494 Report op the First Assistant of the 



POULTKY. 



Experiments in poultry feeding have been continued during the 

 past year and records for a breeding experiment continually kept. 

 The data obtained in some feeding trials with laying hens will 

 probably soon be published in a bulletin, and also the results of 

 some feeding trials with chicks and capons. 



A bulletin, in which are recorded some feeding trials made dur- 

 ing the preceding year, has been published. The bulletin was as 

 follows : 



Among the very many unsettled questions concerning the feed- 

 ing of fowls, one of the frequently recurring ones' is that in regard 

 to the relative amounts of ground and whole grain that can be fed 

 to best advantage. This question is in certain respects so broad 

 that carefully kept records of a great many feeding trials in which 

 the conditions have been under control must be available before it 

 can be restricted to narrow limits. In the belief that they will be of 

 use in considering this question and that they may be added to the 

 available facts relating to the general subject of poultry feeding, the 

 results of one of a series of feeding experiments being made at this 

 Station are published in this bulletin form. 



In this trial four lots of pullets were used, two of White Leghorns 

 and two of Buff Cochins. For convenience they are referred to as 

 pens 1, 2, 3 and 4. Pens 1 and 2 were Leghorns and pens 3 and 4 

 were Cochins. The two pens of Leghorns each containing at the start 

 sixteen pullets, were as nearly alike as it was possible to select them, 

 all of the birds being from the same lot of chicks hatched and grown 

 at this Station. The two pens of Cochins were also alike, each con- 

 taining at the start nine pullets, which were selected from those 

 hatched and reared under the same conditions. The Leghorns 

 were of a " strain " well recommended as layers, and were vigorous 

 and healthy from the shell, so that any insufficient eg^ production 

 can well be attributed to the conditions under which the birds were 

 kept and to the food, rather than to inherent lack of laying capacity. 

 During the spring months the Cochins, which became broody, were 

 allowed to sit on nests or about the floor of the pen at will, no 

 attempt being made to break up sitters. 



The records of feeding here given began November 23d. The 

 average date of hatching for the Cochins was May 21st, and the 

 average date of hatching for the Leghorns was June 15th. There was 



