NEW SYSTEMS IN POUI/TRY FARMING. 167 



Hopper feeding is becoming popular of late years. 

 Feeding dry mash, however, is not a new idea. I. 

 heard of it twenty-five years ago, but no poultryman 

 seemed to think enough of it to adopt it. Opinions, 

 it seems, have changed, and the hopper system (we 

 fed the mash in troughs) is being used generally. 

 The arguments given in favor of the dry mash and 

 whole grain diet are, first, that when the fowls become 

 used to it they will prefer the ground grain dry to 

 that which is either cooked or steamed ; second, it 

 saves labor; third, keeps the fowls in a more healthful 

 condition; fourth, there is better fertility to the eggs. 

 Another benefit claimed is that after the fowls have 

 taken a few mouthfuls they will run to the drinking 

 vessels and secure several swallows of water then 

 back again to the trough and so on during the 

 entire meal. It is claimed that more water is con- 

 sumed by dry-fed fowls, and as water enters so largely 

 in the composition of the egg, increased egg pro- 

 duction should be the result. 



I do not think there is so much danger of overfat 

 hens, and consequently there are less soft-shelled and 

 deformed or ill-shaped eggs, fewer cases of bowel 

 disorders, and less trouble with indigestion, where 

 the feed is given in a dry state, and this is especially 

 so when steeped clover hay and alfalfa are fed daily. 

 Clover hay is preferred by the majority of poultry- 

 men, and the hens seem to prefer it, too. 



While I have not as yet adopted the perfectly dry 

 mash, I feed it almost dry, using just enough water 

 to make the meals crumbly. But for growing chicks 



