250 POULTRY BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT 



which is an artificial condition, great care must be taken 

 to furnish the exercise or the incentive to exercise. A hen 

 that ' t stands around ' ' all day, only exerting herself enough 

 to eat out of a hopper, is an unproductive hen. 



The exercise is best furnished by providing a roomy 

 scratching floor or shed covered with a deep litter of straw. 

 This may be from 8 to 12 inches deep, and should be kept 

 reasonably dry. The whole grain food should be scattered 

 in this straw. There will be no waste in this, as the fowls 

 will find about every kernel. The skill of the poultryman 

 comes in feeding enough at a time, without having to feed 

 too often, to keep the hens busy at work a large portion of 

 the day. If too much is given at a feed the fowls will soon 

 satisfy their appetites, while if too little is given they will 

 soon clean it up and there will be nothing to scratch for. 

 It is not necessary to keep them scratching all day. Leg- 

 horns, for instance, will do nearly as well when fed in a 

 hopper or box. If they have a yard and a floor they will 

 exercise themselves whether compelled to dig for their 

 food or not. Forced exercise, however, is necessary for 

 the larger or less active breeds. 



In an experiment three pullets kept in a small pen on a 

 board floor without any litter, laid 116 eggs in a year, an 

 average of 38 2-3 eggs each. One of these was a Leghorn 

 pullet which laid 52 eggs. Leghorns fed in straw averaged 

 169 per fowl, and others fed in boxes or hoppers averaged 

 161. Both were kept in pens without floors and had access 

 to an outside yard. They exercised a good deal by scratch- 

 ing in the earth. Two pens of Plymouth Rocks averaged 

 141 fed in straw, and two fed in boxes averaged 118 eggs 

 each. In each case the ration was the same. It is seen that 

 the method of feeding was responsible for a variation in 

 yield of from 38 eggs per fowl to 169. The experiment 

 showed that no exercise, or forced idleness, was ruinous 



