

Tons of green feed for hens, growing on Weeks Farm 



CHAPTER IX. 



FEEDING HENS FOR EGG PRODUCTION 



' I V HP^ very first essential in feeding for eggs is heavy feeding. Too 

 *- many poultrymen feed only a maintenance ration instead of a pro- 

 ducing ration. The laying hen should never become hungry, conse- 

 quently she will never be overfed, for it is the hungry hen that overeats. 

 It takes a wonderful digestive machine to turn out an egg every 

 two days in the year, for the egg is highly concentrated raw feeds, and 

 without an abundance of large variety of feeds the hen cannot produce. 

 An egg is a marvelous production of rich food content manufactured 

 from the raw foods that the hen had before her. It behooves us to 

 make sure the hen has every essential for making that egg and the hen 

 knows much better than we what kind of food to select to produce that 

 egg, and only wants a chance to choose from a large enough variety to 

 be able to supply all the constituents of the egg. If a single element is 

 lacking in the feed, then egg production is not maximum. The hen 

 may have everything before her with which to make an egg and lack 

 only lime for the shell, and is thus hindered. If there is one element 

 lacking in the ration, the hen will have to carry the egg over to another 

 day in order to have that egg completed. If the egg is finished in due 

 time, the hen is compelled to eat more of one kind of food than is 

 necessary in order to make up for the lacking parts, and thus part of 



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