48 THE HOME. POULTRY BOOK 
cause it makes the hen work harder to fill her crop, 
and exercise is important. If it is necessary to 
defer the afternoon feeding to only a short time 
before darkness falls, whole corn should be given, 
so that it will be cleaned up quickly. The different 
grains may be mixed and fed together or divided 
in any way one prefers. The author’s plan is to 
feed oats and wheat, or barley and wheat in the 
morning and cracked corn at night, giving the hens 
at least an hour in which to clean up the last feeding 
before they feel inclined to seek their perches. 
Clipped oats are especially desirable. 
Most families have many table scraps which may 
be fed the hens to advantage. They may be run 
through a meat grinder or made into a mash by 
soaking them and mixing in a little bran or meal. 
Some amateurs practice the plan of keeping a ket- 
tle on the back of the kitchen range into which go 
all the scraps as fast as they accumulate. In this 
way they get softened and cooked and may be made 
into a mash as needed. Feeding this mash at noon 
breaks the monotony of the day for the hens, but it 
may be given in the morning or at night just as 
well. Experience has shown that if a mash be fed 
about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, the hens will still 
