REPORT OF THE POULTRY MAXAGER. 265 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



At 11 a.m., steamed lawn clippings were given in moderate quantity and were 

 -eaten with great relish. If fed too frequently, or in too great quantity they were 

 fovmd to make the hens crop-bound. 



At noon a light feed of oats (5 pounds to every 100 layers) was thrown into the 

 litter on the floors of the pens, to incite the fowls to continued exercise. 



For afternoon ration, 8 to 10 pounds of wheat to every 100 hens was thrown into 

 the litter and the fowls seemed to make active search for it. 



Mangels were found to be the cheapest and most convenient form of green food, 

 and were before the layers at all times and so were grit and crushed oyster-shells. 

 Pure drink water was in abundance. 



• 



PROPER QUANTITIES TO FEED. 



This has been found a very difiicult matter to decide. Experience has shown that 

 proportions of food that have answered in one case have not done well in another. 

 Again, pullets have done well and given good results on a ration that would certainly 

 have put older hens out of condition. Careful experiment, extending over a period 

 of some years, with rations fed in different quantities, to different lots of hens, is requi- 

 site to lead to definite quantities. 



Experience in feeding winter rations during past years has shown very clearlj 

 the following : — 



1. — That variety in the rations and time of feeding are beneficial. 



2. — That where there is such variety there are neither egg-eating nor feather- 

 picking. 



3. — That pullets will do well on rations, which, if fed in same quantity to old hens 

 of the Asiatic or American breeds, will end fatally. 



4. — That sameness in rations and too heavy feeding are likely to cause enteritis 

 or inflammation of the intestines. (See report of 1897.) 



The method of feeding adopted in our poultry department for some years past, 

 Jias been wdth a view of avoiding over-feeding, and the evils resulting from it; simpli- 

 ■city and cheapness of rations, and affording variety which has been found to be the 

 very spice of poultry life. Correspondents have said that amount of mash as advised 

 in reports of 1897 and 1898 was not enough for winter use. Others have said that 

 heat was the chief factor in obtaining the eggs. It is quite possible to have been under 

 rather than over the mark, and it is equally probable that with artificial heat a less 

 quantity of food had been found effective. In a cold poultry house more food would 

 be required to get the same results as had been attained in a moderately warm one. 

 Which goes to show the benefit of a temperature in a poultry building of not lower 

 than 40 degrees, as advised in this and previous reports. And under ordinary climatio 

 ■conditions, and in a well-conducted house, it might be possible to obtain such a 

 temperature without artificial means. 



FOWLS OF PROPER AGE. 



Experience has shown that it is not advisable to keep fowls of the heavy breeds 

 over two years of age for the reasons that if kept until older they are apt to moult 

 late and to put on fat easily. In the case of Leghorns, Minorcas, Andalusians and 

 Plamburgs the birds may be kept until three years old. A simple and efficient way of 

 keeping trace of the age of a fowl is to put a ring, made of wire, on one of her legs 

 for each year of her life. 



PROPER CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF CHICKENS. 



Full particulars as to the proper care and management of sitting hens and of 

 the chicks hatched by them will be found on a preceding page. 



