88 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



Make the Hens Work for All Their Grain. 



The more exercise a hen takes, generally speaking, the 

 more eggs she will lay. While some hens are naturally 

 active, others have to be forced to exercise. One of the best 

 v^ays to make hens exercise is to feed all scratch grain in 

 litter, such as wheat or oat straw, four or five inches deep. 

 Feeding cracked corn rather than the whole grain is an- 

 other means of insuring exercise, for if the hen has to pick 

 up six or eight pieces of corn to get what amounts to one 

 kernel she must work harder. 



Plenty of exercise promotes a good appetite and so 

 induces a sufficiently large food consumption to make high 

 egg production possible. 



Feed Mash the Year Around. 



If a hen is to lay a large number of eggs, she must have 

 more protein than is supplied in the common mixture ol 

 grains grown on the farm. Furthermore, she must have 

 some protein that is of animal origin. These two objects 

 are most easily accomplished, under ordinary conditions, 

 by feeding a dry mash made up of ground grains or mill 

 by-products, and in addition animal protein in some form. 

 Ground feeds can be utilized by the hen more quickly than 

 can whole grains, so that liberal mash feeding is an effective 

 means of sustaining a high egg yield. 



Supply Animal Protein in Some Form. 



Egg production is more dependent upon the amount of 

 animal protein consumed than upon any other feed. The 

 reason is to be found in the fact that without some form of 

 animal protein, the ration will carry an excess of those 

 nutrients from which the yolk of the egg is made, and not 

 enough of the materials necessary for the development of 

 the white. It is essential that there be an abundance of 

 both sorts of food available to the hen. The common 

 sources of animal protein for poultry are skim milk, either 

 sweet or sour, buttermilk, meat scrap, and tankage. Milk 

 \s perhaps the best, but unless it can be given the hens to 



