72 The Truth About the Poultry Business 



change in the food has created a craving in the hen for corn. 

 To discover this one little point took me years, during which 

 time I made thousands of experiments. These "little things" 

 shed light on the mysteries of feeding and enable the poultry- 

 man to come out of the darkness and into the light. 



We find that in the pen getting 10% of meat, the hens lay 

 fairly well, while the hens getting about 7 parts of mash 

 to 1 part of beef-scrap lay an abundance of large yellow- 

 yolked eggs. So well do hens lay on this ration (No. 9) 

 that those which test very high as layers and have the 

 capacity to lay an egg a day will do so on this ration. I 

 call it therefore the "Egg-a-Day Ration." But it has to be 

 balanced perfectly, and all conditions must be perfect, in 

 order that this may be done. 



Hens out of condition do not eat as much mash as the 

 laying hens, and therefore get less protein, which is proper. 

 Under such conditions a hen will come into a laying condi- 

 tion more quickly than she otherwise would. When a hen 

 begins to lay on Ration No. 9 her appetite increases enor- 

 mously and she will eat from two to four times as much mash 

 as she did before — depending on how correctly balanced the 

 ration is. 



If she is in good condition and all conditions are right, she 

 will be free from bowel-trouble, and she will be healthy as 

 it is possible for a hen to be. By keeping the right food at 

 the right balance, your hens will be good for several years, 

 although one-half part of meat added to the ration may so 

 overbalance it that hens will be gradually weakened and in a 

 year or so will die — not from laying themselves to death, 

 but from a badly-balanced ration. 



Rations No. 14 or No. 9, balanced correctly, and when 

 conditions are right, will keep hens healthy for years, and 

 the more eggs they lay the healthier they will be. Many 



