POULTRY EXPERIMENTS. 9 



in a house and yard gained 2.47 pounds each. The rations 

 which these birds received was partly made up of ground oats, 

 and the feeding period was 35 days in length, instead of 21 or 28 

 days, as in tests Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 7. These conditions probably 

 account for the greater gains which were made. 



In tests Nos. 4 and 5 the birds were 95 days old at the begin- 

 ning of the feeding period, which continued 28 days. The 

 average gain was 1.54 pounds each. 



In tests Nos. 6 and 7 the birds were 160 days old at the begin- 

 ning of the test, which lasted 21 days instead of 28 as in Nos. 

 4 and 5. They gained .75 pounds each or about one-half as 

 much as the gain made by the chickens that were 95 days old. 

 The matter of age was not designed as a feature of the tests 

 when planning them, but the results are so marked that they 

 should not be overlooked. 



Skim-milk as chicken food — In tests 4 and 6 water was used 

 in mixing the meal for feeding, and in 5 and 7 milk was used. 



The composition of the mixture in which water was used was 

 100 pounds of corn meal, 100 pounds of wheat middlings and 40 

 pounds of ground beef scrap. The mixture in which milk was 

 used was the same as the water mixture, except that it contained 

 33 pounds of ground beef scrap instead of 40 as in the water 

 mixture. This difference was made so that the two rations 

 should be equal in digestible protein. Two pounds of milk were 

 used to each pound of the meal mixture. 



The following table shows the results collectively. Compare 

 tests No. 4 with No. 5, and No. 6 with No. 7 for results in sepa- 

 rate coops. 



