10 BULLETIN" 561, U. S. DEPAKTMENT OF AGKICULTUEE. 



also influenced by the quality of the grains, as the fowls apparently 

 liked some lots of feed better than others, although the quality and 

 condition of all the grains were good. The average percentages for 

 the different pens in both years are fairly uniform, as is shown in 

 table 4c. 



The results show that hens will not eat too much beef scrap and 

 that they can be allowed to select their own mash feeds. One thing 

 emphasized in this work is the large percentage of corn meal, which 

 is 2 to 3 times as much as is usually recommended in a mash. 

 The large percentage of corn meal in this mash did not tend to make 

 the hens too fat, as shown by the monthly weight records in Table 10- 

 The health of the fowls was in no way adversely affected by the large 

 percentage of corn meal in the mash. Pen 3 went through its entire 

 second year (1913-14) without any sickness or deaths and was the 

 only pen in which no mortality occurred during that year. Pen 5, 

 which also had a large percentage of corn meal in the mash, went 

 through the year 1915, when they were 3-year-old hens, without any 

 deaths. 



The mash in Pen 5 was mixed according to the proportions eaten 

 by Pen 3, as shown in Table 1. The mash originally contained 10 

 per cent bran, 12 per cent middlings, 63 per cent corn meal, and 15 

 per cent beef scrap, based on what Pen 3 was eating at that time. 

 This was changed after Pen 3 had been in the experiment one year, 

 using the average proportions for the year. Pen 5 laid as well as 

 Pen 3 the first year, considering the difference in the time that the 

 pens were started; and laid 22 more eggs per hen in 1914, producing 

 eggs 2.5 cents per dozen cheaper. In 1915, Pen 5 laid 23 more eggs 

 per hen than Pen 3 and produced eggs 2.3 cents per dozen cheaper. 

 This difference in production during the second and third years is 

 partly, if not entirely, due to the difference in time of year when 

 these pens matured and started to lay. This is discussed more in 

 detail on page 20. Pen 5 also received 12 per cent more beef scrap 

 in 1915 than Pen 3, which tends to account for part of the increased 

 production in the former pen. Pen 5 contained more broody hens 

 in both 1913 and 1914 and the same number in 1915 as Pen 3. 



The mash in Pen 8 was mixed according to the proportions eaten 

 by Pen 4. Pen 8 laid 36.7 more eggs per hen than Pen 7 and pro- 

 duced eggs 2 cents per dozen cheaper in 1914, while in 1915 Pen 8 

 laid 44.8 more eggs per hen and produced eggs 1.9 cents per dozen 

 cheaper than Pen 7. Pens 7 and 8 were started at the same time, 

 but Pen 7 and Pen 4 were allowed to balance their own rations. 

 Pen 7 was confined to a yard while Pens 4 and 8 were on free range. 

 The effect of free range on egg production is discussed on page 16. 

 Pen 8 received about 4 per cent more beef scrap than Pen 7 in 1914 

 and about 16 per cent more in 1915 and produced the highest 



