POULTRY FEEDS AND FEEDING 



ence in percentage of gains, but even when broilers and 

 roasters are fed for the same length of time the gains with 

 the broilers are much greater than with the roasters. 



FATTENING HENS 



Thin hens or those which are covered with small pin 

 feathers are sometimes fed at many fattening stations 

 primarily to get them in better market condition rather 

 than to make any great gains in their weight. Gains se- 

 cured from hens are much smaller than from chickens 

 so that it only pays to fatten hens for a few days. In 

 commercial fattening stations the fattening period is 

 usually from 3 to 8 days, but only a small per cent of the 

 hens marketed through these stations are fattened at all. 



FATTENING RATIONS 



Buttermilk and skim milk form the basis of all com- 

 mercial fattening rations and are usually fed in a sour 

 condition although no special attention is paid to see 

 whether the milk is sour or sweet. Semi-solid, con- 

 densed and dried buttermilk are also used quite extensive- 

 ly where the fresh buttermilk is not available and these 

 products are giving very good satisfaction. In feeding 

 both the dried and the semi-solid or condensed butter- 

 milk it is possible to produce a better bleach on the 

 chickens by feeding a larger percentage of milk in the 

 ration, which is done by only partly diluting the semi- 

 solid products back to their original consistency. In- 

 stead of adding 6 or 7 parts of water to the semi-solid 



168 



