18 BULLETIN 561, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



fowls were first put into them. Two yards for each pen allows about 

 440 square feet of ground per fowl, which is at the rate of about 100 

 hens to the acre. Pen 7 was confined to a single yard, which was 

 plowed and ' planted after the hens had been in the yard about 

 9 months. The hens were confined by a temporary fence to a space 

 of about one- tenth of the entire yard for 4 weeks until the oats were 

 well started. This pen has a yard space of 218 square feet per hen, or 

 about 200 hens to an acre. A single yard handled in this manner does 

 not provide a good yarding system for poultry on heavy clay land. 

 The growing grain and grass is all killed within a few weeks, and the 

 yard is entirely bare the rest of the year. 



No green feed was supplied to the pens on free range, but sprouted 

 oats were fed at noon daily to those confined to yards (Pens 3, 5, 

 and 7). Pens 3 and 5 were fed some cabbages during their first 

 winter (1912 to 1913), but did not receive green feed regularly until 

 March, 1913, when the sprouted oats secured from half a pound of 

 dry oats were fed daily. The amount of dry oats per pen was 

 increased at the beginning of 1914 to 0.6 of a pound (about 1 J square 

 inches of sprouted oats daily per hen) and fed to Pens 3, 5, and 7. 

 The cost of green feed in 1912 to 1913 per dozen eggs in Pens 3 and 

 5 was 0.8 and 0.9 cents, respectively. The cost per hen was 8.7 cents 

 in Pen 3 and 9 cents in Pen 5. The cost of the green feed includes 

 only the cost of the cabbages used in 1912 and 1913 and the cost of 

 the dry oats for the rest of the time. In 1913 and 1914 the cost per 

 dozen eggs in Pens 3, 5, and 7 was 1.8, 1.5, and 1 cents, respec- 

 tively, and the cost per hen was 11.4 cents in Pen 3, 11.7 cents in 

 Pen 5, and 10 cents in Pen 7. This cost was proportionately 

 greater in 1915, as the same quantity of oats was fed to each pen, 

 while the number of hens had decreased slightly, and the egg yield 

 had decreased materially. Thus the green feed increased the cost 

 of feeding the hens about 10 cents each, and during their first two 

 years added a little over 1 cent per dozen to the cost of the eggs. 



CONSUMPTION OF GRIT AND OYSTER SHELL. 



The hens in 1912 to 1913 were fed about 1.3 pounds each of grit 

 and oyster shell, which cost about 1.6 cents per hen. In 1913 to 

 1914 the hens were fed about the same amount of oyster shell but 

 only about one-third as much grit, reducing the cost to about 1 cent 

 per hen. During the third laying year, as egg production decreased 

 the hens consumed considerably less grit and oyster shell. The con- 

 sumption was slightly greater in Pens 9 and 10, where no beef scrap 

 was fed, than in the beef -scrap pens. Pens 10 to 16 ate on the aver- 

 age in one year from 0.5 to 1 pound of grit per hen and from 1.5 to 

 2.5 pounds of oyster shell. 



