480 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



15th. When the chicks are about two days old they get their first 

 feed, a little chick grit, a little good chick feed, steel cut oats and water. 

 They are fed but little at a time, but several times a day for the first 

 few days. After the third day we give a little commercial beef scrap, 

 with the coarsest sifted out, two cr three times a day, and when they 

 are about a week old we put a can of beef scraps in their brooder, also 

 a can each of grit and granulated charcoal. These cans are kept well 

 filled until the chicks are grcwn. When they are about two weeks old, 

 a box of bran is also given them. This box is replenished daily. As 

 Leghorns don't have to be hatched as early in the season as the larger 

 breeds, there is always plenty of grass to turn our little ones on, and this 

 solves the question of green food, which must be supplied in one form or 

 another for best results. An abundance of fresh water is also faithfully 

 supplied. The person who keeps poultry, or, for that matter, any living 

 thing, and fails to supply an abundance of clean water, is not deserving 

 of success. When the chicks are old enough to handle fine cracked com 

 and wheat, these grains gradually take the place of the chick feed, and 

 as soon as possible I begin the liberal feeding of oats. 



When the pullets go into winter quarters, about September 15th, their 

 menu is changed a little. They get about the same material, but "dish d 

 up" in a little different form. The wheat, oats and cracked corn, about 

 equal parts, are fed in straw to induce exercise, which is absolutely 

 necessary if the birds are to be kept in a healthy condition. Then, in- 

 stead of keeping bran, beef scraps and charcoal before them in separate 

 compartments, they are mixed with low-grade flour and cracked corn, 

 three-fourths beef scraps and granulated charcoal. This mixture is 

 kept in a box or platform about eighteen inches above the floor, and the 

 birds have access to it at all times. On this platform is also their water 

 pan and grit and shell boxes. In the summer they are supplied with 

 grass and rape for green food, and in winter we pour hot water on some 

 ground alfalfa, let it stand a while, then stir in about four times as 

 much of our dry mash mixture as we have alfalfa, mixing thoroughly and 

 a'ming to have the combination a crumbly mixture, barely moist instead 

 of sloppy. This we feed five or six times in late fall and winter — usu- 

 ally early in the afternoon in troughs, all they will eat in half an hour 

 or less. Then just a little before rocstng time they get a light feed of the 

 mixed grain, or if we are having cold winter weather, they get a liberal 

 feed of corn. New with a feed of mixed grain in litter at about 8 a. m., 

 a small handful to each bird, moist mash and more grain in the after- 

 noon, and the box of dry mash before them all the time, the birds are 

 persuaded to eat not only enough to keep them in good condition, but 

 enough extra to enable them to "shell out" a liberal quantity of eggs both 

 winter and summer. No damaged grain or feed of any kind is ever 

 used. The showing our stock makes we feel entitles them to the best 

 there is, and we never cut out or cut down on any kind of feed because 

 of the pi ice of it. It costs us about $1.20 a year to feed a hen.* Our 

 special flock which we have been trap-nesting has laid 8,232 eggs in 

 eleven months (November 1st to October 1st). This flock originally 



