TOULTEY 



645 



Much less labor is required in feeding 

 the mash this way and so far as ob- 

 served there has been less sickness than 

 ever before and an even larger produc- 

 tion of eggs. 



Animal food for laying hens — Hens 

 should always have some animal food 

 for the best results in egg production. 

 There is some question as to the best 

 form in which it should be fed. Ex- 

 cellent results are secured from the feed- 

 ing of fresh ground bone or meat scraps. 

 The supply of this material is frequent- 

 ly inadequate and hence reliance must 

 be had on some of the commercial prep- 

 arations, like meat meal, dried blood, 

 meat scraps, milk, milk albumen, etc. 



Fresh meat — Chickens relish the 

 fresh meat scraps most. This material 

 is more watery, less concentrated and 

 hence can be fed in much larger quan- 

 tity than meat meals and dried blood. 



At the Utah stations hens fed fresh 

 meat scraps averaged 201 V2 eggs per 

 fowl during the year, while those fed 

 beef meal laid 133 eggs. The fresh 

 meat was fed three times weekly, while 

 the meat meal was given in the mash 

 daily. There was 40 per cent more fat 

 in the fresh meat fed than in the meat 

 meal. At another station tallow was 

 added to the ration without influencing 

 egg production either favorably or un- 

 favorably. 



At the "West Virginia station veiy 

 similar results were obtained with meat 

 meal and ground fresh meat and bone. 

 At that same station, hens fed beef 

 scraps produced a few more eggs than 

 when fed milk albumen or ground fresh 

 meat and bone. The difference was not 

 significant and the fertility of eggs was 

 equally high in each case. 



Milk albumen — At the Utah station, 

 when hens were fed milk albumen in 

 comparison with fresh meat scraps, the 

 hens on the milk albumen ration aver- 

 aged 101 eggs a fowl, while those fed 

 fresh meat scraps averaged 143V2 eggs. 

 The Utah work taken as a whole indi- 

 cates that both meat meal and milk al- 

 bumen, which is a by-product of milk 

 sugar factories, are inferior to fresh 

 meat scraps or cut bone for egg produc- 

 tion. 



In a three months' test at the Canada 

 experiment farms pullets fed 1 ounce 

 of green bone each in addition to other 

 feeds, laid about 60 per cent more eggs 

 than pullets not fed green bone. 



Out of five experiments at the Massa- 

 chusetts Hatch station two were in fa- 

 vor of cut bone and three in favor of 

 animal meal for egg production. The 

 latter proved the safer food also. 



Dried blood — In a test reported from 

 New South Wales, dried blood used to 

 supplement a grain ration and green 

 food, was cheaper and resulted in a 

 larger egg production than when either 

 ox liver or cut green bone was fed. In 

 another experiment hens receiving dried 

 blood in the ration began laying earlier 

 in the season and laid more eggs than 

 when it was omitted. 



Meat meal — At the New York state 

 station a ration containing about 19 per 

 cent of meat meal was fed to laying 

 hens in comparison with a ration con- 

 taining the same amount of protein, but 

 derived solely from vegetable sources. 

 About 23 per cent more food was re- 

 quired to produce a pound of eggs on 

 the ration wholly of vegetable origin 

 than when the meat was used. When, 

 however, bone ash was added to the 

 vegetable ration, so that the ash con- 

 tent of the two rations was alike, 

 nearly as good results were obtained as 

 on the animal meal ration. On the 

 whole, the results of experiments with 

 90 hens at the station has been in favor 

 of animal food in the rations. 



Amount to feed — In feeding either 

 dried blood, meat scraps or meat meal, 

 these materials would ordinarily not be 

 made to constitute more than 10 per 

 cent of the total rations fed. They can 

 generally be mixed with the mash given 

 the hens to advantage. 



Skim milk can be substituted, either 

 wholly or in part, for any of the other 

 animal foods without decreasing egg 

 production. It may be fed either sweet 

 or sour, alone or mixed with the mash. 

 It must never be made, however, to take 

 the place of fresh water and plenty of it. 



At the West Virginia station, Stewart 

 and Atwood mixed a mash for laying 

 hens with skim milk. The egg produc- 

 tion was increased about 20 per cent 

 thereby, and the milk had a feeding 

 value of iy 2 to 2 cents a quart. This 

 is three to five times its value as a food 

 for hogs. 



Stimulating feeding stuffs for hens 



Feeding warm meal mixtures in winter, 

 ground meat, red pepper, etc, to stim- 

 ulate laying is a common practice 

 among poultrymen. Experiments along 



