358 AGRICULTURE 



hours after hatching the young chick needs no feed of any 

 kind. Nature had provided for this period by having the yolk 

 of the egg absorbed into the abdomen of the chick just before 

 it is hatched. This food must be used up before the chick 

 is ready for more. 



The first food given the chicks may be stale bread soaked 

 in milk and squeezed dry; hard boiled eggs chopped fine, 

 shell and all ; or cracked corn, wheat or oats. A good grain 

 ration for chicks is made of equal parts of cracked corn, 

 cracked wheat and cut oats fed five times a day. An excel- 

 lent supplementary ration to hasten growth is the follow- 

 ing : Bran, ten pounds ; shorts, ten pounds ; cornmeal, five 

 pounds ; meat scraps, five pounds ; charcoal, two and one- 

 half pounds. This mixture may either be fed wet or dry. 

 Plenty of sour milk will add greatly to the effectiveness of 

 the ration. Green foods should also be supplied from the 

 first. 



Feeding laying hens. Hens, like other animals, do 

 best on a ration balanced to meet their needs. There is 

 no one best ration, since the necessary food elements can be 

 obtained from many different sources. It is certain, how- 

 ever, that fowls require grain, meat, or milk, mill feeds 

 such as shorts, or bran, green foods, sharp grit, shell and 

 water. 



The following is recommended as a well balanced lay- 

 ing ration, though wheat may be left out and more corn 

 and oats added, or milk supplied instead of the meat scraps. 

 (Purdue Extension Bulletin, 10.) 



GRAIN DRY MASH 



10 pounds of corn. 5 pounds of bran. 



10 pounds of wheat. 5 pounds of shorts. 



5 pounds of oats. 3^6 pounds of meat scraps. 



The grain is fed in a litter of straw night and morning, 



