MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 55 



Composition of Dry Mash Ped to Laying Pullets. 

 First month in laying house (September) ; — 



Bran 300 lbs. 



Corn meal 100 lbs. 



Daisy flour (or other low-grade flour) 100 lbs. 



Meat scrap 100 lbs. 



Second month in laying house (October) : — 



Bran 200 lbs. 



Corn meal 100 lbs. 



Daisy flour, or other low-grade flour 100 lbs. 



Gluten meal 100 lbs. 



Meat scrap 100 lbs. 



Third month in the laying house (November) : — 



The mash has the same composition as that of the second 

 month given above ivith the addition of jo pounds of linseed 

 meal. 



Fourth month in the laying house : — 



The mash has the same composition as that of the second 

 month given above. 



Fifth month in the laying house: — 



The mash has the same composition as that of the third' 

 month as given above. 



From this time on 50 pounds of linseed meal are put into the 

 mash as given for the second month above every alternate 

 month. That is to say, one month linseed meal is fed and the 

 next month it is not. 



This dry mash made as described above is kept before the 

 birds all the time in open hoppers of the type described farther 

 on. 



The advantages which it is believed have resulted from this 

 method of feeding the laying pullets are two fold : first, in the 

 good effect on the vitality of the birds, and, second, in its effect 

 on the evenness of egg production during the winter months. 

 It is a fact well known to poultrymen that if pullets are too 

 rapidly forced for egg production in the early ' fall there is a. 

 marked tendency for them to moult during the winter at just- 

 the time when they should be doing their best work in egg pro- 

 duction. Since adopting the method of feeding the pullets de- 



