Feeding the Hen. 61 



in the morning. At 9.30 A. M. one-half pint of oats is fed to them in the 

 same way. At 1 P. M. one-half pint of cracked corn is given in the litter 

 as before. At 3 P. M. in the Winter and 4 P. M. in the Summer they are 

 given all the mash they will eat up clean in half an hour. The mash is 

 made of the following mixture of meals: 200 pounds wheat bran; 100 

 pounds cornmeal ; 100 pounds wheat middlings ; 100 pounds linseed meal ; 

 100 pounds gluten meal; 100 pounds beef scrap. The mash contains one- 

 fourth its bulk of clover leaves and heads, obtained from the feeding 

 floor in the cattle barn. The clover is covered with hot water and allowed 

 to stand for three or four hours. The mash is made quite dry, and rubbed 

 down with the shovel in mixing, so that the pieces of clover are separated 

 and covered with meal. Cracked bone, oyster shells, clean grit, and water 

 are before them all the time. Two large mangels are fed to the birds in 

 each pen daily in Winter. They are stuck on to large nails, which are 

 partly driven into the wall, a foot and a half above the floor. Very 

 few soft-shelled eggs are laid, and, so far as known, not an egg has been 

 eaten by the hens during the last five years. 



We are testing another method of feeding with several pens of hens 

 this year. It consists of the morning, 9.30 A. M., and 1 P. M. feedings of 

 .dry food in the litter as usual, but instead of the mash at 3 P. M. all the 

 dry cracked corn they v/ill eat is given in troughs. Beef scrap is kept 

 before the birds at all times, in elevated troughs where they cannot waste 

 it. They are supplied with grit, oyster shell, bone, and mangels. Dry 

 clover leaves and chaff are given them on the floor each day. One pen 

 of 30 hens were fed through last Winter in this way with good results. 

 If you figure this out by the table, multiplying amount of "pure fat' 

 by 2>4 and adding to the "fat formers," you will see that the mash con- 

 tains the following: 



Muscle Maker. Fat Former. Pure Fat. 



200 Wheat bran 24 78 5.2 



100 Corn meal 8 67 4.2 



100 Linseed 28 40 2.8 



100 Gluten 25 43 11. 



100 Beef scraps 50 5 2.1 



135 233 25.3 



This is a proportion of about one to three and the corn, oats and wheat will 

 just about give a proportion of all the food ot one to four. We feel 

 quite sure that the hens which are fed on dry food eat enough of the 

 beef scrap to give about the same proportion. We do not give this ration 

 as a model one, but as an illustration of how hens can be fed. It will 

 pay to go over any ration in this way and see just what the hens are 

 receiving. We should have a few definite principles in mind, and then 



