THE EGG AND ITS GERM 



butic and medicinal properties of fresh plant life. Breeders 

 who use clover or alfalfa freely and encourage their fowls to 

 eat it, get the best results in fertile eggs. 



It is not possible to get strong, well fertilized, hatcliable 

 eggs where birds are forced for egg production by feeding con- 

 centrated mash foods. Mash food fed too freely or. too often 

 will result in large watery eggs that will not hatch well. The 

 free use of moist mashes also tends to create more or less dis- 

 turbance of the digestive organs, resulting in looseness of the 

 bowels or some other evidence of lack of perfect condition. 

 This does not mean that mashes should not be fed to breeding 

 birds, but that rich mash food should never be pushed with a 

 view to getting the greatest possible egg production if the eggs 

 are intended for hatching purposes. 



Highly concentrated mashes, containing quantities of beef 

 scrap or other meat food, should not be fed to breeding stock. 

 Any considerable amount of scrap or other meat food fed in 

 the grain mixture has a, tendency to create digestive distur- 



always a morning mash. Whatever time you select for feed- 

 ing mash, be sure to have it come at the same feeding time each 

 day. No matter what else you may neglect, do not fail to see 

 that your birds have regular meals or, if you dry feed, that they 

 are always supplied. Careless, or irregular feeding methods 

 are sure to upset the condition of the stock. 



If the birds do not take kindly to the clover in the mash 

 at first use only a very small quantity and gradually work 

 it up as the fowls become accustomed to it. The other 

 feeding should be a mixture of hard dry grains fed in the 

 litter. 



A good scratching grain mixture can be made of 30 pounds 

 each of wheat and barley, to 40 pounds of freshly cracked or 

 whole com. Keep grit, oyster shell and dry, pure beef scrap 

 constantly before the birds in a grit box or food hopper. In 

 addition to this, whenever obtainable, hang cabbage in the pen 

 for the birds to work at, or split beets or mangel wurzels in halves 

 and nail them, cut surface outward to the studding of the 



12— WELL VENTILATED HOUSES ARE INDISPENSIBLE 



bances and it is the belief of the writer that nearly all of the 

 trouble which has been experienced by those who feed mash 

 foods is due to the' use of meat and animal fats in the ground 

 grain, moist mash mixture. 



A MOIST MASH RATION FOR BREEDING STOCK 



Where it is desired to feed breeding stock according to the 

 moist mash method, the following will be found a desirable 

 plan for feeding: Scald a quantity of out or mealed clover or 

 alfalfa, sufficient to form one fourth to one-half of the bulk of 

 the mash for your flock. Into this stir a mixture of equal parts 

 by measure of heavy bran and coarse com meal or equal parts 

 by measure of com and oat chop and heavy bran. Mix the 

 whole into a crumbly mash as dry as possible and feed either 

 morning, noon or night, according to the convenience of the 

 breeder. When fed at night this mash should be followed by 

 a feed of mixed hard grain. Adopt some regular plan of feeding 

 and stick to it. If you start with a morning mash, make it 



poultry house, at a convenient height for the birds to pick at. 



A GOOD DRY FOOD RATION FOR BREEDING STOCK 



In the litter use dry grain scratching food consisting of 

 the same dry grain mixture mentioned above, or made of 30 

 pounds coarse cracked or whole com; 30 pounds wheat; 30 

 pounds barley; 7 pounds kaffir corn, and 3 pounds sunflower 

 seed. This should be scattered morning and night in deep litter 

 always keeping a sufficient amount of grain in the litter 

 so that the birds can find a kernel by scratching for it. Keep 

 dry, pure beef scrap constantly before the birds in one compart- 

 ment of the food hopper; keep the other compartment of the 

 food hopper filled with a dry grain mash mixture made as fol- 

 lows: 40 pounds of corn; 20 pounds of barley and 20 poimds 

 of wheat ground together to a medium coarse meal, add to this 

 20 pounds of heavy bran and mix thoroughly, dry. This 

 should be fed dry from the food hopper, never moistened, and 

 should be always kept before the birds. 



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