222 POULTRY BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT 



larger the laying hen, less food is required per pound 

 weight of hen. It has been shown in experiments by Wheel- 

 er that 100 pounds of chicks under two weeks of age re- 

 quired 10.1 pounds of food (digestible nutrients) per day; 

 from four to six weeks the requirement was 8.6 pounds; 

 at 10 to 12 weeks the requirement was 5.4, so that accord- 

 ing to the weight of the chick, or for every 100 pounds of 

 chicks regardless of number, nearly double the amount of 

 food is required during the first two weeks of their age as 

 is required from the 10th to the 12th week. It is also shown 

 that the small chick requires double the amount of food 

 that the laying hen needs, per pound weight. For a hen 

 not laying, the difference is still greater. More food, of 

 course, is eaten per chick as it grows older, but less is eaten 

 per pound weight of chick. 



Natural and Artificial Feeding. The business of poul- 

 try keeping is more or less artificial, even the feeding of 

 the fowls. Artificial methods, however, can be followed 

 successfully just so far. The lessons of feeding will be 

 more easily learned if account be taken of the manner in 

 which fowls secure their food under natural conditions. 

 Where they have their liberty to range over fields they pick 

 up weed seeds and waste grain, nibble at the grass and 

 grass roots, chase flies and grasshoppers, hunt for bugs and 

 worms, and finish off with grit for dessert. Under such 

 conditions the hen balances her own ration, maintains her 

 health and vigor and produces eggs abundantly, if the sup- 

 ply of these foods is large enough so that she can secure 

 her meals regularly each day. The exercise secured in 

 hunting for the food enables her to better digest and as- 

 similate her food and maintain her in good health and vigor. 

 But under natural conditions the daily food supply is un- 

 certain, and here is indicated the advantage of artificial or 

 systematic feeding, or the necessity of cooperation between 



