574 Bulletin 318 



chickens were given ideal range conditions, with grass pasture and abundant 

 space and shade. They were hopper-fed with whole grain, dry mash, 

 grit, and oyster shell. Under these conditions the chicks continued 

 their normal growth. • . 



The grain mixture given consisted of 3 pounds cracked com, 2 pounds 

 wheat, and 2 pounds hulled oats. The dry mash mixture was made 

 up of equal parts by weight of com meal, wheat bran, wheat middlings, 

 and bone meal, with 4 pounds meat scrap and 0.4 pound charcoal. The 

 pullets consumed about eight to ten times as much of the whole grain 

 as of the ground mixture. 



The weaker chickens were placed in fattening houses with small yards, 

 having little grass or green food available other than that brought to 

 them. They were given a fattening ration of 100 pounds com meal, 

 100 pounds oat meal, 100 pounds whole wheat middlings, and 42 pounds 

 meat scrap, mixed rather soft with sour milk and fed morning and night. 

 Under this care the weak chickens began at once to improve. They 

 increased rapidly in weight and their feathers became sleek and smooth 

 in contrast to their previously ruffled, unkempt condition. As they 

 reached the broiler stage the cockerels were miarketed, leaving only pullets. 

 By this time many of the pullets had developed so satisfactorily that they 

 would have been retained by most farmers for laying, or even for breeding 

 purposes. 



The best thirty White Leghorn pullets from the fattening pen were 

 leg-banded and transferred to a range, with the same number of their 

 stronger sisters; these also were leg-banded, to be used later for com- 

 parison. Both lots remained under these conditions until placed in 

 the laying pens in the fall, at which time they were known as pens 78 

 (strong) and 79 (weak). 



At the time of this selection (August 3, 1907) the weaker pullets averaged 

 0.75 pound in weight, while their stronger sisters averaged i pound. 



Experiment II 

 The pullets for the second experiment were selected according to physical 

 vigor, as in experiment I, from a fattening pen of White Leghorns on 

 August 9, 1907. Only the strongest individuals of these one-time weak 

 chicks were sorted out, leg-banded, placed under range conditions, and 

 cared for in the same way as was the stock used for the first comparison. 

 The stock for this experiment came from a hatch of chicks three weeks 

 later than those used in experiment L The stronger sisters to be used 

 in comparison with these previously weak individuals were not selected 

 until fall, when the stock was penned in winter quarters. They are 

 pens 76 (.strong) and 75 (weak). 



