CHAPTER XIII 



METHODS OF FEEDING 



While a knowledge of the composition of foods should 

 be possessed in order to feed successfully, it is equally 

 important that there should be a knowledge of how to feed. 

 It is not sufficient that the poultryman should have all the 

 best available poultry foods. He may have all the neces- 

 sary foods, and fail in the purpose for which he feeds. The 

 laying hens may have all the best available foods and yet 

 refuse to lay eggs unless the food comes to them in a cer- 

 tain way. Success in feeding for egg production will be 

 measured largely by the methods followed in feeding. 



Exercise and Activity. The secret, if there be any 

 secret, in how to feed to get eggs is to feed in such a way 

 that the natural activity of the . hen may be maintained. 

 In the production of flesh or meat in domestic animals as 

 well as in poultry, activity or exercise counts for little, nor 

 is exercise so important for the cow that is producing milk, 

 but activity is the life of the hen. She is given toe-nails to 

 scratch with, legs to walk with, wings to fly with. If there 

 is any one characteristic more than another that indicates 

 the good layer, it is the active use of those organs in her 

 every-day life. 



The vigor of the hen comes largely from her activity, and 

 it is the vigorous hen that lays. The reason hens on free 

 range often do better than others confined in yards, is 

 largely because of the active life they live. Under the 

 free-range system the poultryman need concern himself 

 little on this point, but when fowls are confined in yards, 



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