146 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
As I have said, it is not very difficult, but it is complex, cumber- 
some, exacting and time-wasting. 
Compare the preparing and feeding of wet mash with preparing 
and feeding of dry mash. I can and do mix the dry meals to last 
a week for any number of birds up to 1000 in three-quarters of an 
hour. Another half-hour will see it distributed in the large boxes 
—hoppers—in the various houses. Thus the labour necessary 
to feed 1000 by the old style runs into twelve or fourteen hours 
per week, while if one gets a hopper to hold a week’s supply the 
whole thing can be done in seventy-five minutes. In one house I 
keep 120 laying birds. The hopper in this house holds 112 Ib. of 
dry mash, and as each bird eats a little over 2 oz. per day the supply 
lasts for a week. 
LaBoUR-SAVING 
For those who keep only a few fowls the labour-saving in dry 
mash may not make a strong appeal, but there are many instances 
where the owner of a small flock is at work all day. To sucha one 
the dry mash is invaluable because he can give his feed of grain in 
the morning, leave a plentiful supply of water, with the dry-mash 
hopper open, and the birds will need no more attention till next 
morning. For those with half-a-dozen or a dozen fowls with 
plenty of time to spare there is not so strong a case for dry mash, 
and I know as well as anyone that excellent results from the egg- 
production standpoint can be obtained by the use of household 
scraps, boiled and otherwise. At the same time I believe that 
even for small flocks of birds dry mash will be found preferable to 
wet mash so far as general health, cleanliness and egg results are 
concerned. In such cases, however, where time is no object and 
great care in mixing the moist mash is exercised it matters little 
whether dry or wet feeding is adopted. 
But in large flocks the average farmer simply cannot afford the 
time for all the work connected with the feeding of moist mashes. 
In the matter of economy dry mash is also to be preferred where 
poultry is kept ona large scale. In the most recent Harper Adams 
