before the experiment was started, and each morning during the experiment proper one of these bags was emptied into the . . .

IN A previous paper (Shao and Hill, 1968) it was reported that thiouracil as a dietary supplement reduced the concentration of free lysine, threonine, tryptophan, methionine and leucine in the blood plasma of chicks. The present paper gives the results of experiments in which thiouracil and/or iodinated casein were added to a basal diet and extends the observations to several additional amino acids. EXPERIMENTAL The basal diet, essentially a wheat, corn soybean meal mixture, was described in detail by Shao and Hill (1968). White Plymouth Rock pullets were fed this diet from day old to 7 days of age and then divided on the basis of weight into lots of 12 chicks each. The experimental diets were assigned to these lots at random, each diet to 4 lots and the experiments continued for another 14 to 15 days. Blood samples were removed from each chick in two lots per treatment…

THIS paper presents an analysis of a set of feather measurements obtained at the Beltsville Research Center during the course of an experiment designed to determine the effects of certain mineral supplements, particularly inorganic sulphur compounds, on the molt of White Leghorn hens. Since the molt is usually accompanied by a cessation of egg production, the importance of favorably influencing the growth of feathers, if it is possible to do so, is obvious. In view of the fact that feathers contain considerable amounts of sulphur, it was thought that the feeding of sulphur compounds might have some effect on the rate of growth and mature length of the new tail and wing feathers which were grown after the old feathers were dropped during the molt. The general plan of this experiment, including a description of the sulphur compounds fed, has been given in an earlier paper (Hendricks, 1933). Three groups . . .

SEASONAL variation in the rate of egg production is associated with seasonal variation in length of day. The excellent paper of Whetham (1933) summarized a very large amount of data from a wide range of latitudes, all showing correlated changes in day length and rate of egg production. Kennard and Chamberlin (1931) showed that seasonal variation can be modified by use of supplementary artificial light, confirming the work of several earlier laboratory workers and of many poultrymen. Kennard and Chamberlin also showed the close relationship of body weight and rate of egg production. A good review of the earlier literature is contained in the paper of Callenbach, Nicholas and Murphy (1944). Several analyses of egg production data for the purpose of describing the relation of time in production and rate of production have been made. Harris et al. (1921) reported that annual production within a genetically similar flock maintained under . . .

WORK leading to the development of a ration for the uniform production of perosis (slipped tendon) in chicks was presented in the previous paper. In this paper we wish to give the results obtained from studies on factors which prevent the development of this syndrome. Jukes (1937) has recently reviewed the meager work available on the perosis-preventing properties of certain feeds. EXPERIMENTAL Day-old White Leghorn chicks were divided into groups of five chicks each and placed in suitable cages. In the majority of the work ration 604 was used as the basal ration, but results obtained with other closely related rations are also included. The supplements tested were added at the expense of the whole ration. The results are tabulated in Table 1. It is readily evident that the addition of 15 percent of rice bran gave complete protection in all trials. The result checks quite well with the conclusion . . .

THE first of the experiments discussed in this paper was started soon after the discovery that one of the commercial vitamin B12 supplements contained an unknown factor that stimulated the growth of young chickens (Stokstad et al., 1949). After it was found that the factor was an antibiotic (Stokstad and Jukes, 1950), the second experiment was conducted to determine whether the inclusion of an antibiotic in their diet during hot weather would stimulate the growth of young White Leghorn pullets fed a diet containing cottonseed meal as the chief source of protein. Because the stimulation of growth in the second experiment was relatively small in comparison with some of the results that were attributed to the antibiotics, it was considered advisable to conduct other experiments during cool weather. The data from the four experiments at the Southwest Poultry Experiment Station, Glendale, Arizona, are given and discussed in this paper. PROCEDURE . . .

IT IS common experience that chickens and other domesticated birds grow better if hatched at certain seasons than they do if hatched at other seasons of the year. Thus Goodale (1926) found that chicks hatched in the early part of the season grew more rapidly, to 30 days of age, than did those hatched later. Upp and Thompson (1927) likewise observed that there were differences in the rate of growth of chicks hatched at different seasons of the year. They conclude that weather has an influence on the growth of chickens. Somewhat similar results are reported in this paper for turkeys hatched only a few weeks apart. There is also a distinct indication of compensatory growth of the later hatched, initially slower growing birds. The same phenomenon has been demonstrated in the growth of razor clams by McMillin and Weymouth (1935). MATERIALS AND METHODS The data presented in this paper . . .

