FIRST LESSONS IN rOULTEY KEEPING. 15 



and these sometimes are abje to report good result*, liut, as a rule, those who get good winter 

 egg yields look after the fowls oftener and regularly. One who has time to look after his fowls 

 iu the moroing only may arrange this way : — 



Mash, to be eaten at once, followed by grain for the remainder of the day, thrown in 

 litter, and eaten as the fowls work for it. 

 One who has only the evening to attend his fowls by daylight may use this plan : — 



Grain, to give a full feed in the morning, and something left to scratch for until 

 well into the afternoon, may be thrown into the litter on the floor, either after the 

 fowls go to roost at night or before daylight in the morning. Then the evening mash 

 miiy be given just before dark. 



Obstacles to Poultry Keeping When One Cannot Watch the Fowls,— The piincipal 

 difficulties in the way of poultry keeping when one can give so lutle attention to the fowls by 

 daylight come in in connection with oilier matters than the feeding of grain and maehes. Proper 

 ventilation of a closed house ;s almost impossilile when the poultry keeper is away all day, and 

 it is a problem to keep water from freezing in a cold house. One who can attend to his fowls 

 at noon can replenish the water supply, but one who cannot must use some kind of "anti-freez- 

 ing" fountain. 



On the whole I would not advise anyone to attempt much with poultry or encourage them to 

 expect much from hens in winter unless the hens can have pretty good attention, for taking one 

 flock and one year with another the winter egg yields are in proportion to the judicious atten- 

 tion given the flock. Hence, if the poultry keeper cannot make provision for some memlier of 

 bis family to attend to such wants of his fowls as he cannot look after, he must not think that 

 failure to get results indicates something wrong with the fowls, the house, or the ration. 



Mow Much to Feed. 



This question seems to cause beginners more worry than any other connected with the sulject 

 of feeding. They find it hard to understand why fowls cannot be fed exactly by weight or 

 measure. An explanation of this would require a much more exliaustive treatment of the sub. 

 ject than is appropriate iu an elementary lesson ; and the student must accept the fact and wait 

 for experience and later lessons to furnish the explanation of it. An experienced feeder -can 

 tell a novice approxiruiitely how much to feed to average or medium sized hens. 



Ho'w Much Slash.— Mashes vary so much iu composition and consistency that the best rule 

 that can be given is:— all they will eat up clean and quickly, that is in, say, fifteen or twenty 

 minutes. 



Some poultrymen leave mash before the fowls for several hours, or even give so much that 

 they will not eat the last of it until noon, but it is better to give only what they will eat quickly 

 and let them have grain, cabbage or roots to supplement it through the day than to give so 

 much mash. 



It fowls do not eat mash readily and freely, it is either because the mash is not palatable, or 

 because the previous teed was too heavy, or tue interval between the meals not long enough. 

 Generally, a dozen fowls will eat about three pints of the No. 1 mash, (Lesson I.) and a third 

 to a half more of No. 2 or No. 3 mash. 



How 3Iuch Grain.— When grain is fed where the fowls can get it quickly, and with little 

 etturt, a pint is a fair allowance for eight or ten fowls. When it is fed in deep litter more 

 than a full allowance must be in the litter if the fowls are to get their full feed .vithin a reason- 

 able time. In that case give aliout a quart to a dozen fowls. Thus in using Ration I. 

 (Lesson I.) give at the rate of a quart of cracked corn to the dozen fowls, giving the corn iu 

 litter at least an hour before sundown. Then the fowls can get a full teed before dark, whife 

 what is left in the litter furnishes them something to work for in the morning, both before and 

 after the mash is fed; while in Ration No. IV., a quart of grain given in the morning furnishes 

 a good meal within an hour or so, and leaves something for the fowls to scratch tor until the 

 evening meal is given. 



