1908. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
966 
A POULTRY FEEDING PROBLEM. 
About a year ago the following ques¬ 
tions were asked by a reader in Mon¬ 
tana : 
We do not raise yellow corn here, and 
egg yolks are very mucli bleached in Win¬ 
ter, and after insects are gone, chickens 
run at me every time I enter the coop, ex¬ 
pecting a different ration than it Is possi¬ 
ble for me to furnish. I have tried my best, 
still they seem disappointed. Our main 
feed is 'Wheat. In morning I feed five to 
six pounds of ground cracklings: usually I 
scald this, add scraps from house, a little 
milk mixed with bran; only aim to feed 
enough so they will clean it up quickly. 
This season I raised some flax, and since 
I have had this thrashed I have put a quart 
in the scalded feed each morning, which 
soon forms a jelly. I am feeding 175 hens ; 
keep the floors covered with fine Alfalfa and 
feed the grain in tills. We have hulless 
barley, but my hens will not eat it, and 
eat very little when cooked. I grind some 
bone and char more, and run this through 
a shell mill. I aim to keep slaked lime 
(dry) before them all tbe time, but my 
pen of pullets invariably start off laying 
pretty strong, but so many light-shelled 
eggs they often get to eating them, which 
is hard to check at times. I thought last 
year I had solved this by adding five or six 
pounds of ground cracklings in morning 
feed, but I see this failed. Does egg-eating 
come from feeding an unbalanced ration? 
How can I feed or what can I feed to fur¬ 
nish all the lime necessary for fair shells? 
The gravel they get is chiefly limestone. 
What can I feed with wheat to make a 
balanced ration? Can I make it with crack¬ 
lings and flax? Is It safe to feed flax? I 
was a little afraid on account of Its laxa¬ 
tive powers. I have oats, wheat, barley, 
flax and a little white corn. We butcher 
quite a little, and they get a large amount 
of meat scrap and tallow from offal. 
“Reader” from Montana seems to be 
troubled over “balanced ration” for 
bens, egg eating, amount to feed hens, 
thin-shelled eggs, and poor colored 
yolks. Let him try to forget that he 
ever heard of “balanced rations,” but let 
him not forget that wheat, oats, barley 
and corn are each and all complete bal¬ 
anced rations for all practical purposes, 
with the possible exception of corn. 
Corn and Alfalfa or clover ought to 
make an ideal ration. This “balanced 
ration” talk is carried altogether too far. 
Many a farmer has been talked into buy¬ 
ing high-priced feeds because they were 
a “balanced ration” when if he ground 
■ his own grains he would obtain far bet¬ 
ter results at less cost. 
Egg eating is caused by idleness, or 
soft-shelled eggs, or allowing grain to 
reach nests where it is scratched for 
and eggs accidentally broken, or in some 
cases I guess it is “pure cussedness.” 
The best cure is to make that portion 
of the coop where eggs are laid so dark 
that the hens cannot see their eggs after 
laying them. Gather them several times 
a day. 
How much to feed? “Reader” is evi¬ 
dently too kind to his fowls. Let him 
go through the house before daylight 
and look for soft eggs dropped* during 
the night. Docs he get any “double 
yolkers?” Malformations of other kinds, 
such as a string of whites without 
yolks? or yolks in a soft shell without 
whites? These things indicate too much 
forcing (the worst fault in the care of 
fowls to-day), too much food in too 
great variety and profusion. Let him 
not think because the hens “run to him” 
when he enters the coop that they want 
more food or different food. It is a 
greedy habit that hens get for fear some 
other hen will get more than her share. 
Hens that get “a large amount of meat 
and tallow” will not pine for insects. 
But cut the tallow out except for fatten¬ 
ing them. It will not make eggs. Care¬ 
ful notice should be taken of the drop¬ 
pings. Few of them, should be thin and 
yellow. There should not be a bad odor. 
They should retain somewhat the curves 
imparted while in the intestines, and be 
whitish in color on one side or on top. 
