FEEDING BREEDING AND EXHIBITION FOWLS 



91 



rate of production that the hens will maintain on average 

 good rations, with plenty of variety and plenty of exer- 

 cise. In general, breeding stock gives best results when 

 given considerably more yard room than is necessary for 

 hens kept for laying only. When hens are laying in clo-e 

 confinement and are ' well fed they usually lay rather 

 better than when given a large range. In nearly all cases. 



FAVORABLE CONDITIONS FOR GROWING STOCK 



With plenty of room and both sun and shade, chick- 

 ens that are well fed grow bit; and husky. I'hotn show.-. 

 Mr. Jos. Mason a veteran utility Light Brahma breeder. 



other things being equal, hens that are liberally fed meat 

 >craps or green cut bone will lay considerably more than 

 those that are not. 



So by giving his breeding stock large yards or fairly 

 good range, and by keeping highly concentrated animal 

 feeds out of their rations, the poultry keeper can keep 

 their egg production 20 to 30 per cent lower than it would 

 be with heavy feeding of animal matter in confinement. 

 Many observations indicate that the substitution of milk 

 for meat scrap in rations fed to breeding stock gives 

 much better fertility in the eggs, and stronger germs, yet 

 the evidence on this point is not so one-sided that it can 

 be affirmed that the feeding of rations containing heavy 

 percentages of meat invariably makes for lower fertility 

 and vitality. Matters relating to fertility are the most 

 complicated and obscure and the least understood of all 

 questions that call for consideration of poultry keepers; 

 and comparisons of results in different flocks, handled by 

 different persons under different conditions, throw no 

 light on the subject except as careful observers are able 

 to make first-hand studies of cases. Practically no sys- 

 tematic work of this kind has been done. All the com- 

 parative observations on fertility that have been pub- 

 lished are for different flocks on the same plant. 



The writer regards it as quite improbable that the 

 feeding of any article of poultry feed is, in itself, capable 

 of having any marked influence on fertility either one 

 way or the other. But high feeding is generally more or 



detrimental to fertility in all animals, and it is to be 

 expected that in a comparison between results of feeding- 

 breeding stock a hearty grain ration made richer by the 

 addition of highly concentrated animal feeds, and the 

 same ration modified with milk, the latter would quite 

 regularly show the best fer'ility. At the same time it is 

 in line with many observations, and altogether reasonable, 

 to suppose that the same difference would follow were 

 the ration modified in some other way as by the feeding 

 of green feed to the extent that would modify a grain and 

 meat ration as much as an unstinted allowance of milk 

 modifies a grain ration. 



In practically all statements of rations, the amount 

 of green feed consumed is either an unknown quantity, 

 or is much less than poultry would consume if they could 

 get all they wanted. Breeding stock on range on grass 

 land, or on land growing a crop which the poultry do 

 not eat, and from which they take as vegetable feeds, grass 

 and weeds, will get also large quantities of worms and 

 insects. Breeding stock in poultry yards sown to rape 

 or a similar growing crop, to which they are allowed ac- 

 cess only as they eat it quite clean, and breeding stock 

 in yards which afford no green feed, but where green 

 feed of some kind grown outside is supplied as freely as 

 they will eat it, cannot get any considerable amount of 

 animal feed for themselves. 



In such cases some concentrated animal feed is nec- 

 essary not so much as when it is desired to secure the 

 heaviest egg production possible under similar conditions, 

 but still enough to make a mash appetizing. It is desir- 

 able, whenever it is practical, to keep breeding fowls 

 where they will be well fed on a variety of feed without 

 giving them anything but a little hard grain. But only 

 the small breeding flock on a relatively large and good 

 range can have these advantages, and when the truth 

 about this matter is told, the bulk of the better-than- 

 average standard stock produced every year comes from 

 breeding stock that has not by any means ideal conditions 

 of range, but is given, as far as possible, the care nec- 

 essary to make up for this lack. 



The less concentrated rations, whether modified with 

 milk, or with vegetable feed, generally give, a smaller egg 

 yield. As between hens kept under the same conditions 

 it is often noticeable that if one pen is laying very heav- 

 ily, say up to 75 or 80 per cent, and another is laying 

 about 50 per cent, the pen having the lowest egg yield 

 will give the best fertility and the most chickens. Both 

 pens being fed alike it would appear that the ration was 

 a better laying ration, for one pen than for the other- 

 that the pen that laid at the lowest rate would need 

 something more stimulating to bring it to its best in egg 

 production. Most people in feeding poultry seem to find 

 it easier to make the changes necessary to bring up egg 

 production, than to make those that will slow up egg 

 production without putting the fowl out of condition. The 

 best way to do this is gradually to cut out all ground 

 feed, giving less of it each day for about a week and 

 then stopping it entirely, but feeding liberally of wheat, 

 barley, heavy oats, or hard, bright cracked corn, until 

 the egg production goes down to about an average of 50 

 per cent. If it seems likely to go below that feed mash 

 and meat or cut bone moderately until it comes back and 

 is held at an average just above 50 per cent. 



At this general rate of production most of the hens 

 in a flock will throw good strong chickens and do f o 

 until quite late in the season, even though they have laid 

 continuously through the winter and spring. The hen is 

 in better condition, her vitality is better maintained, and 

 she has more of it to transmit to her offspring. If kept 

 through the breeding season on a diet and system that 

 gives only what may be regarded as a normal production 

 of eggs for so long a period, she is also more likely to 

 lay well through the remainder of the year, when her 

 eggs are used for the table. 



Feeding in Preparation for Exhibition 



Theoretically, birds that are bred right for the right 

 size, weight, and type and grown right (if young), or 

 kept in normal condition through their molt (if old), do 

 not require any special feeding. But the seasoned ex- 



