60 The Business Hen. 



not much left in the corn to furnish the material for eggs. We see what 

 happens when cut bone is added. This is rich in muscle makers and min- 

 eral matter, and the hen was ready to provide for the needs of her system 

 and also lay eggs. 



It does not follow from this that cut bone and corn is the best ration 

 for hens just because it gives her mineral matter and muscle makers. 

 You can put water in a steam boiler and burn coal under it and! make 

 steam, but a hen is not fed that way. Like most humans she prefers one 

 kind of food to another, and will do best on food that she likes. You must 



^ study her likes and dislikes and cater to 



/ V " ^^ them. 



1 ^g^^»ga5.-;^^^ ^Ag^^ Why, then, talk about "balanced ra- 



tions," and what is the need of studying 

 Fig. 32. these figures? You cannot always afford 



HINGED PEED BOX. to feed the hen just what she likes best. 



You must often substitute one food for another. How can you know 

 that you are feeding the hen more or less than she needs unless you can 

 know just what the foods contain? If you could figure out what the hen 

 eats when at liberty and what the most successful hen keepers feed their 

 birds when housed, you will find that there is a definite proportion of 

 muscle makers to the other elements. If we call the fat worth 2^2 times 

 as much as the fat formers and add the two together we shall find that 

 there is about ^ as much of the muscle makers in the ration. That is, 

 when the laying hen is left free to select the food that will best keep up her 

 body heat and vigor, and enable her to lay eggs she will select about one 

 part of the muscle makers to four parts of fat formers and pure fat, with, 

 of course, plenty of lime and other mineral matter. If you were fattening 

 poultry you would of course mix up a ration that would contain more of 

 the fat formers. 



This in brief is the theory of a "balanced ration." No one expects a 

 farmer to feed his hens on exact scientific principles, but a little study 

 of these figures will often enable us to mix our feeds so as to save grain 

 and keep the hens supplied with what they need. Successful poultrymen 

 have different methods of feeding, but if we know what they feed we 

 shall find that the mixture comes close to our "balanced ration," which is 

 a good thing to take for the standard. 



TWO WAYS OF FEEDING.— To illustrate two different methods of 

 feeding hens we give a report from the Maine Experiment Station of feed- 

 ing in cold weather when the hens are housed : 



Years ago the "morning mash," which was regarded as necessary to 

 "warm up the cold hen," so she could lay that day, was given up and it was 

 fed at night. The birds are fed throughout the year daily as follows : 

 Each pen of twenty-two receives one pint of wheat in the deep litter early 



