Rtrai. School Leaflkt i i 53 



where they cannot scratch the Utter into them. Fill the pails again 

 at noon if they are likely to become empty before night. 



Noon feeding. — The midday meal is the best one for providing those 

 appetizing mixtures so greath' relished by the fowls and so success- 

 ful in helping to produce eggs. Take the scraps of meat, bread, vege- 

 tables, and oatmeal, from the table; mix them with com meal, 

 wheat bran, and wheat middlings. Moisten the mass with skimmed 

 milk until it is crumbly. When skimmed milk and table scraps are 

 not available, take a pailful of cut alfalfa or clover hay and pour boiling 

 water on it, allowing it to steam. Feed this while it is still warm. 

 A portion of this steamed alfalfa added to the noon mash gives it a pleasant, 

 appetizing odor. Salt may be added to the mash in about the same 

 proportion as is used in your own food. When it is not convenient to 

 make a moist mash, the same ground feeds may be given dry in a hopper, 

 which should be opened at noon and closed after the hens have gone 

 to roost at night. A good mixture for this purpose is: four parts com 

 meal, five parts wheat middlings, four parts wheat bran, three parts meat 

 scrap. The best results will be obtained if the hens eat about one-half 

 as much of the ground feed mixture as of the whole or cracked grain. 

 At noontime as much green feed — beets, cabbage, or lettuce — • as the 

 fow^s will clean up before night, should be given. At this time see that 

 the oyster-shell and grit hoppers are filled. When it is impossible 

 to follow the practice of feeding three times a day, the scraps and the 

 green feed should be given with the morning meal. 



Night feeding. — Fowls go to roost very early, making it necessary 

 for them to eat before sundown. This requires feeding in the latter part 

 of the afternoon, while they can still see to find the grain in the litter. 

 When given the opportunity, a fowl will go to roost with its crop rounding 

 full of grain, which it gradually digests during the night. This process 

 of digestion warms the body and keeps it more comfortable. An empty 

 crop is a poor bedfellow for the fowl. The same grains may be fed at 

 night as in the morning, but in larger quantities, so that some will be 

 left over after the fowls' appetites have been entirely satisfied. The grain 

 that has been left well mixed with the litter at night, gives the birds 

 something to work for in the morning when they come off the roost. 



Oyster shell, grit, and charcoal should be kept before the hens at all 

 times, so that they can help themselves whenever they choose. The 

 real secret of securing winter eggs is to give the hens a light, clean house, 

 well ventilated, but having no drafts, and to encourage them to eat 

 heartily of good, clean, wholesome food of as many kinds as can be 

 secured. Changes in the ration should be made somewhat gradually, but 

 best results will be obtained where the hens are given one or two differ- 

 ent kinds of food each day, or the same food prepared a little differently. 

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