Second Year Production of Force Molted Hens in the California Random Sample Test

Abstract

TWO molting experiments were conducted at the Poultry Testing Project, Modesto, California, by the California Poultry Improvement Commission, and the University of California, Davis. The purpose of the two experiments was to detect possible strain-treatment interaction in second year performance of hens held with or without artificial molting, respectively. Previous force molt experiments have shown an increase in rate of egg production, in shell thickness and improvement of albumen quality following the molt (Hansen, 1960). He reported greater improvements in egg quality and production as length of molt increased. A gain of 10 Haugh units immediately after force molting was reported by Snyder and Orr (1960). Marble (1963) reported in an analysis of costs and income that hens can be as profitable in their second year of production as they were in their first year. When 44 separate entries in the New York Random Sample Test were force molted, albumen…