CHAPTER IV. 



Feeding for Two Hundred Eggs a Year. 



We now have our hens in a dry, warm, sunny and sanitary 

 "house, have supplied them with facilities for keeping clean, 

 and, of course, want them to lay. What shall we feed and how 

 much ? This is an important question, for unless a hen is sup- 

 plied with material for egg production she cannot lay. She 

 can no more produce eggs without the proper food than a fac- 

 tory can turn out the finished product without raw materials. 

 What shall we feed and how much shall we feed, therefore? 



Let us again follow Lord Bacon's advice and interrogate 

 Nature. Suppose we take a hen as she comes up to the house 

 at the close of a long day in summer from foraging in the 

 fields, kill her, take out her crop and analyze its contents. If 

 we do so it is obvious that we shall obtain at least a part 

 of the information we are after, for a hen lays in summer 

 or not at all. 



What do we find as the result of our analysis? The crop 

 we are dissecting has about as many articles in it as the 

 average small boy's pocket, and they are equally miscellaneous. 

 We find grains of corn that the hen has picked up about the 

 barn, pieces of bread and table waste that she has found 

 under the sink spout, clover leaves and tips of grass blades, 

 bugs, worms and a mass of matter that we cannot resolve 

 into the original elements. The first thing that impresses 

 us as the result of our analysis is that the hen seeks variety, 

 this mass of miscellaneous matter that we found in the hen's 

 crop can be arranged in three divisions : First, Grain. Sec- 

 ond, Green food and vegetables. Third, Animal food in the 

 form of bugs, worms, and so forth. The conclusion is irresist- 

 ible, that these three elements must be combined if we would 

 have a perfect ration. 



How shall we combine them? The answer is not so diffi- 

 cult as one would at first suppose. There are many ways. 

 The hen makes a new combination every day. Perhaps the 

 ideal way is to have no stereotyped method, but to study vari- 

 ety. If we combine grain, green food and meat in the daily 

 ration, the hen can hardly fail to respond with a goodly output 

 of eggs. 



