70 FEEDING OF FOWLS 



should be moistened with the milk. In the use of all 

 rations where meals only are mentioned, a daily ration 

 for each hen should consist of 2 oz. of dry meal, 

 fed wet or dry, and an equal quantity of whole 

 grain. 



None of these rations furnish sufficient mineral matter 

 for egg formation and for the other demands of nature. 

 Grit, limestone, oyster shell, or some similar material 

 must be supplied in addition. 



Feeding of Farm Flocks. Farm flocks, to be profit- 

 able, must have a ration suitable for the production 

 of both eggs and good table meat. No error in 

 feeding farm flocks is more common or more disas- 

 trous than that of giving too much fat-forming food. 

 An all-green ration renders the hens excessively fat, 

 sometimes induces apoplexy, and causes the production 

 of but few eggs. A grain ration for farm flocks may be 

 composed of grains in the following proportions, by 

 weight: 



Food Parts 



Cracked corn 20 



Wheat 40 



Oats 15 



Cracked corn is preferable because it is small, and, 

 like wheat and oats, when cast into litter must be sought 

 for by the fowls. During the winter all grain should 

 be thrown into dry chaff or litter of some kind in order 

 to keep the hens busy hunting for it. 



During the winter months the hens on the farm should 

 have a noonday feed of warm mash, the mixture being 

 composed, by weight, as follows: 



Food Parts 



Corn meal 40 



Meat 30 



Short-cut alfalfa or clover hay 30 



Oyster shell 2 



Grit 1 



Charcoal 1 



