CHAPTER IV 

 NUTRITION FOB LAYERS 



FOWLS, even more than any other class of livij 

 stock, require variety in their feed. None of the 

 single grains is best for poultry. More than other 

 classes of live stock, too, they require close atten- 

 tion and knowledge on the part of the feeder. It is 

 almost impossible, by direct experiment, to determine 

 the relative values of two different grains as a hen food 

 for egg production, because so many other factors enter 

 into the problem in each particular case. 



If hens are fed their grain feed in such way that 

 they have to exercise vigorously to get their daily feed 

 they are much more apt to lay than if fed in troughs 

 plenty of prepared feed, allowing them to remain idle. 

 Again, if the rooms are either too M'arm or too cold the 

 results are not satisfactory; or if the supply of green 

 feed or of mineral matter be insufficient. 



Wheat or rye is a good feed, for fowls, but should 

 constitute not over a third of the ration. Buckwheat 

 is also a good feed, but starchy, and therefore to be fed 

 in limited quantities only, and even corn, which turns 

 out, on experiment, to be a particularly good feed, 

 notwithstanding the opposition to it by theorists, should 

 not constitute the sole grain feed. Give a mixture of 

 the grain feeds scattered in cut straw or gravel, so the 

 hens will have to scratch,, and feed also cut bone and 

 plenty of grit. 



In order to get early eggs some extra feed in addi- 

 tion to the ordinary ration generally given by farmers is 

 needed. As a rule the trouble on the farm is that after 

 corn is gathered there is an overabundance of grain 



