New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 669 



although for other considerations larger runs are best in summer. 

 With more liberty better laying might be expected than that re- 

 corded, but under the conditions of continuous confinement neces- 

 sarj the egg yields were not too low. 



.{ 

 The Foods. 



Pens No. 1 and No. 3 were given for the morning feed each 

 day a mixture of ground grain moistened. Of this mixed grain, 

 which was moistened with hot water and fed warm during cold 

 weather and moistened with water at ordinary temperature dur- 

 ing hot weather, the hens had all they would readily eat. Later 

 in the day some kind of whole grain was fed, scattered in clean 

 straw. 



Pens 2 and 4 were fed whole grain of different kinds — with the 

 single exception that corn was cracked. This was scattered in 

 straw on tight wooden floors and none was left uneaten. 



All the hens were fed twice each week all the cut fresh bones 

 they would eat. During three periods skim-milk was fed to each 

 pen. Either green alfalfa, cabbage, corn silage or soaked chopped 

 hay was fed at noon, the moistened hay being fed warm to pens 

 1 and 3. Plenty of stone grit and oyster shells was kept always 

 in each pen. As it was not i30ssible to give the benefit of grass 

 runs, all green food was fed cut in troughs. Although neces- 

 sarily fed in this way to make accounting for all food possible, it 

 was at some disadvantage, for, except at the risk of much waste, 

 the green food could not be fed as liberally as desired at some 

 times on account of rapid wilting and drying. 



The nutritive ratio of the ration for pens 1 and 3 was kept at 

 about that of the ration for pens 2 and 4, although it did usually 

 run somewhat narrower. The mixed grain fed to pens 1 and 3 

 was made to correspond closely to the combination of whole grain 

 which was fed at the same time to pens 2 and 4. With the 

 exception of using wheat bran and middlings instead of ground 

 wheat, the same grains were fed ground in the mixture that were 

 fed whole in the contrasted ration. The grain mixtui'e numbered 

 3 in the following table and fed from November 14 to Decem- 

 ber 12, consisted of three parts by weight of ground flaxseed 



