POULTRY EXPERIMENTS. II5 



where they could help themselves whenever they desired to do 

 so. Not more than one-fourth of the grain was wheat for the 

 pullets, while in the cockerel division nothing but cracked corn 

 and beef scrap were fed. Grit, bone and oyster shell were 

 always supplied. There were no regular hours for feeding, but 

 care was taken that the troughs were never empty. 



The results were satisfactory. The labor of feeding was far 

 less than that required by any other method we have followed. 

 The birds did not hang around the troughs and over-eat, but 

 helped themselves — a little at a time — and ranged off, hunting 

 or playing and coming back again when so inclined to the food 

 supply at the troughs. There was no rushing or crowding about 

 the attendant as is usual at feeding time where large numbers 

 are kept together. While the birds liked the beef scrap they 

 did not over-eat of it. 



During the range season — from June to the close of October — 

 the birds ate just about one pound of the scrap to ten pounds of 

 the cracked corn and wheat. They had opportunity to balance 

 their rations to suit themselves by having the two classes of food 

 to select from always at hand. It would seem that we had not 

 been far wrong in our previous feeding, as the birds used just 

 about the same relative amounts of scrap to other food, when 

 they had liberty to do so, that we had formerly mixed in for 

 them. 



We are not able to say whether this method is more or less 

 expensive of material, than when we fed the four feeds each day 

 at regular hours. As near as we could calculate, there were no 

 appreciable differences. 



The birds did well under this treatment. The cockerels were 

 well developed and we never raised a better lot of pullets. The 

 first egg was laid when the oldest pullets were four months and 

 ten days old. For the last six years the pullets have been from 

 four months and ten days to four months and twenty days old 

 when the first eggs were found. This year we shall make another 

 change by adding dry mash to the menu, — having a trough of 

 that material beside the ones containing beef scrap and cracked 

 corn. The difficulty of keeping the food clean and dry during 

 continued exposure is nearly overcome by using troughs with 

 slatted sides and broad, detachable roofs. We make them from 



