98 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



contain nearly half fat. How then can the hen 

 start to develop the first part of the egg unless it 

 has surplus fat in its body? And surplus fat is 

 merely stored-up energy. We must have hens in 

 reasonably fat condition before they will do their 

 very best laying." 



Liberal feeding is a necessity. Give the hen all 

 she needs to keep her in perfect physical condition, 

 and then enough more to put some fat on her body, 

 but do not go to the other extreme and feed her till 

 she is too fat to lay. This horn of the dilemma is a 

 little worse than the other, for a lean hen can be 

 fattened, but it is very hard to reduce an overf at hen. 



The two things which most tend to make a hen 

 overf at are (1) a ration too rich in fats and carbo- 

 hydrates, (2) lack of exercise. She must have 

 plenty of feed, but it must not be fattening feed, 

 and she must be made to work for it. A narrow 

 ration is best for breeds that take on fat too easily. 

 Corn and cornmeal should be avoided except in cold, 

 rainy weather, or balanced by a very liberal meat 

 ration. Tests at the Massachusetts Experiment Sta- 

 tion show that fat in the ration helps to digest the 

 protein in beef scrap and other animal foods. 



Things to Consider 



"Things to consider when mixing a laying ration, 

 says Bulletin 10 of Purdue University," are : 



1. There is no best ration. It is not the number 

 of pounds of feed consumed that controls results, but 

 the quantity of digestible food material in the 

 ration. There are plenty of good rations, and it 

 makes no difference what they are made of, if they 

 will produce results. 



2. Hens should be fed what they like. 



3. Hens know best how much to eat, but the 



