132 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
wants when laying heavily, so that you cannot lay down any hard 
and fast rule as regards the quantity to be fed. To keep the 
appetite good, without starving, is the fine art of feeding. The 
following is the average daily ration :— 
“Morning: 20 lb. pollards, 11 lb. bran, 21 oz. Sunlight oilcake, 
24 oz. desiccated meat or 18 oz. dried blood in place of the last- 
named. The above were all weighed dry, then mixed into a 
crumbly mass with water, cold in summer and hot in winter. At 
night : 48 lb. wheat, except once a week, when oats or maize were 
used to give variety. Oats or maize were also used on Sunday 
morning instead of bran and pollard mash. The morning meal 
would average a little over 14 oz. per bird or 10 oz. for the six birds, 
while the evening feed averaged 14 oz. per pen or 24 oz. per bird. 
At midday a little soup meat, one handful for six birds, was fed 
about once a week, also green lucerne daily one handful per pen. 
“The feeding with green lucerne lasted until the beginning of 
December last, but since then we have had no green feed and were 
compelled to substitute lucerne chaff, about one-third of a kerosene 
tin soaked the previous night in boiling water. The latter, although 
it reduces the quantity of bran and pollard a little, is a poor 
substitute for green feed, and, in consequence, our records for 
December, January, February, and March were not up to those of 
last year. Fresh clean water was given every morning, while shell 
grit was always available. The quantities mentioned above were 
for the whole 318 birds. 
‘‘ HGG-LAYING COMPETITION IN VICTORIA 
“¢ Several world’s records were broken in the 1914-1915 egg-laying 
competition held in Victoria under the auspices of the Department 
of Agriculture. The winning pen of six birds (White Leghorns) 
produced 1699 eggs, or an average of 288 eggs per bird, in the twelve 
months ; the value of the eggs from this pen at 1s. 2d. per dozen 
was £8, 5s. 2d. The winning pen of the heavy breeds (Black 
Orpingtons) produced 1562 eggs. The average number of eggs 
per hen laid by the 588 birds included in the competition was 207 ; 
