428 



THE ESSENTIALS OF AGRICULTURE 



Fresh water should be given in the morning and at noon. In 

 warm weather it should be given again in the evening. While 

 the mash hoppers are left open during the entire afternoon, 

 there is little danger of the hens overeating, because they prefer 

 the whole or cracked grains, and usually will be found eager for 

 their evening meal of scratching feed. 



The amount fed in the evening should be what the fowls will 

 clean up before going to roost. If upon feeling of the fowls' 



crops after they are on 

 the perch they are not 

 well filled, not enough 

 grain has been fed. If 

 some of the grain in 

 the litter remains un- 

 eaten after the birds 

 have finished, the fowls 

 have been fed too much. 

 It is more desirable 

 from the standpoint of 

 egg production to un- 

 derfeed slightly than to 

 overfeed, because when 

 overfed and inactive, 

 hens lay less in propor- 

 tion to the feed given 

 than when they are 

 somewhat hungry. The really skillful feeder keeps the appetite 

 stimulated and the birds thrifty and hustling, by never feeding 

 quite as much as they would like to eat, yet always sending them 

 to roost with full crops. 



566. Rations for young chicks. For the first two days young 

 chicks should not be fed or watered, as the nourishment required 

 during this period is provided in the egg. From that time on 

 they should be fed frequently (at least five times daily if they 

 are kept in brooders) on infertile eggs tested out of the incu- 

 bator, hard-boiled and ground fine (shell and all) in a meat 



FIG. 220. Silver-Laced Wyandotte hen 



