300 CARE OF LAYING HENS 



(a) It should be composed of foods every one of which 

 the fowls like. 



(6) It should contain a sufficient quantity of digestible 

 nutrients to supply the needs of rapid growth and large 

 production. 



(c) It should have enough bulk to enable the diges- 

 tive secretion to act quickly upon it. 



(d) It should not contain an excess of indigestible 

 fiber (such as oat hulls, corn bran, and alfalfa stems). 



(e) A certain proportion of the ration should be of 

 whole grain in order to provide muscular activity of the 

 digestive organs. About one third of the ration should be 

 of soft ground food for the purpose of providing quickly 

 available nutrients to supply the immediate demand of 

 rapid growth or heavy continuous egg yield. 



(f) A good variety of food must be provided, in which 

 are included grain, green food, meat, and mineral matter. 



(g) The foods in the ration should not have an un- 

 desirable effect upon the color or flavor of the product. 

 Onions, barnyard manure, and carrion flavor an egg. When 

 the fowl drinks from pools about the barnyard the yolk of 

 the egg is given an undesirable reddish color. 



(h) The ration must provide the two classes of food 

 nutrients, protein and carbohydrates, in such proportions 

 that they will supply the daily needs of the fowl's system ; 

 provide sufficient and digestible protein to repair the 

 wasted tissue with new growth, and produce eggs ; and 

 provide the proper amount of digestible carbohydrate food 

 (starch, sugar, and fat) to furnish heat, energy, and lay on 

 a little surplus fuel in the form of fat. 



Shall the Poultryman Raise his Feed ? — ■ There seems to 

 be some doubt as to whether persons engaged in special 



