134 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
1914-1915. The dry mash used was 20 lb. bran, 48 Ib. wheat 
pollards, 83 Ib. oatmeal pollards, 16 Ib. pea meal, and 10 lb. ground 
oats (portion of hulls removed). To this was added 2 lb. of black 
or brown sugar. The whole was well mixed, and placed in an 
automatic hopper, to which the birds had access during the day. 
Animal food, generally consisting of boiled liver at the rate of 
1 oz. to each bird, was given three or four times a week. Green 
lucerne, silver beet or clover, was chaffed and fed at midday. 
The evening meal consisted of wheat and oats, and during cold or 
rough weather maize was added. The winning pen of light breeds 
(White Leghorns) produced 1661 eggs, an average of 277 per bird. 
The value of the eggs from this pen at 1s. 7d. per dozen was 
£10,19s. 7d. The winning pen of the heavy breeds (Black Orping- 
tons) produced 1507 eggs. The average number of eggs per hen 
laid by the 570 birds in the whole competition was 2193. The 
feeding results were—Light breeds, wet mash, 226 eggs per bird ; 
dry mash, 220} eggs per bird. The winning pen were fed on wet 
mash. Heavy breeds, wet mash, 2004 eggs per bird.” 
Dry-MasyH FEEDING 
It will be seen that the Australians get considerably more eggs 
per bird than we do in this country, but no doubt the more 
favourable climate has a good deal to do with the better 
yield. 
An attempt was made to discover the virtues of dry-mash 
feeding as compared with wet-mash, but as the competitors placed 
their best pens in the wet-mash section the purpose of the test 
was defeated. While the egg average from the wet-mash pens was 
greater than the average of the dry-fed pens, it is a remarkable 
fact that in the competition the winning pen that created a 
world’s record was fed on dry mash. 
It should also be pointed out that as the dry-fed birds had pre- 
sumably been reared and kept on the wet-mash system, the change 
from wet to dry feed would undoubtedly interfere with the egg- 
laying capacity of the birds for some weeks. A true test could 