A LITERATURE review summarizing available research data on restricted feeding programs for replacement pullets has been made by Wolf (1965). The data which have been obtained are often inconsistent and contradictory. A more basic approach needs to be made in studying the nutrient intake requirements of replacement pullets in which consideration is given to food intake and the factors which control food intake. The individual physiological mechanisms through which food intake is regulated and controlled have been summarized in a review paper by Anand (1961). The basic findings from this area of research (insofar as they involve dietary protein, dietary energy, dietary volume, and dietary weight) have been applied in the feeding trial with replacement pullets which is reported in this paper. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE General Design. The experimental design and the treatments imposed in this experiment are outlined in Table 1. The entire experiment covered a span of 64 weeks…

Rubin, Bird, and Rothchild (1946) reported that hen feces contained a factor essential for maximum growth of chicks fed a cereal grain-soybean oil meal diet containing adequate amounts of the known growth factors. The discussion in the paper by Rubin et al. (1946) indicates that these workers believed the chick growth factor was synthesized in the intestinal tract of the hen. However, it was pointed out that the possibility of synthesis after voiding of the feces could not be ruled out. Since no description of the manner of collecting the feces or the time and temperature of holding before drying was given in the paper by Rubin et al. (1946) it was considered desirable for us to determine whether fecal material reduced to temperatures too low for bacterial growth immediately after voiding would contain chick growth promoting properties. Feces were collected from White Leghorn hens kept in an unheated house . . .

TRENDS in egg production and egg weight during the first year of production have been studied by many investigators, but data relating to the trend in hatchability appear to be somewhat scanty. This paper presents data on the average hatchability of eggs, during each month of the first year of production, from pullets receiving low-protein and normal diets, together with data on average egg production and egg weight for the same birds which have been included for purposes of comparison with the hatchability data. The data herein reported were obtained as part of a study of the effects of some nutritional factors on hatchability, conducted by the staffs of the nutrition and physiology laboratories at the U. S. Animal Husbandry Experiment Farm, Beltsville, Maryland. The observations were made over a period of three years, a different group of pullets being used each year. The experimental work was usually begun during . . .

IN A previous paper on wood sugar molasses as a feedstuff for laying hens (Cooney and Parker, 1952) it was pointed out that cane and beet molasses have been accepted and used as an ingredient in livestock and poultry rations for a good many years. The review of literature indicated that these products could be fed up to ten percent of the chicken’s total ration. However, levels of five to seven percent of the total ration seemed to be more generally accepted. McGinnis, MacGregor and Carver (1948) were the first to report on the use of molasses prepared from wood waste in poultry rations. They fed levels of 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 percent of this product to duplicate lots of one week old New Hampshire chicks over a three-week test period. From this work they concluded that wood sugar molasses could be used in chick rations at any …

Recent studies (Motzok et al., 1967) showed that for maximum growth and bone calcification of chicks fed soft phosphate, it was necessary to supplement the diet with additional calcium (0.15–0.2% as calcium carbonate), even when sufficient soft phosphate was used to raise the level of calcium in the diet to 1.12%. These data suggested that for maximum utilization of the inorganic (available) phosphorus of the basal ingredients, about 0.2% additional calcium, in a readily available form, was required in diets supplemented with soft phosphate. This suggestion was tested in an assay procedure for estimating the relative availability of phosphorus from supplements, and the results are presented in this paper. Sufficient calcium carbonate to provide 0.2% calcium was added to the basal diet (Motzok et al., 1967) to raise the calcium level to 0.46%. Tricalcium phosphate (chemical grade) and soft phosphate were added to the basal diet containing 0.46% calcium . . .

GARDINER (1957) reported that young chickens kept in wire cages and inoculated experimentally with large numbers of sporulated oocysts of Eimeria tenella (1) did not die from cecal coccidiosis when fed growing mash medicated with sulfamethazine at a level of 0.125 percent, and (2) made weight gains equal to or somewhat better than uninfected control birds when aureomycin was added to the sulfamethazine-medicated mash at the rates of 100 and 200 grams per ton. In the above-mentioned investigation, the amount of sulfamethazine included in the feed was kept constant, whereas the amount of aureomycin was varied. The present paper summarizes results of experiments in which birds were fed growing mash fortified with a constant amount of aureomycin, namely, 200 grams perton, and medicated with sulfamethazine at levels of 0.125, 0.075, and 0.050 percent. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The chicks used in these experiments were New Hampshire-Barred Rock crosses. They were obtained from . . .

