260 POULTRY BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT 



pay to feed this quantity. Ration 5 is an improvement on 

 No. 4. If corn is as cheap or cheaper than wheat this 

 ration should be fed. 



The Mash Feeding. If it is desired to feed a dry mash, 

 the bran, middlings and linseed should be put together in 

 a hopper where the fowls can help themselves at will. The 

 hopper should never be empty. It will improve the dry 

 mash still further if beef scrap be added, using from 10 to 

 15 pounds in 100 pounds mash. This will induce the fowls 

 to eat more of the dry mixture. Where milk constitutes 

 the animal food, it will be better to use a soft mash, mixing 

 it with milk ; also keeping milk where the fowls can drink 

 it whenever they want it. If no milk is available and the 

 mash is moistened with water, a hopper of beef scrap should 

 be supplied. In place of beef scrap, cut bones may be fed. 

 There is. no danger in the fowls eating too much beef scrap, 

 assuming of course that its quality is good. The only 

 danger is in permitting the hopper to get empty, for, after 

 being without animal feed for a few days, they will eat too 

 much of it when it is given to them again. 



Five pounds beef scrap is given as the amount necessary 

 for an average laying hen for a year. This amount will 

 vary with different hens. The fowls may not eat 2 or 3 

 pounds, or they may eat 6 or 7, but it is safe to permit each 

 hen to eat just what she requires. 



Oregon Station Method. Ration No. 4 is practically 

 the one used at the Oregon Station. The mash is fed moist. 

 Sour milk or buttermilk is used in mixing it, a little more 

 milk than ground grain being used. 



On account of the high prices of corn some years, less of 

 it has been used than is shown in table. Unless corn gets 

 down to about the price of wheat, the corn that is fed is 

 ground and put in the mash. The whole grains are then 

 wheat and oats. 



