104 COMMERCIAL POULTRY RAISING 



records are properly kept there will be no likelihood of inbreed- 

 ing. Another method of marking the chicks is to punch a small 

 hole in the web of the foot. Special punches may be purchased 

 for this purpose. The chicks should be marked the day they are 

 hatched, as the web is then soft, does not bleed so much as later, 

 consequently there is little risk of the other chicks pecking the 

 toes, as they would do when older. By different combinations 

 there are sixteen markings possible, and a chart should be kept 

 illustrating the marks. See Fig. 69. In my experience leg- 

 banding is better than toe-punching. 



Feed Records. — In keeping a record of the amount of feed con- 

 sumed by the different flocks it is not necessary to go to the 

 trouble of weighing the feed every day. To do so might prove 

 very tedious. A fowl's appetite is never the same; it varies 

 from one year's end to the other, much the same as the prices of 

 grain and other commodities fluctuate. During a period of 

 heavy laying hens eat more than at other times; when they are 

 molting or sitting they eat very little ; in cold weather they con- 

 sume more grain than in warm weather, providing their egg 

 yield is the same; and on a bright sun-shiny day in winter they 

 will eat more than on a dull, stormy day. Experienced poultry- 

 men seldom feed a prescribed amount of grain to each flock every 

 day; they cater to the flock's appetite and general conditions. 

 It is the only intelligent way to feed. 



Except for these variations in the quantities of the feed and 

 in the prices of the feed, it would be a comparatively simple task 

 to figure the cost of the feed for a given pen. 



On most farms it is customary to feed the layers a certain 

 amount of scratch grains in the morning, just enough to keep 

 them at work in the litter, and all they will clean up in the late 

 afternoon. At the same time a dry mash is kept before the flock 

 all day, together with oyster shells, grit, charcoal and beef scrap, 

 unless the last two of these articles are included in the mash. 

 Naturally, the quantities vary considerably. Furthermore, the 

 numerous kinds of feed are purchased at varying intervals, in 