Previous papers by the author have shown that both ovarian and bodily injury caused certain fowls to lay more eggs. It was true also that other hens in the same experiment had their egg production retarded, hence a greater variability among the operated animals (Steggerda ’28 and ’30). In the present experiment the ovary of six-weeks old pullets was injured to note the effect upon the length of time until the first egg was laid. The results indicate a similar stimulation due to the operation since the operated pullets layed on the average sooner than did the control birds. The experiment was carried on at the Poultry Department of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, with birds owned by the College. The author wishes to express his thanks to Prof. J. C. Graham and Supt. John Vondell for the use of the birds and the keeping of the records, also to his . . .

POULTRY breeders interested in the improvement of egg quality would like to know how many eggs are needed to adequately evaluate the real but unknown inherent breeding worth of a hen. Some breeders feel that observations on two or three eggs per hen are sufficient, while others think that a larger number of eggs should be examined. The key to a problem of this type is based on a knowledge of the repeatability of the quality trait under consideration. Repeatability may be defined for our purposes as the correlation between observations on successive eggs laid by the same hen. The limits of repeatability (R) are between zero and one. If R is large only a few eggs per hen would be required, whereas if R is small several eggs may be required to accurately evaluate the egg quality characteristics of a hen. In a previous paper (Scheinberg et al., 1953) …

BALANCE studies of various dietary factors have been conducted with the chicken as the experimental subject, but scarcely any consideration has been given to the intake and output of fat by this species. Guntherberg (1930) has reported on the digestion of the fat of cereals by hens. The object of the present investigation was the determination of the intake and output of fat by the laying and non-laying hen on normal and low fat rations, to determine the effect of the deprivation of fat on egg production, and the extent to which the chicken can synthesize fat for egg production. EXPERIMENT 1 This experiment was planned to determine the relation between egg production and the fat consumption and output when a normal ration is fed. Throughout the paper the word “fat” is used for convenience instead of the term crude fat or ether extract, which was actually determined. Also the . . .

THE period of non-production following the first laying year is frequently referred to as the annual molt. Although the close association of cessation of egg production with the process of shedding and replacement of feathers has been adequately demonstrated (Marble, 1930), certain differences in this respect exist between birds with different production characteristics. Marble has found that in cases of higher producing individuals molting begins before production has actually stopped, while in lower producing individuals little if any molt occurs before complete cessation of laying. Thus there is no complete coincidence of molting with the period of non-production between the first and second laying years. Since no molt observations were made on the birds considered in this paper, the period of nonproduction studied is termed here the annual rest. The methods followed in the determination of the duration of this period will be described later. The factors affecting the duration . . .

THERE is evidence in the literature that calcification in the chick involves more factors than calcium, phosphorus, manganese, and vitamin D. In a recent paper Wilcke and Hammond (1940) summarized earlier investigations. Jukes (1940) found that choline was necessary for the prevention of perosis and commented that its action was more complete in the presence of pantothenic acid. Working with rats, Krieger, Bunkfeldt, and Steenbock (1940) found that the phosphorus of phytin was not readily available and that vitamin D increased its availability. In an experiment involving the use of a diet heated to destroy its pantothenic acid it was noted that if riboflavin was added, growth was improved but symptoms of severe rickets soon developed. It was soon found that if the vitamin D content of the found that if the vitamin D content of the diet was increased from 40 to 200 A.O.A.C. chick units per 100 grams . . .

THE large scale production of the many types of turkey products from whole carcasses has focused attention on the number of servings obtained per pound of turkey purchased. Since the amount of turkey used for this purpose is measured in tons, sizable economic differences may result from factors which have gone unrecognized. McCartney (1952) reported that the meat yield from Broad Breasted Bronze (BBB) was greater than that of the Beltsville Small White (SW). Orr et al. (1956) found that dressed weight yields were significantly higher for BBB than for a Medium White (MW) and the BSW, and the MW gave a significantly higher yield than the BSW. Mortenson (1960) indicated the yield for a BBB exceeded a Broad Breasted White (BBW) by less than one percent. Additional data indicating differences between turkey strains were reported by Carlson et al. (1962). The purpose of this paper is to report that . . .

