Feeding 81 



Many people use the hard Turkey Red wheat and pay 

 more for it because it contains more protein. They also use 

 the heavy bran. 



In buying corn-meal, be sure it is old whole corn, ground 

 very fine, and not meal sifted from cracked corn, which is 

 lighter in color, but I have seen it made yellow by grinding 

 and mixing with it the yellow hulls. 



In buying shorts, see that what you get is shorts and not 

 fine ground bran. 



Try to get the same kind of grains and mill feeds all the 

 time. 



Hens sometimes get very fat on a ration in which a great 

 deal of corn and meat is used if the bran is low in protein 

 and the middlings very rich, or when much low-grade flour 

 is used. It is generally one of these things that causes hens 

 to lay soft-shelled eggs. 



Hens often go after one thing eagerly at first and then 

 change. They crave something to balance their ration at 

 first, and go after it greedily, but this over-balances their 

 ration and they quickly get tired of it. 



A sudden change from a heavy ration like No. 9 to a light 

 ration like No. 4, or from a ration high in protein like No. 9 

 to a ration low in protein like No. 1 is very apt to cause a 

 moult in the fall or winter. 



When hens are fed a ration of bran, middlings, beef-scrap 

 and wheat when there is much bowel-trouble, if the ration 

 is over-balanced with meat it creates an intense craving for 

 something that will balance this, just as there may be a 

 craving in youf stomach caused by your eating continuously 

 a ration that does not balance. 



If the hen cannot find a food to balance her ration, she 

 will eat dirt, grit, glass, granulated bone and charcoal in 

 quantities, just as a healthy hen will eat grain. Under such 



