38 POULTRY FEEDING AND FATTENING 



lying around and in consequence the fowls become too 

 fat. All farmers have hay to spare, at least they should 

 have, and a few pounds per week fed to the hens will 

 greatly increase the egg production. Clover hay is best, 

 but any kind is good. Peed as follows: Cut into as 

 short lengths as possible (one-quarter to one-half inch) 

 and in the evening fill a two-gallon bucket full, cover 

 and place on the kitchen stove and allow it to boil as 

 long as there is fire. When the morning fire is built, 

 allow the hay to heat again, then drain off the water 

 and mix with the hay three quarts of wheat bran, or 

 enough to make it crumbly, adding three pounds animal 

 meal or scraps. This will make two gallons of feed. 

 Give it to 100 hens as a morning feed. Eemember this 

 is for cold weather and for fowls that are at liberty on 

 the farm. 



In the evening, late, supply what they will consume 

 of corn one day, and oats or wheat next, and so on. Be 

 sure to give plenty of fresh water every day and on very 

 cold mornings it is a good idea to make the water 

 slightly warm. If you do not, it will freeze at once, 

 and be of no service. Be sure the henhouse has good 

 tight ends and sides and always front the house to the 

 south. The warmer the fowls are in winter, without 

 supplying artificial heat, the more eggs they will lay 

 and the earlier they will become broody. 



It is a mistake to feed poultry corn or wheat or corn 

 and wheat exclusively. Corn is too rich in carbona- 

 ceous matter and wheat is substituted by some in order 

 to avoid making the hens too fat. They overlook the 

 fact that wheat contains a large per cent of starch also, 

 and that it will fatten poultry almost as readilj'' as corn. 

 It contains more gluten than corn and is therefore 

 somewhat preferable on that account, but to feed 

 largely of wheat will just as surely make the hens over- 

 fat as corn. 



