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HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT 



change, becomes dormant the more readily because fall 

 laying is in a measure abnormal the pullet becomes fat, 

 and it is supposed that she does not lay because she is 

 too fat. Removing the fat, however, is not at all sure lo 

 start the pullet laying before the approach of the nat- 

 ural spring laying season, while when that comes unless 

 there is something wrong with the ovary, she will begin 

 laying even though very fat. 



Where the seat of trouble is concealed, and the 

 causes are more or less obscure, as in most cases when 

 eggs are not produced according to expectation, the best 

 course is to try to adjust the feed and the conditions of 

 feeding to keep the bird in good flesh, a little fat, but 

 not overfat, and keep it active and lively, and await de- 

 velopments. While we may say that the accumulation of 

 fat does not act as a direct preventive of egg produc- 

 tion, there is no doubt that the accumulation of fat be- 

 yond the moderate reserve that is advantageous to the 

 bird impairs its vitality and weakens every function. It is 

 continued and progressive general physical deterioration, 

 and not the mechanical interference of fat, that unfits 

 overfat hens for egg production, and is likely to limit 

 their laying period to a short term in the spring. 



When we come to consider the details of fattening 

 poultry, it will be shown that feeding to fatten quickly 

 spoils the digestion. When stock fattens on laying ra- 

 tions, under the conditions appropriate for laying stock, 

 the same thing takes place, but. at a much slower rate. 

 The effect of impaired digestion, and the general physi- 

 cal deterioration that goes with it, is not to make a non- 

 layer, but to make the reproductive processes as slow as 

 all the other processes of the life of the bird. It is cus- 

 tomary to speak of extra-good layers as high producers 

 and of poor layers as low producers. The terms, fast 

 producers and slow producers, would be more significant 

 of the relation of the hen to her product. The high pro- 

 ducer lays eggs continuously and in quick succession; the 

 low producer lays more or less intermittently that is, 

 she skips more days while laying most regularly, and she 

 is apt to take frequent rests to recuperate from a strain 

 of egg production which a more vigorous bird does not 

 feel. 



Amount of Feed Consumed- By Laying Hens 



As the amount of feed consumed by any flock varies 

 more or less with conditions and according to the size 

 and type of the fowls, hens cannot be fed "by the scales." 

 Knowledge of what has been eaten by definite numbers 

 of hens of a given breed and weight is, however, of con- 

 siderable service to poultry keepers. It enables "them to 

 determine whether they are getting the results they should 

 from the feeds they use, and when they cannot keep ac- 

 count of feed as used it helps them to make very accu- 

 rate estimates. A number of the experiment stations 

 have published valuable data of this kind. The figures 

 that follow have been abstracted from their reports: 



At the Ohio Experiment Station in 1911, in four 

 flocks, each of about 50 White Leghorns, the average 

 weight of the hens being 3.46 pounds, the average con- 

 sumption of grain and mash was 69.3 pounds, of which 

 47.2 pounds was grain, and 22.1 pounds mash. Each pul- 

 let also consumed about 5 pounds of green feed, about 

 5. pounds of clover chaff, % pound of grit, 1^4 pounds of 

 shell, and l/ 2 pound of bone. 



In the following year records for four flocks of White 

 Ueghorrts, with 75 to 80 in each, with an average weight 

 little over 3 pounds, the average consumption of grain 

 and mash was 65 pounds; while in a flock of Barred Ply- 



mouth Rocks, numbering about 150 and averaging to 

 weigh 5.3 pounds, the average consumption of grain and 

 mash was 80.64 pounds. 



In 1913, records were kept for two flocks of about 

 100 each, the number varying slightly as a result of loss- 

 es. They were kept, one in confinment, the other on a 

 grass lange containing about two acres. These were 

 somewhat larger Leghorns than in the former experi- 

 menjs, weighing about 3^4 pounds each. The average 

 consumption of grain and mash by the hens in confinement 

 was 59.98 pounds, by the hens on range 61,24 pounds. The 

 report of this experiment does not mention the feeding of 

 green feed of any kind to the flock in confinement. The 

 lack of green feed would account for the lessened con- 

 sumption of grain. It would appear by comparison with 

 the first case cited above, that the flock of 103 hens rang- 

 ing through the summer on a two-acre pasture secured 

 from it the equivalent of about 8 pounds of grain per 

 bird, besides green feed. 



Experiments at this station in subsequent years show 

 very nearly the same consumption, 3-pound hens taking 

 about 60 pounds of grain and mash a year, from 2 to 3 

 pounds of shell, and exceedingly variable amounts of 

 grit, sometimes as low as 2 ounces, sometimes nearly a 

 pound. 



At Purdue Experiment Station the average consump- 

 tion of White Plymouth Rock hens fed Ration No. lOb I 

 was 85.75 pounds of grain and mash, 8.53 pounds of meat 

 scraps, .66 pound of grit, 2.09 pounds of shell, and .6 

 pound of bone a total of 97.63 pounds. A similar pen 

 fed Ration No. lOb II consumed 81.25 pounds of grain 

 and mash, 1.28 pounds of grit, 2.33 pounds of shell, 1.22 

 pounds of bone, and 115.74 pounds of milk per hen. 



In a similar experiment with White Leghorns the 

 consumption of grains ranged from 56 to 66 pounds per 

 year, with meat consumed 4 to 5 pounds, and milk fro 

 80 to 90 pounds a year. These reports do not show t 

 weight of the birds. 



The reports of the Storrs Laying Contest give the 

 consumption of feed by all pens in these contests. From 

 the report of the third contest, which has this data in the 

 most convenient form, it appears that Plymouth Rocks, 

 Wyandottes, and Rhode Island Reds, weighing 5 l / 2 to 6 

 pounds, consumed an average of a fraction over 88 

 pounds of grain and mash a year, with a few pens con- 

 suming over 100 pounds; and that Leghorns averaging 

 about 3y 2 pounds consumed not quite 77 pounds of grain 

 and mash a year. 



In some early experiments with White Leghorns 

 with rations of different kinds, at Cornell, the consump- 

 tion of mash and grain ranged from 77.2 to 88.5 pounds 

 per hen. The hens in these experiments were above the 

 average size of Leghorns, many of them weighing over 4 

 pounds, which accounts for the larger consumption of 

 feed than in the other cases of Leghorns mentioned. 



The New Jersey Experiment Station, basing esti- 

 ira*es on its feeding tests, concludes that highest egg 

 production can be secured by limiting the amount of 

 grain fed to 12 pounds per day per 100 hens from Novem- 

 ber to April inclusive, 10 pounds in May and June, 8 

 pounds in July, 6 pounds in August, 5 pounds in Septem- 

 ber and October; and compelling the hens to make the 

 rest of their grain ration of dry mash. Those who under- 

 take to apply this formula should be guided to some ex- 

 tent by the disposition of the hens toward eating as large 

 a proportion of the mash as is indicated for the closing 

 months of the laying year. 



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