METHODS OF FEEDING 253 



given too much, they will gorge themselves and stand 

 around lazily most of the day; this should be guarded 

 against. Where skim milk is available it is possible to 

 cheapen the ration by feeding wet mash. Cheap by- 

 products, such as bran and middlings, may be made to 

 make up a large proportion of the ration by mixing them 

 with milk. By making a mash with milk, more milk may 

 be fed to the fowls. It will also cheapen the ration where 

 skim milk is cheap by saving on higher-priced animal foods. 

 Where heavy feeding of ground grain is desired, it should 

 be fed wet. On the majority of the large poultry ranches 

 of the Petaluma, Cal., and of the Little Compton, R. I., 

 districts the wet mash method is used. 



When skillfully fed, the wet mash will give better re- 

 sults in egg yield than dry. The high egg records of the 

 Oregon Station were secured by wet mash feeding. Results 

 of experiments by Rice are slightly in favor of dry mash. 

 Gowell also secured results favorable to dry feeding. In 

 mixing wet mash, enough water or milk should be used to 

 make the mash crumbly. It should not be sloppy. Usually 

 about as much ground grain, by weight, as milk or water 

 will be about right. 



The results in feeding mash do not depend upon the 

 moisture or lack of moisture in it, but upon the amount of 

 ground grain consumed. It matters little whether the water 

 is put into it by the feeder, or whether the hen herself 

 drinks the water from the creek or the water fountain. 



Feeding Dry Mash. The dry mash is fed in hoppers 

 large enough for a week's supply or more, and the fowls 

 allowed to eat it at will. The dry mash may have the same 

 composition as the dry material in the wet, but about 10% 

 of its weight should be beef scrap. The fowls will eat it 

 more readily then. Without the beef scrap they will not 

 eat enough of the ground grain. In addition a hopper of 



