POULTRY 



647 



Water for hens — Hens require a rel- 

 atively large amount of water. And this 

 should be supplied to them fresh daily. 

 There are a number of forms of good 

 watering cans on the market, or a cheap 

 one can be made by making a hole in a 

 two-quart pail V2 inch from the rim, 

 filling it full of water, covering with a 

 pan a little larger than the pail and 

 inverting both. The water will run out 

 in the pan until it covers the hole. 



Self-feed for hens — Where whole 

 grains are used it is not advisable to 

 use a self-feed for hens, since they will 

 fill up their crop so soon that there is 

 no inducement to exercise, and exercise 

 is another one of the essentials of egg 

 production. It has been found, how- 

 ever, that ground feed including meat 

 meal, or other animal foods may be kept 

 before the hens constantly with good 

 results. At the Maine station this meth- 

 od of feeding was used in part in place 

 of feeding a mash, with good results. 

 Much less labor is involved, the egg 

 production seems to be fully as great 

 and the hens are just as healthy. The 

 dry meal does not appear to be relished 

 to the same extent as the mash, but is 

 eaten a mouthful or two at a time. The 

 hens are always ready to scratch for 

 their grain rations and finish out the 

 meal on the ground feed in the self-feed 

 troughs. The troughs should be covered 

 with slats, so that the hens will not 

 soil the feed. Under these conditions, 

 sef-feeds for hens seem to be practical. 



Food consumed by laying hens — One 

 hundred hens weighing from 5 to 8 

 pounds each will require about 3V 2 

 pounds of absolute dry matter daily, and 

 smaller hens up to 5.5 pounds daily. 



At the Utah station, Leghorns con- 

 sumed on the average a total of 75 

 pounds of feed a year, containing 55 

 pounds of dry matter; Wyandottes 100 

 pounds a year, containing 73 pounds 

 of dry matter; and Plymouth Eocks 

 about 110 pounds, containing 80 pounds 

 of dry matter. 



At the Maine station, each hen con- 

 sumed during the year 50 to 55 pounds 

 of ground grains made into mash and in 

 addition about 18 pounds of wheat, 6 

 pounds of cracked corn, 6 pounds of 

 oats, 6 pounds of oyster shells, 3 pounds 

 of dry poultry bone, 3 pounds of mica 

 grit and 40 pounds of mangels. The 

 straw for litter averaged 36 pounds a 



bird. With this food, the hens laid 

 about 150 eggs each a year. 



Chicken manure — As noted in another 

 chapter, poultry manure is the richest 

 of all farm manures in fertilizing ele- 

 ments. At the New York state station 

 it was found that the amount of manure 

 produced by one cockerel was at the rate 

 of 43 pounds a year. It had a value be- 

 tween 10 and 14 cents. It is best pre- 

 served under shelter mixed with either 

 acid phosphate, kainit, land plaster, dry 

 earth, or muck. Sand and sawdust are 

 valueless. Lime must be avoided as it 

 drives off the nitrogen. Composting with 

 loam or leaf would give good results. 



Age of hens as influencing egg pro- 

 duction — Pullets generally produce more 

 eggs than older hens, especially during 

 the winter months. At the Utah sta- 

 tion, the profits from feeding young 

 pullets for eggs was six times as great 

 as from hens three years old. In Can- 

 ada, pullets from January to March laid 

 about 40 per cent more eggs than old 

 hens. In experiments in New York with 

 5,200 fowls, pullets laid a considerably 

 larger number of eggs than old hens, 

 especially in the early part of the win- 

 ter, when eggs were highest in price. 



The records kept at some of the sta- 

 tions show that in exceptional cases 

 more eggs may be laid the second year 

 than the first. Por breeding purposes, 

 of course, two-year-old hens are pre- 

 ferred to pullets. At the Utah station, 

 41 hens representing five breeds, aver- 

 aged 178 eggs a fowl the first year and 

 125 eggs the second year. 



At the West Virginia station on the 

 other hand, 100 pullets produced 6,209 

 eggs, while the same number of hens 

 three to four years old laid 6,349 eggs. 

 Generally speaking, hens should be fat- 

 tened and disposed of at the end of 

 their first year or just before they molt. 



Influence of cock on egg production 

 — A number of experiments have been 

 made to determine the effect of the cock 

 on egg production. At the Massachu- 

 setts station and Canada experimental 

 farm, flocks in which cocks were main- 

 tained produced no more eggs than flocks 

 without a cock. At the New York sta- 

 tion two pens without males began to 

 lay one to two months earlier than pens 

 with males and laid from 22 to 32 per 

 cent more eggs during a feeding period 

 of about eight months. On the whole, 

 eggs were produced about 30 per cent 



