14 FIRST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 



LESSON II . 



The " Hows " and "Whys" of Feeding Laying Stock 



in Winter. 



IN THE preceding lesson we discussed pouliry £ood stuffs and the systems of feeding with 

 relation to tbeir effect on the composition of rations. In this lesson we are to take up 

 another class of questions on feeding, and try to give readers a useful understanding ol 

 these three topics ; — 



How often to feed. 

 Hold much to feed. 

 The relation of exercise to diet. 



These three matters blend inseparably in practice, and we can hardly exclude anyone of them 

 from a discussion of another. Yet to appreciate them correctly one must separate them more 

 in his mind than he can in his work. 



How Often to Feed. 



Perhaps many are thinking that as all but one of the rations given in Lesson I. provide for 

 three meals a day, the question of how often to feed is almost superfluous. It might be so con- 

 sidered if everyone was so situated that he coulil give his hens three feeds, corresponding to his 

 own three meals, a day, but a great many poultry keepers cannot do this, so want to know 

 what other arrangement is practicable. 



For the short winter days two feeds a day would generally give as good results as three, but 

 for one thing — the difficulty of keeping fowls in confinement interested in something, and out 

 of mischief when there is too long an interval between feeds. Idle fowls contract vices of 

 various kinds — such as feather and egg eating — besides gradually going out of condition from 

 want of exercise. So whenever it is practicable to do so, it is advisable to give some sort of 

 light feed in the middle of the day. 



If, however, it is not convenient to do this, the noon feed may be either omitted or fed in the 

 morning. Thus, in Ration I., the mash may lie fed in the morning, and the grain forthe noon 

 feed fed at the same time, scattered in litter, and the fowls have something to keep them 

 occupied through the greater part of the day. When cabbage or mangels are kept before the 

 fowls, these things help to keep them occupied. 'So we may say that, provided some provision 

 is made to give the fowls something to occupy their attention between regular meals, two meals 

 will work as well in winter as three. 



Feeding Once a Day.— I have had occasional reports from poultry keepers who could 

 give their fowls attention only once each day, some In the morning and some in the evening, 