WHILE many papers have been published on the use of artificial light to stimulate gonad activity among turkeys out of season, the authors have found only one experiment reported where the fluorescent tube was used as one of the sources of light. Since fluorescent tubes are used as the only source of light in many of the cage laying houses for chickens in this area, the following experiment was conducted to compare a 60-watt incandescent lamp and a 15-watt white fluorescent tube for stimulating egg production in mid-winter. Turkeys were used as the experimental birds since the sexual periodicity is fixed from year to year more in turkeys than in chickens. In this latitude (39°N.) turkeys normally do not begin laying until the first week in March unless provided with artificial light. (Scott and Payne, 1937.) These authors using information previously established by Bissonnette (1932), who worked with starlings, demonstrated . . .

APPARENTLY there are no published data on the effect of the fat content of the diet of laying chickens on the hatchability of their eggs. In order to obtain information on this subject the writer conducted two experiments, in each of which diets of different fat content were fed to laying pullets and data were obtained on the time of occurrence of embryo mortality and on hatchability. The results of these experiments and the conclusions drawn from them are presented in this paper. EXPERIMENTAL MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES The first experiment was started on October 18, 1939, and the second on November 6, 1940, For each experiment 200 White Leghorn pullets, hatched during the preceding spring, were carefully selected and distributed into eight groups. The distribution was so made that any effect the live weights of the individual pullets might have on feed consumption and egg production would be equalized among . . .

INTRODUCTION ENVIRONMENTAL factors greatly influence production characteristics of chickens. The effect of varying temperatures on egg production traits of Leghorns in cages has not been investigated thoroughly. It is the purpose of this paper to report the results of such a study. The work was done at Agricultural Research Center of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. The study was cooperative with Animal and Poultry Husbandry and Agricultural Engineering Research Branches of the Agricultural Research Service. The senior author was on leave from the University of California. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES AND EQUIPMENT S. C. White Leghorn pullets, hatched on March 8, 1954, were raised on the range until August 5, then brought indoors and placed in three-tiered 48-hen capacity commercial individual laying cages. Later on August 19, thirty pullets selected on the basis of maturity and egg production were used in the three groups. The ambient room temperature during the week . . .

THE results of experiments reported by Gallup and Norris (1939) constitute additional evidence that perosis in chicks is due to a deficiency of manganese. The results support the contention that the deficiency is of dietary origin intimately related to the manganese requirements of the breed under investigation. Perosis consistently occurred in about 4 percent of the chicks in several experimental groups which were allowed adequate amounts of manganese. Since these cases developed soon after hatching the possibility of impaired manganese utilization induced by factors, dietary or otherwise, which operated during embryonic development and early growth was indicated. Accordingly, a study has been made of the assimilation and storage of manganese in the developing embryo, and in chicks receiving diets of medium and low-manganese content. The present paper reports the results of this investigation. EXPERIMENTAL Eggs from a selected group of New Hampshire hens were incubated weekly. The hens received an . . .

INVESTIGATIONS on the ability of growing and laying chickens to tolerate cane final molasses have been reviewed by Ewing (1951) and Scott (1953). In general, as with young chicks, earlier reports have shown that the growing chicken can make effective use of levels ranging around 5 percent of total ration, whereas concentrations in excess of 10 percent tended to induce diarrhea and were uneconomical. Similarly, it was concluded that mature chickens cannot efficiently utilize comparatively high levels of molasses. In contrast, two papers have recently presented studies which tend to refute these earlier reports. It was found that optimum results to 6 weeks of age, as determined by growth rate and cost of feed per unit of gain, may be obtained on concentrations of cane final molasses ranging from 7.5 to 23.0 percent, while other lots of chicks safely tolerated levels as high as 34.5 percent of total ration (Rosenberg, 1955)… .

The experiments which are the subject of this paper were started in 1925. It was their original purpose to test whether embryonic malformations or disturbances of development of one or the other kind might be induced by exposing the embryos to electrolyte solutions during the first stages of development. Lippincott and de Puy had reported about experiments in which they incubated eggs lying in shallow distilled water up to the 18th day of incubation. Since the hatchability in these experiments was surprisingly high (28.57 to 47.22%), it appeared probable that a similar method but with Ringer’s physiological salt solution for a medium would yield still better results. Eggs, therefore, were placed in zinc pans coated with paraffin, and enough fluid was poured in to cover the lower half of the eggs. Once a day distilled water was added to compensate for loss by evaporation. The eggs were kept in these . . .

