232 POULTRY CULTURE 



Mash: Parts by 



weight 



Corn meal > .,_> ,-"->. 2 



Wheat middlings 2 



Wheat bran i 



Beef scrap 2 



Alfalfa meal i 



Grain fed morning and evening in litter. Mash fed wet at noon. 



(b) Same as (a) except mash fed dry in hoppers. 



(<:) The same grain mixture as (a] and (b} morning, noon, and night in litter, 

 and beef scrap in hoppers. 



(d} The same grain mixture as (tf), (), and (c) in hoppers, and beef scrap 

 in hoppers. 



All lots were given mangels and green cut bone at intervals while closely 

 confined. 



The pullets (White Leghorns) in this experiment were also under observa- 

 tion for data on other points than relation of ration to egg production, and were 

 subject to some conditions unfavorable to egg production, and so gave a rela- 

 tively low egg yield (averages : (a), 121.4; (<*), 129.3; (c\ 110.7; (d\ 107.5); 

 but as conditions were uniform, and the stock selected to make the different 

 lots strictly comparable, the results are valuable to the student of poultry feed- 

 ing. It is at once noted that the highest and the lowest egg yield came from 

 hopper-fed hens ; but the high yield came from the lot that, with grain in litter 

 (for exercise), had a rich dry mash accessible at all times, insuring full feeding 

 and the working off of any surplus of concentrated food, while the low egg yield 

 came from a lot kept through a year with only such exercise as full-fed hens 

 would take without compulsion. With hens of another type a much lower 

 egg yield and higher mortality would result from the use of ration (d). Both 

 (a) and (b) are heavy forcing rations, as they were designed to be ; but (b\ 

 though carrying a dangerous percentage of beef scrap, gave (conditions con- 

 sidered) good results, while (a) gave lower results in egg production, and ex- 

 traordinary mortality, due to the high percentage of beef scrap in a wet mash. 

 The tendency of the bird to balance its ration and to limit the quantities of 

 concentrated food taken is shown in a comparison of the relative proportions 

 of mash and grain eaten in rations (a) and (b). The hens fed on the wet mash ate 

 a smaller proportion of mash and a larger proportion of hard grain than those 

 fed dry mash, appetite warning them against the dangerous food. The con- 

 sumption of grit and shell in connection with these rations affords some inter- 

 esting data bearing on the question of the use of grit and the attitude of the 

 birds toward grit. The hens fed on ration (c) consumed more than twice as 

 much grit as those fed on (b) and (d}. The hens fed on (a) consumed about 

 40 per cent more grit than those fed on (b] and (d}. The hens fed on (c) con- 

 sumed from one fourth to one third more shell than those fed on the other 

 rations, and consumed nearly equal amounts of .shell and grit. The differ- 

 ences in consumption of grit between (b) and (d\ and in consumption of shell 



