FEEDING IN GENERAL 



169 



"Please economize the corn." You 

 will find most of the poultry supply 

 houses willing to mix the scratch food 

 just as you want it. You are feeding 

 the mature stock all right. One hand- 

 ful of the scratch food in the litter is 

 about right for the hens. The green 

 food is quite important, the lawn clip- 

 pings should be of clover or as much 

 clover as possible, for the blue grass 

 becomes so hard and stiff as the sum- 

 mer continues that there is not much 

 nourishment in it and the hens will 

 not eat it. Lettuce is good but is 

 sometimes quite expensive and diffi- 

 cult to get, but there is another green 

 food that has been found excellent 

 and is within the reach of any one. 

 This is sprouted oats. Take half a 

 bucket of oats, pour warm water on 

 them and leave them covered all 

 night, then spread them in boxes. 

 Any box will do. Have the oats 

 about two inches deep and keep them 

 damp. In four or five days .there 

 will be a mass of tender green 

 sprouts. The hens will eat eagerly 

 of this. A friend of mine has also 

 done this with barley for many years 

 with great success. This green food 

 is as good for the young stock as for 

 the old. 



In your place I would feed as you 

 do, throwing scratch food (a handful 

 to each fowl) in the litter in the 

 early morning, keeping the dry mash 

 in the hopper, and feed the green 

 food in the evening. Some of it may 

 be left till morning, but will not wilt 

 much, and they will eat it the first 

 thing. Be sure they have plenty of 

 water and have it shaded from the 

 sun, either in a box on its side or in 

 some sort of shelter. 



Mixing Foods I want to ask you 

 if there is any good reason for not 

 mixing foods at the same meal. Prof. 

 Jaffa of the U. C. said on one occa- 

 sion that it was best not to mix foods 

 in feeding wheat, to feed that alone; 

 the same of barley or of corn. Make 

 either an entire meal. I have ob- 

 served in feeding my chickens that 

 they seem to enjoy a variety of grains 

 fed together. Which method would 

 you think best? 



I am feeding rolled barley dry. 

 Would you think it better to soak it? 

 I give the mash at noon, dry, and 

 green feed morning and evening. The 



fowls seem to like the green feed 

 better at those times than at noon. 



Would you set eggs from well 

 grown White Minorca pullets that 

 are now nearly eight months old? 

 They are now with a rooster of the 

 same age; or if not now, would it 

 be safe to set them after they are 

 nine months old? G. S. H. 



Answer The reason Professor 

 Jaffa thinks it best not to mix foods 

 is because some hens will pick out all 

 of a certain grain in a greedy man- 

 ner, and by giving only one grain at 

 a time, they are forced to eat what 

 he chooses to give them. I would 

 not venture to differ from so learned 

 a man, but like you, I notice my hens 

 enjoy a variety, so I give it to them, 

 and for the little chicks I am posi- 

 tive a great variety is by far the best 

 for them. I found that the hens en- 

 joyed an occasional feed of soaked 

 barley, so I poured scalding water 

 over a few pailsful of barley, covering 

 it with gunny sacks to keep in the 

 steam and when thoroughly soaked, 

 fed it to the hens. 



I would not set eggs from such 

 young pullets. I would wait until 

 they are nine or ten months of age; 

 especially as they are mated with a 

 cockerel of their own age. The off- 

 spring of immature fowls is often 

 weakly and delicate. I have found it 

 much more satisfactory to hatch only 

 from two-year-old birds. Then you 

 have the foundation of a vigorous 

 flock of fowls, and I never hatch 

 from Mediterraneans of less than a 

 year. It really pays better and is 

 much less anxious work having only 

 vigorous chickens, chickens that can- 

 not help but grow and develop as we 

 want them. 



How Much to Feed Can you tell 

 me how much feed an average Leg- 

 horn should have in weight with a 

 free range of two acres of alfalfa? 

 Is green ground bone necessary all 

 the year round or only in the winter? 

 My hens will not lay and I may not 

 be feeding right, although a few 

 Wyandottes I have are too fat, but 

 they get exactly the same food as the 

 Leghorns. I have 72 hens and only 

 got 12 eggs yesterday. Am not satis- 

 fied with the results and desire to 

 have them do better. 



Answer An average Leghorn hen 

 should have in weight for every 