In a previous paper (Steggerda, ’28) it was shown that by the injury or partial removal of the ovary of fowls certain birds were stimulated to lay more eggs. This result appears to be related to the work of Zeleny (’03) on regeneration in Brittlestars, from which he concludes, “the greater the number of removed arms, (excepting the case where all are removed) the greater is the rate of regeneration of each arm,” and also to the work of Hartman (’25) on semispaying of the opossum in which he states, “ a compensatory hypertrophy was noted.” The work of Pearl (’21) on the partial removal of the ovary of fowls is also related; he concludes, “The total number of oocytes developing to visible size in the lifetime of a bird is caused to increase from 33 to 68 percent over the number which develope in the normal unoperated bird.”

INTRODUCTION UNDER floor housing a bird’s position in the peck order, and her aggressiveness are correlated with her egg production (Sanctuary, 1932; Guhl, 1953; McBride, 1958, 1964). This effect is most probably related to her ability to freely obtain food and water. McBride (1958) suggested that selection for egg production under floor housing would lead to an increase in relative aggressiveness. The experiments described in this paper were designed to determine whether the relative aggressiveness of two lines of White Leghorn poultry selected for increased part-record egg production under floor housing had changed relative to that in their unselected base population. MATERIALS AND METHODS The lines of White Leghorns used were S275, S% and O.C.S. (the Ottawa Control strain of Gowe et al., 1959). S275 originated in 1955 from a sample of O.C.S. and has been selected for number of eggs from housing (147 to 156 days of age) till…

SINCE the initial reports of Carlson et al. (1949), Menge et al. (1949) and Wiese et al. (1949) showing the need by the chick for an unidentified growth factor or factors, considerable effort has been directed toward the development and use of suitable chick assays. Much of this work has been reviewed by Menge et al. (1952), Branion and Hill (1953), Combs et al. (1954a), Lillie et al. (1953) and Pappenhagen et al. (1953). The observations reported in this paper were made in unidentified factor experiments conducted during a two-year period at this station. An effort has been made to determine some of the causes of variability encountered in our experimental assay. EXPERIMENTAL Day-old New Hampshire chicks of both sexes were employed in all experiments except experiment 6 in which New Hamp-shire × Silver Cornish crossbred males were used. 3 All New Hampshire chicks were the progeny of dams housed on …

INTRODUCTION POULTRY breeders are finding that laying cages are a useful aid in poultry breeding. Most breeders using cages are resorting to artificial insemination in order to reproduce their breeding stocks. Further information is needed concerning semen yields of males to facilitate the increased use of artificial insemination. The purpose of this paper is to report the results from a study on the yields of semen among inbred lines and crosses of S. C. White Leghorns. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Burrows and Titus (1939) observed that crossbred (B. P. Rocks×R. I. Reds) cockerels averaged over 1.0 cc. semen per bird per collection. They obtained a significant correlation between testes size and semen production. They concluded that 61 percent of the variation in semen production was due to differences in testes size. Wheeler and Andrews (1943) obtained results which indicate a seasonal variation in production of semen in Barred Plymouth Rock males… .

EGGS have long been used as a medium ingredient for promoting the growth of bacteria and protozoa, and have been used for tissue cultures. They have been highly recommended as the first solid food for infants and as a staple in the adult diet. It was rather disconcerting, therefore, to see a paper suggesting that eggs contained a carcinogen. Szepsenwol (1955 Szepsenwol (1958a) reported that female chicks fed a diet of whole hatchery waste eggs, autoclaved for 40 minutes at 20 lbs. pressure, mixed with wheat bran, iodized salt and cod liver oil (the latter for the first month only) came into production relatively early and males had large combs, wattles and spurs. Controls on Purina broiler mash were smaller and became productive 2 months later than those on the egg diet. Four New Hampshire females, but no controls, were kept on the egg diet for 28 months, while three White …

THIS paper presents a brief report on the effect of age on the egg production and hatching results of Bronze turkey females during the period 1927 and 1933 inclusive. Some data are also presented on the comparative mortality and rate of growth of the progeny. In compiling the data the age of the males to which the females were mated was disregarded. Egg Production All reports so far published, regarding the effect of age on egg production deal with the domestic fowl. Brody, Henderson, and Kempster (1923) reported that the egg production of the flock studied declined 12 percent each successive year. Jull (1928) and Hall and Marble (1931) have shown that the decline in egg production with age is greater in the case of the Barred Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, and Wyandotte breeds than in the case of the White Leghorn. They as well as Atwood (1928) and . . .

