Progress Rcport 
No. 1
March 1944
AGRICULTURAL 
EXPERIMENT 
STATION
of The 
Alabama 
Polytechnic 
Institute, 
Auburn, 
Ala.
M. J. Funchess, Director 
.
STIULATING IENS TO SET
D. F. King, Poultry Husbandman
Farmers have always been handicapped in their poultry enterprises be-
cause they had to wait to reproduce their flocks until the hens wanted to
set. Artificial incubation and brooding have to a certain extent removed
this disadvantage for a few, but the large majority of farmers still hatch
and raise their chicks with hens, In following this natural method, they
have assumed the burden of hatching their chicks over a long season and
caring for many different ages of chicks at the same time. In addition, the
chicks are hatched too late in the spring 
to mature and lay eggs the follow-
ing fall and winter when prices are high.
Experiments completed at the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
reveal that hens may be induced 
to set at any time desired. The 
method is
simple, quick, inexpensive, and .highly efficient when all factors are con-
trolled. If the directions are closely followed, the mothering instinct of
the hens will be stimulated in about four days. They will thn sot on eggs
o rj2ood chicks as other setting hens. The procedure is as follows:
1. At night, catch the number of hens you wish to set.
2. Place them in a coop without feed or water.
3, The next night (24 hours after catching) give each hen a little
grain and a drink of water. Then place them on nests containing
four or more hard boiled eggs and two one-day-old chicks or 10
hard boiled eggs. If only eggs are used, about half the hens
treated will be stimulated to set. The nests should be about
12 inches square, and the fronts 'should be covered with burlap
sacks to keep the hens in and the nests dark.
4. The hens and chicks should not be disturbed except to 
feed once
daily.
5. The hens will start setting in about four days. They may then
be given eggs to hatch or chicks to brood.
6. The same chicks may be used to stimulate a second or 
even a third
group of hens.
The correct time to hatch chicks for fall and winter layers depends
on the feeding methods to be used. If the chicks are fed 
all the starting
mash, growing mash, and grain they will eat throughout 
the spring and
summer, they may be hatched in March or April and be ready 
to lay during
September. If, however, the chicks have to rustle for 
themselves and re-
ceive only a little bread or dough when young, and a limited 
amount of corn
during the sufnmer, they should be hatched in December or January 
to be mature
and ready to lay in the fall. Pullets that do not start laying before cold
weather usually do not lay until early spring.