NUTRITION FOB LAYERS 41 



There is one other item in the bill of fare that must 

 not be overlooked if we would approximate toward 

 summer conditions. The fowls must have green food, 

 and a certain amount of bulky food. So feed cabbage, 

 raw, and cut clover that has been soaked in boiling 

 water, giving these at night, or with the morning mush, 

 or occasionally at noon (though not at this time in 

 quantities to satisfy the fowls' hunger, else scratching 

 will cease), and it will be found that the eggs, if not 

 allowed to get chilled, contain strong and fertile germs. 



It is generally considered that poultry like a variety 

 of food and do better when the rations are frequently 

 changed than where one or two things are fed continu- 

 ously. A western poultry keeper, who has been very 

 successful in securing winter eggs, varies the ration 

 from day to day and feeds as follows : Monday morn- 

 ing, sheaf oats, night, warm mash; Tuesday morning, 

 vegetables, noon, cut green bone, night, cracked corn 

 scattered in litter; Wednesday morning, sheaf wheat, 

 evening, warm mash ; Thursday morning, vegetables, 

 noon, whole wheat in litter, night, whole corn in litter ; 

 Friday morning, vegetables, noon, green cut bone, night, 

 cracked corn in litter; Saturday morning, sheaf wheat, 

 evening, warm mash ; Sunday morning, vegetables, noon, 

 whole wheat in litter, night, whole and cracked corn 

 and wheat in litter. 



The sheaf wheat or oats fed in the morning keep the 

 fowls busy all day, so that na more feed is required. 

 The mash consists of cooked potatoes or vegetables, cut 

 clover and beef scraps, all mixed in a crumbly mass with 

 some bran, shorts, chop feed, a little oil meal and salt, 

 and sometimes a little powdered charcoal. Clean, fresh 

 water is given them twice a day and oyster shells and 

 grit are kept before them at all times. The houses are 

 dry and warm and the fowls are fed only as much as 

 they will eat up clean. 



