FEEDING A LITTLE FLOCK 49 



eat a large amount of corn if this grain be given 

 them at 5 o'clock. 



It is always well to supplement a mash ration fed 

 in the afternoon with grain, so that the birds' crops 

 will not be emptied too quickly. Whole or cracked 

 corn is not digested nearly as quickly as mash. It 

 is a mistake to feed so much mash in the morning 

 that the hens will sit around for an hour or two 

 before beginning to scratch in the litter. This is 

 especially true in Winter, for then the fowls get 

 thoroughly chilled. 



There has been much discussion over the relative 

 merits of wet and dry mash. By a wet mash is not 

 meant a mash which is really wet, but one which 

 has been moistened with water, milk or some other 

 liquid, yet which is dry enough to crumble in the 

 hand when squeezed. The sloppy mash of our 

 grandmother's day is taboo among all up-to-date 

 poultry keepers, amateur or otherwise. 



Dry mash means simply a mixture of ground 

 grains which has not been moistened at all. Dry 

 beef scraps, meat meal or shredded fish and dry al- 

 falfa or clover may be added. The dictionary says 

 that a mash is a soft or pulpy mass, which simply 

 goes to show that the dictionary maker was not a 



