384 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



graiiiilai- form. After three days I fed cracked wheat in the morn 

 iuj>, pone at ten o'clock, chick feed at noon, cracked corn at three 

 o'clock and all the pone they would eat at night. After two weeks 

 I fed cracked corn and wheat on alternate mornings, chick feed at 

 noon and mash at night until they were three months old, and from 

 that time I fed wheat in the morning, cracked corn at noon and 

 mash in the evening until yarded for the winter. 



Up to this time all birds should have free range where they can 

 get plenty of clover and green food and exercise. Of course it is 

 understood that they must have good, clean, pure water in abund- 

 ance always before them. When my birds are yarded or housed ^'^r 

 winter, I feed three times a day; in the morning grain — one quart 

 to ten or twelve birds — scattering it over the straw and chaff upon 

 the floor, which should be five or six inches deep, the grain being 

 well forked into the litter. It is best to use a variety of grains 

 alternately, such as wiieat, oats, barley, buckwheat and cracked 

 corn. 



At noon 1 feed cut clover and vegetbles, such as mangels, tur- 

 nips, potatoes, cabbage, etc., and at night all the mash they will eat. 

 This mash is composed of finely' cut clover, corn meal, coarse bran, 

 brown middlings, buckwheat middlings, gluten meal and meat meal. 

 These are all thoroughly mixed together, dry, and then made into a 

 mash with boiling water, with a little salt dissolved in it. The old 

 theory was, to feed mash in the morning and grain at noon and night. 



Realizing the need of an abundance of exercise for the birds in the 

 winter time, I saw that by changing the program I could get my 

 birds to do better, and could feed heavier without danger from over- 

 feeding. Feeding the warm mash* on a cold morning, the birds 

 would fill up their crops, get up on their perch and sit and shiver, 

 while in feeding the small grain in the morning, they get off the 

 perch, go right to scratching, and hustling for their breakfast, warm 

 up their blood, start circulation and keep themselves strong and 

 healthy. This theory I found would work out all right in practice, 

 as my birds did not get too fat and lazy, as they were apt to do by 

 feeding in the old w^ay. I feed the grain and vegetables to keep the 

 bird, and then at night give them all the mash they can be induced to 

 eat, of foods high in protein, that is easily digested while they are at 

 rest, and it has never failed to produce a good, heavy yield of eggs. 

 I find in this manner of feeding I can force my birds to heavy egg 

 production without overfeeding. 



The birds must be watched and care taken that the grain be all 

 cleaned out of the litter each day, and if they do not clean up their 

 usual heavy feed of mash in the evening, cut down on the grain 

 ration next morning so as to have them always hungry for the even- 

 ing mash. 



