FEEDING IN GENERAL 



187 



than any other green food except white 

 clover. The per cent of protein in white 

 clover is 1S.7, and in alfalfa 14.30, while 

 in beet tops it is only 1.3. By this you 

 will see that alfalfa is worth about 14 

 times as much as beet tops. There is 

 about as much protein in alfalfa as in 

 wheat bran. You complain that your 

 hens do not lay. I think probably they 

 are moulting. You cannot expect hens 

 to lay all the time without taking a rest. 



Dry Hopper Methods — I write you 

 regarding the dry hopper method of 

 feeding. How much space do you leave 

 at the bottom for the feed to come 

 through, and how wide do you leave the 

 space for the chickens to eat out of? 

 We made one, but it is not a success, 

 for the box is bloody from their combs 

 hitting against it. They stand and eat 

 all the time and do not go and drink as 

 you say yours do. — D. S. M. 



Answer — I had the same experience 

 with hoppers injuring the combs of the 

 fowls, and now I make my hoppers like 

 those used at the Maine Experiment 

 Station, simply a box with a roof over 

 it. The box is twenty-four inches long 

 and eleven inches wide. The sides are 

 cut like a gable, the highest point being 

 sixteen inches high. The gable roof 

 keeps the food dry and the hens waste 

 scarcely any of it. The roof lifts off 

 or can be slid back to fill it. 



Dry Mash — Will you kindly inform 

 me as to the best method of feeding 

 calfalfa meal to hens and pullets? I 

 use hopper constantly filled with dry 

 mash consisting of bran, shorts, feed 

 meal and beef scraps, accessible at all 

 times, and would much prefer adding 

 the alfalfa to this. Or would you ad- 

 vise soaking it in water and feeding it 

 separately? The fowls get grain twice 

 a day and now if I add the alfalfa to 

 the mash what proportion shall I make 

 it? Also, is it as well to add the char- 

 coal, two or three per cent, to the mash 

 or feed separately. I wish to simplify 

 the routine work as much as possible. 

 —Mrs. O. K. 



Answer— I advocate adding the cal- 

 falfa meal to the dry mash . It is the 

 same as alfalfa meal. It would make a 

 very good ration to simply add one part 

 of calfalfa meal to your present mash, 

 making it one part each of bran, shorts, 

 feed meal, beef scraps and calfalfa meal. 

 I feed this with excellent results, but at 



first the hens did not like the calfalfa, 

 so I only added one iron spoonful, in- 

 creasing the dose every day, adding one 

 more spoonful until, within a month, 

 they were having the right proportion. 

 You can mix the charcoal in the same 

 way, but I prefer to keep it separate 

 with the grit and the crushed shell. 



Exercise for Fowts — I was greatly 

 interested in an article of yours on feed- 

 ing. You say give a hen a chance to 

 work and no matter how fat, etc. Now 

 what interests me most to know is just 

 how you manage to give them plenty 

 of work in a limited space. We, who 

 occupy only a village lot, will be greatly 

 helped if you will tell us how to keep 

 the hens busy in such limited quarters. 

 — G. P. C. 



Answer — To keep hens busy, give 

 them what is called a "scratching pen." 

 Put a 12-inch board across one corner 

 of your lot and fill that full of good 

 wheat straw or hay; scatter all the 

 grain you feed in that, and the hens will 

 work all day digging out the grain ; 

 every grain they scratch out they will 

 bury two, and so will keep up the exer- 

 cise. If you are feeding the hopper 

 method, put the hopper at one end of 

 the pen and the water vessel at the 

 other end; this will give them the exer- 

 cise of walking back and forth. You 

 can also hang up a cabbage for them to 

 jump at, but scratching is the natural 

 and best exercise for developing the egg 

 organs. 



Tomatoes — Do tomatoes tend to make 

 the hens quit laying? — J. W. 



Answer — Tomatoes will not do the 

 hens any harm unless fed in very large 

 quantities. There is not much nourish- 

 ment to them and consequently they will 

 not improve the laying qualities ; other- 

 wise a reasonable amount will benefit 

 the hens. 



For Young and Old Stock — I am 

 very much interested in your articles 

 and would like to ask you for a little 

 advice. Being away from home all day, 

 I have to feed in the morning enough 

 to do all day. This I can manage for 

 the old stock by feeding scratch food 

 in the litter and dry mash in hoppers. 

 But how can I manage the growing 

 stock? Please give a formula for dry 

 feed. Do you consider the scratch food 

 sold by the poultry houses good food 



