ISTew Yoek Agricultural Experiment Station. 77 



or ten Aveeks, two lots of laying hens were fed for six and one- half 

 months and two lots for seven and one-half months, and two lots 

 of ducklings for ten weeks. Experimental feeding commenced 

 with the chicks and ducklings when they were one week old and 

 continued until thev were ten and twelve weeks old. Thev were 

 all hatched in incubators and reared in brooders. A small out- 

 door run on bare ground was allowed each lot. Occasionally a 

 chick escaped through the fence into outside flocks where it 

 could not be identified and was dropped from the lot. In a few 

 lots (Lot VII especially) there was considerable loss at one time 

 from sunstroke caused by accidental exposure. Allowance was 

 made for any loss caused by accident, obviously uninfluenced by 

 feeding. The weight of any that died was accoimted in the rec- 

 ord as loss in live weight when estimating the food cost per 

 pound gain. 



RATIONS. 



One ration for chicks and hens consisted of wheat, cracked 

 corn, barley, oats and a mixture (No. 1) composed of 14 parts by 

 weight corn meal, 11 j^arts animal meal, 2 parts each of ground 

 oats, wheat bran and pea meal, and one part each of wheat mid- 

 dlings, O. P. linseed meal, malt sprouts, brewer's grains and glu- 

 ten meal. The contrasted ration consisted of wheat, barley, oats 

 and a grain mixture (Wo. 2) composed of 7 parts each of pea 

 meal and wheat bran, 6 parts of O. P. linseed meal, 4 parts of 

 gluten meal, 3 parts each of corn meal and ground oats and 2 

 parts each of malt sprouts, brewer's grains and wheat middlings. 

 One pound of salt was added to every 360 pounds of each mix- 

 ture. Each ration for ducklings contained, with one of these 

 mixtures, wheat bran, corn meal and ground oats. 



The animal food used in these experiments was the dried and 

 ground animal meal. Dried blood, fresh bone, beef scraps and 

 pork scraps have often been fed at this Station, but owing to the 