IN A PREVIOUS paper (Byerly and Quinn, 1936) it was shown that 47.5 percent of 1,102 Rhode Island Red chicks hatched at the National Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, Maryland, carried black spotting on the head or black striping on either head or body, also that 42.1 percent of 663 chicks from an excellent standard bred flock carried spotting or striping, indicating that these characteristics may be rather widely distributed among Rhode Island Red flocks. It was further shown that 84.9 percent of the striped or spotted Beltsville chicks were females, whereas 77.8 percent of the non-spotted, non-striped chicks were males. Several breeders and hatcherymen have questioned the extent of the distribution of the characteristics mentioned above. They have also pointed out that little melanic pigment (black spotting and striping) appears in the Rhode Island Red Chicks shown in commercial and standard bred exhibition classes. It was the opinion of the . . .

VITAMIN G is one of the important nutrients of properly prepared alfalfa leaf meal. The term vitamin G used in this paper pertains to the growth promoting factor and not to the B2 factor as described by Koehn and Elvehjem (1936). Bethke et al (1931) demonstrated the value of alfalfa leaf meal in preventing nutritional paralysis and promoting increased growth in chicks. Norris and co-workers (1934) reported that when alfalfa meal was fed to breeders as a supplement to a diet deficient in vitamin G, hatchability was improved. Hunt, Record, and Bethke (1935) showed with rats that alfalfa hay contained much more vitamin G than vitamin B and that the content of these vitamins decreased in amount as the plant matured. In general, the quantity of these vitamins present was correlated with leafness, greenness, and protein content of the plant. Wilgus, Norris, and Heuser (1936) showed that the average vitamin . . .

A FRESHLY laid egg has a white which is firm and stands up well. After the shell egg has been kept for a few days at room temperature or for a longer period in cold storage, the broken out egg white contains less firm white (Almquist and Lorenz, 1932; Lorenz and Almquist, 1936) and becomes less viscous and spreads out much more (Evans and Carver, 1942b; Evans, 1943). The whites of these older eggs do not stand up well and are considered to be of poorer quality (Wilhelm and Heiman, 1938; Evans and Carver, 1942a). Evidently some changes in the protein structure of the white must occur during storage of shell eggs, because egg white is composed primarily of water and protein. Evans and Bandemer (1956) developed a method for the separation of egg white proteins and their quantitative estimation by filter paper electrophoresis in order to make possible a . . .

EGG production of turkeys is not important commercially but good egg production during the breeding season is desirable in order to obtain a satisfactory number of poults per breeding female. To present information regarding the egg-laying ability and habits of turkeys is the purpose of this paper. The problem undertaken was to determine: (1) the average size of the egg laying clutches, (2) the extent to which Bronze turkey hens (under modern conditions of management) lay according to the “litter” theory, (3) the average number and length of the litters and of the pauses between them, (4) the average egg production up to the end of May of hens lighted and not lighted, (5) the effect of age on egg production occurring from commencement of laying to the end of May, and (6) the average annual egg production. Trapnest and flock egg records of Bronze turkeys obtained over a period . . .

SEVERAL reports have appeared which suggest that thyroprotein, (iodinated casein) may have beneficial effects when fed to young chicks and, during the summer months, to laying hens (Parker, 1943, Irwin, Reineke and Turner, 1943, Turner et al., 1945, Turner, Irwin and Reineke, 1945, Gutteridge and Pratt, 1946, Gutteridge and Novikoff, 1947, Wheeler, Hoffmann and Graham, 1948). No experimental data are available, however, on the effect of feeding thyroprotein during the “growing period,” but Turner (1947) has recommended in a popular article that, “For growing pullets, the . . . (thyroprotein) feeding can continue at the rate of 15–20 grams per hundred pounds of their total feed until the approach of sexual maturity. Then the . . . (thyroprotein) can be cut to 10 grams per hundred pounds of their total feed.” The present paper reports on the effects of feeding thyroprotein during the 12 weeks period (12 to 24 . . .

CONSIDERABLE effort has been expended in recent years to discover just what quality is in reference to the contents of an egg, to set up and to standardize ways of improving and maintaining it at a high level. But there has been little work to show differences in the initial quality of eggs, as determined by present day measures, that occur with season. Parker, Grossman and Lippincott (1926) concluded that there is no seasonal effect on the color of the yolks of eggs. Almquist (1933) states that, “eggs are not all ‘created equal’ or, if they are, they do not long remain so. Initial quality and keeping quality may vary greatly from egg to egg, but are found to vary to a relatively small extent in eggs from the same hen.” This paper considers the seasonal changes in the interior quality of eggs laid by a flock of S.C. White . . .