46 HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



Poultry Experiments. 

 Poultry experiments were continued during the winter of 

 1895-06 upon a small scale. Our attention has been con- 

 fined to two points, viz. : — 



1. Effect upon egg-production of the use of condition 

 powders. 



2. Comparative value for egg-production of dry ground 

 animal meal and cut fresh bone. 



1. Effect of Condition Powder upon Egg-product ion. 

 The experiment to test the value of condition powder in 

 feeding for e2:o::s was begun February 9 and continued until 

 April 28. We used two lots of fowls, selected with the 

 utmost care with respect to similar characteristics in the two 

 lots. Each lot contained 3 barred Plymouth Rock hens, 8 

 light Brahma hens, 6 light Brahma i)ullets and 2 Wyandotte- 

 light Brahma pullets. The hens were one and three-quar- 

 ters years old at the time the experiment began. Each lot, 

 consisting of 19 fowls, occupied a detached house having 

 two compartments (scratching shed and closed roosting and 

 nest room), respectively 8 by 12 and 10 by 12 feet in size, 

 the nest room with two windows. These houses adjoin each 

 other and lioth have precisely the same exposure. The two 

 lots were fed as follows : in the morning they received a 

 mash which was mixed hot the previous evening; at noon, 

 and again one hour before sundown, whole grain was scat- 

 tered in the straw in the scratching sheds. Artificial grit, 

 oyster shells and pure water were kept always before them. 

 The only difference in the management of the two lots was 

 that condition powder was mixed in the mash for one lot, in 

 accordance with directions furnished with the powder. This 

 experiment seemed important, in view of the large amount 

 of money, in the aggregate, which is expended in the pur- 

 chase of such i)owders ; and, notwithstanding the very gen- 

 eral impression that they are useful, in the absence of any 

 definite proof of the fact. / would call especial attention to the 

 fact, — whicJi, though generally ivell known, is often lost sight 

 of — that no one experiment can settle this question in the one 

 way or the other. The results of this experiment are pub- 



