308 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
whether they are most active because they are the best layers, or 
whether they are the best layers because they are the most active, 
is a problem that is not easy to solve. It is probably a matter of 
action and reaction. The egg is in effect the result of the hen’s 
labour for the day. If she misses a day it is merely a slight pause 
in the creative act showing that she has not yet achieved the 
maximum effort of the ideal hen, which is to lay no less than 365 
eggs per annum. 
It is during the short days of the winter months like November 
and December that the hen should be kept busiest. I have 
already shown how to feed grain in order to make the bird work 
hard for it. More important, however, than the grain feed, which 
will not occupy the bird more than one hour out of twenty-four, 
is the necessity of making her work for her soft food. The old 
way, which is still prevalent with the majority of poultry-keepers, 
is to mix various feeding meals with water and serve it up as a 
moist, crumbly mixture. This style of feeding enables the hen 
to gulp down her day’s supply of soft food in a few minutes. She 
has not to work for it. The food is placed in a trough and all she 
has to do is to eat to repletion. Asa rule this is exactly what she 
does. Weary of waiting, and hungry for her one big meal of the 
day, there is a wild stampede to the feeding-trough, where the 
strongest may gorge, while the less pushful hens are often left with 
short rations. But the chief injury done is to leave the hens 
satiated, lazy and in poor condition to produce eggs. 
If dry mash has done nothing else, it is justified by making 
the birds work hard for their food. The exercise gained stimulates 
the circulation, and bodily heat is secured and maintained by this 
means. It thus fulfils a double purpose. It keeps the hen in 
good condition and it maintains her in heat. No artificial stimulus 
in the form of spices or otherwise could effect the same beneficial 
results, 
By feeding dry mash the hen is obliged to be continually running 
between the hopper containing the food and the water supply 
which is placed at as great a distance as possible from the hopper. 
In very bad weather when the hens are kept indoors it is a good 
