98 The Truth About the Poultry Business 



five pens of five hens each and feed each pen one part more 

 meat than the other pen and in that manner you will get 

 the right balance. Begin with about 5%. When a heavy 

 ration is being used the meat should be balanced to within 

 one-half part of mash. It is not necessary to be so particular 

 with a light ration. 



Have the feed boxes large, as they do not like to eat out 

 of small boxes. 



There are many peculiar things in feeding bran, corn 

 and middlings to poultry. You can feed wheat, corn and oats 

 and if it is fed properly you can get fairly good results, but 

 just as soon as you put a little corn in bran or middlings, 

 or use bran or shorts or middlings you are liable to get into 

 difficulties. You can take a mixture of these feeds and get 

 very good results and the next time you try it you get into 

 trouble, although you use the same mixture you used before 

 and feed it in the same way and while the conditions of the 

 hens are in a measure responsible for this, the main reason 

 will be found in the variations of grains and mill-feeds. One, 

 two or three parts of bran, or bran combined with shorts 

 and middlings, to one part of corn-meal fed to chicks or 

 hens as a mash and wheat or wheat and corn for grain 

 should not make hens sick, but it sometimes will, even though 

 the hen is in good condition and the grains are the best. 

 Sometimes you can feed two parts of a non-laxative bran to 

 one of corn-meal and get very good results; in fact, this 

 seems to be a very good ration, but at another time you 

 cannot feed such a ration, as your hens will get sick and 

 a large amount of bowel-trouble will be noticed. It makes 

 little difference what method of feeding you use, or whether 

 you feed wet or dry, as it is the ingredients in the food that 

 count. You can feed them to the point of starvation and 

 not cure them of indigestion if the grains are not right, but 



