I0« MAIXE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIOX. I905. 



them. Also two pens of 150 birds each with floor space of 3.2 

 feet per bird to compare with the flocks of 100 birds above 

 mentioned. 



With pens of the same style and arrangement and birds of 

 our own raising-, matched in age, development and breed, and 

 with the same system of feeding and attendance, information 

 should be secured regarding the sizes of rooms and numbers in 

 flocks which may be of incalculable value to the poultry indus- 

 try of the country'. 



Feedixg the Hexs. 



For 25 years we have been at work with the same family of 

 Barred Plymouth Rocks and have learned several ways to feed 

 and handle them to secure eggs, and to avoid the losses which 

 are so common to mature hens of that breed, from over fatness. 

 Other methods of feeding may be as good or even better. 

 While it is true that only the full fed hen can lay to the limit of 

 her capacity, it is equally true that full feeding of the Plymouth 

 Rocks, unless correctly done, results disastrously. 



Several years ago we gave up the morning mash and fed it 

 late in the afternoon with far better results than when fed in the 

 morning. The full meal in the morning had produced laziness, 

 fatness and soft shelled eggs in our Plymouth Rocks, but these 

 bad conditions and results were not encountered when the birds 

 were required to eat slowly, and exercise by digging the hard 

 grains out of the straw bedding. 



The birds were fed throughout the year daily as follows : 

 Each pen of 22 received one pint of wheat in the deep litter 

 early in the morning. At 9.30 A. 3.1. one-half pint of oats was 

 fed to them in the same way. At i P. M. one-half pint of 

 cracked corn was given in the litter as before. At 3 P. ^I. in 

 winter and 4 P. ]\I. in summer they were given all the mash they 

 would eat up clean in half an hour. The mash was made of the 

 following mixture of meals: 200 lbs. wheat bran; 100 fbs. corn 

 meal; 100 lbs. wheat middlings; 100 lbs. linseed meal; 100 lbs. 

 gluten meal; 100 lbs. beef scrap. The mash containe'd one- 

 fourth of its bulk of clover leaves and heads obtained from the 

 feeding floor in the cattle barn. The clover was covered with 

 hot water and allowed to stand for three or four hours. The 



