308 FARM ANIMALS 



material added to the mash. A similar quantity 

 of grain should be fed at the same time in the litter. 

 Most poultrymen have found that the quantity of 

 grain to be given may be well determined from a 

 practical standpoint by allowing as much for each 

 feed as a flock will eat during the course of an hour. 

 In a long series of tests in which hens were found to 

 require from fifty to fifty-five pounds of mash 

 annually, each hen also received eighteen pounds 

 of wheat, six and one-half pounds cracked corn, 

 six pounds oats, six pounds oyster shells, three 

 pounds dry bone and forty pounds of roots. On 

 this ration good hens should average about fifty 

 pounds of eggs per year. The annual cost per 

 hen when such rations are used will vary from 

 $1.50 to $1.75 per hen. In Utah it was found 

 that, even with comparatively expensive grain 

 rations, the annual cost of grain per hen varied 

 from sixty-nine cents to $1 . 26. Trie value of eggs 

 produced on native grains and legumes in Utah 

 ranged in value from $1.29 to $2.78 per fowl 

 according to the breed. In another series of exper- 

 iments carried on in Utah it was found that the 

 average value of eggs amounted from $2 . 06 to $3 . 60 

 per fowl per year and that the total cost of feeding 

 was such that the eggs were produced at an 

 average cost per dozen of six and one-half cents. 

 Roots. Roots have a larger place in the ration 

 for fowls, perhaps, than in those for the domestic 

 mammals. This is largely due to the fact that 

 chickens are omnivorous in their habits and will eat 

 not only all of the standard grains and other feeds 

 which are used in fattening large farm animals but 

 also make good use of various feeds and by- 

 products which would otherwise be waste material 

 on the farm. As a result of very extensive experi- 



