392 POULTRY PRODUCTION 



It may be entirely hopper fed, though most feeders will 

 prefer to feed out of hand at least once a day in order to 

 kee]) in touch with the progress of the stock. 



The pullets should be left on range until they are beginning 

 to lay, when they should be moved into their permanent 

 laying quarters. 



Developing Breeding Males. — The same principles and 

 practices involved in developing pullets apply to breeding 

 males. They should be kept separate from the pullets from 

 the time they begin to show marked secondary sexual 

 characteristics. The cockerels develop sexually earlier 

 than the pullets do, and, unless they are separated, will 

 worry the pullets to a degree that will seriously interfere 

 with the proper development of the latter. 



Routine in Feeding Layers Without Lights.— The details of 

 feeding |)ractice, like tlic constituents of a ration, vary with 

 feeders and conditions. As there is no one best ration, so 

 there is no feeding routine for chickens that is outstanding 

 in its excellence. The following practice, which has proved 

 successful in a large number of cases where lights were not 

 used to lengthen the feeding day, is given as l:)eing suggestive 

 of what a good routine may be: 



Give a light feed of grain, soon after the birds leave the 

 perch in the morning. This should be scattered in a deep 

 litter of straw to every part of the pen so that the birds will 

 be coni])elled to scratch vigorously for some hours in order to 

 search it all out. Fresh water should be supplied in the 

 morning. 



At noon as much succulence as the birds will clean up in 

 twenty minutes to half an hour should be supplied. Fresh 

 water should be given and the dry mash hopper opened. 



Two to three hours before the birds go to roost they should 

 be given a full feed of grain thrown in the litter. It is essential 

 to the best results that the birds go to roost with full crops, 

 and this feeding should not be stinted. An examination 

 of the crops of the birds should now and then be made after 

 they are on the perch to ascertain whether they are well 

 filled. 



It is better to overdo the matter of e\ening feeding a 



