PEED COST OF EGG PRODUCTION. 15 



FISH MEAL. 



Fish meal, a by-product of the menhaden industry, was used to 

 replace beef scrap in the ration of Pen 13, in comparison with Pen 

 14, a check pen receiving beef scrap. The mash in Pen 13 con- 

 tained 20 per cent fish meal, while that of Pen 14 contained the 

 same percentage of beef scrap. (See Table 1.) The fish meal was 

 given an estimated value of $46 per ton, at which price ($7 per 

 ton cheaper than beef scrap) the fish meal proved a good substitute 

 for beef scrap and an economical feed. The protein in the fish 

 meal appeared to be as efficient as that in the beef scrap, considering 

 the relative composition of the feeds. 



No abnormal effects were noted in the size, taste, or quality of 

 the eggs from the pen fed fish meal. The fowls in both pens kept 

 in good condition and the mortality was low. Both pens were on 

 free range, but the range of the fish-meal pen was largely in grass 

 while the beef-scrap pen ranged in the woods where there was not 

 any greensward. This difference in range would be slightly in 

 favor of the fish-meal pen. This experiment did not begin until 

 the middle of January, and the egg production in both of these 

 pens was very good for pullets started at that time of the year. 

 Each pen contained 18 pullets. 



The egg yield per hen on beef scrap was 160, compared with 145.4 

 on fish meal, but the latter pen produced eggs at 8.5 cents per dozen, 

 while the eggs from the former pen (beef scrap) cost 9.7 cents. The 

 profit per hen over feed cost was about equal, being 7 cents greater 

 in the beef -scrap pen (see Table 2). The beef scrap was about 6 

 per cent higher in digestible crude protein than the fish meal (see 

 Table 12), so about one-tenth more fish meal than beef scrap might 

 be fed to advantage in the mash to make the protein content equal. 

 Both fish meal and fish scrap may also be fed with beef scrap with 

 excellent results, replacing about half of the beef scrap with the 

 fish product. 



VALUE OF GROUND GRAINS. 



Pen 6 was started on a ration (see Table 1) of scratch grains, with 

 beef scrap before the hens all the time. No dry mash of ground 

 grains was fed; the object being to compare the effect and value of the 

 mash in the ration. The hens ate the beef scrap freely, but constant 

 diarrhea developed in the pen, so that it appeared advisable to keep 

 a mixture of equal parts of corn meal and middlings before the hens, 

 which largely checked this evil. The birds were given all the scratch 

 grains they would clean up and ate 16 per cent of mash in 1913, 



k26 per cent in 1914, and 27 per cent in 1915. The percentage of 

 beef scrap in the total ration in this pen beginning in January, for 

 4-week periods, was as follows: In 1913: 14, 13, 8, 16, 11, 4, 4, 2, 2, 



