252 POULTRY BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT 



would not be as active the rest of the day as if fed a light 

 feed of grain in the litter in the morning. A good feed of 

 mash about an hour before going to roost, followed by a 

 feed of whole grain, will give satisfactory results. In cold 

 weather especially the practice of feeding whole grain 

 liberally the last feed of the day is a good one. "Whole 

 grain will "stay with them" better throughout the long, 

 cold night than mash, and keep up the heat of the body 

 better. It will save feeding in the morning if at the last 

 feed at night enough grain is thrown on the litter to more 

 than satisfy the fowls, and leave some for them to begin 

 scratching for in the morning. Where wet mash is fed 

 the first thing in the morning, this should not be done. The 

 writer prefers to feed the mash in the morning, just as soon 

 as the fowls come from the roost, but to feed only as much 

 as they will eat up readily so they will go to work scratch- 

 ing in the straw for the whole grain. It is not so material 

 at what time of the day the soft food is fed, as it is that the 

 fowls be kept active and retain their appetites. 



Length of Day and Egg Yield. There is no doubt some 

 connection between the lower egg yield in winter and the 

 shorter days. When the spring comes and the feeding day 

 lengthens there is an increase in production. Some of this 

 increase is probably due to the longer period of activity 

 and the necessarily greater consumption of food. Some 

 support is given to this theory by recent private experi- 

 ments in the use of electric light in the poultry house. It 

 is a point worthy of further investigation. 



Wet versus Dry Mash. Dry feeding saves labor. Fowls 

 relish the wet mash better. Wet mash economizes in the 

 ration. By feeding the mash dry, it may be fed once a 

 week in hoppers. When fed moist it must be fed once a 

 day. Fowls will eat wet mash more greedily than dry, and 

 for that reason more care is required in feeding it. If 