The first thing on entering the coop each 
morning should be a sniff of the atmos¬ 
phere and a glance at the droppings 
board. If the droppings are normal flax¬ 
seed is not too laxative. I have never 
tried the dry hopper system of feeding 
but should advise “Reader” to try it. 
Mash, whether wet or dry, should con¬ 
tain two or more kinds of ground feed. 
“Reader” seems only to use bran. Do 
the hens get cabbage or mangels? They 
ought to have all they want. It goes 
far to correct improper feeding. I have 
known fowls to stand the strain of over¬ 
feeding till the cabbages were all gone, 
and then get seriously out of condition 
immediately. Green stuff, sand, water 
and oyster shells are the only articles 
that should be given ad libitum. 
“Reader” should examine hens on the 
roost to see if they are too fat. Put all 
that have a bunch of fat hanging down 
behind in a peri by themselves, and let 
them get so hungry that they will not 
only eat that barley but search through 
and through the litter for every kernel. 
If he has light active hens of the Leg¬ 
horn type they will stand over-feeding 
better than Rocks, Wyandottes or R. I. 
Reds. Make them work for their living. 
Don’t feed corn while too fat. If the 
hens are in good condition the yolks 
should be of fair color. No doubt yel¬ 
low corn is the best feed for this pur¬ 
pose. I think I could sell fresh eggs 
regardless of the color of yolk in Win¬ 
ter. Be very careful not to feed too 
much meat or green bone. Some feed 
all they will eat two or three times a 
week. Others get fine results from 
skim-milk and no meat. Never give fat 
to laying hens. If by “cracklings” 
“Reader” means lard cracklings, no 
doubt he is seriously overfeeding meat 
and fat. My general rule for feeding is 
a peck of grain per hundred once a day; 
half as much at noon; half a bushel of 
mash at night composed of eight quarts 
of apple sauce (hot) with bran and mid¬ 
dlings mixed in with a quart or two of 
meat scraps; cabbage and fresh water 
always accessible; varied in amount and 
kind as common sense may dictate. 
Never change your feed unless you 
know why you are doing it and what 
results you expect to attain. Be con¬ 
servative. It is against nature to get 
Winter eggs. What shall it profit a man 
if he have a full egg crate, but get his 
hens out of condition? geo. m. coe. 
Oswego Co., N. Y. 
THE VALUE OF SILAGE. 
In answer to your recent question re¬ 
garding the value of a ton of silage I 
will say that I have just bought from a 
neighbor nearly 40 tons of good corn 
silage for $2 per ton. This price, how¬ 
ever, we consider cheap for this quality 
of silage, and if my neighbor had a 
dairy to feed it to he would not sell 
it off the farm for double that price. 
This section is quite a place for can¬ 
ning factories, the principal crops 
grown by the farmers being peas and 
sweet corn. The peas are cut with a 
mowing machine, and delivered at the 
factory, vines and all, where they are 
run through a machine similar to a 
grain separator and most of the vines 
are carried on an endless chain into 
the company’s silos,, making very good 
silage, which the companies usually sell 
back to the farmers, for about $2 per 
ton. Sometimes I think they charge 
$2.50 per ton for the corn husks and 
cobs that they run into the silo in the 
sweet corn season, the cobs having been 
run through a shredder. This price is 
all right for the canning people be¬ 
cause the farmer raises the stuff and 
delivers it to them free of charge, they 
paying only for the shelled peas. Of 
course they can sell it for $2 at a profit, 
but I do not believe that a farmer can 
raise good corn silage for less than $3 
to $4 per ton. \v. n. w. 
Oneida Co., N. Y. 
Sister Ann : “Did you get any marks 
at school ter-day, Bill?” Bill: “Yus; 
but they’re where they don’t show.”— 
Sketch. 
72e DREW CARRIER 
~~ i'* 
Besides it makes easy work of the drudgery of farm 
labor. The operator works in the shelter of the barn at all 
times. He simply loads the manure and gives the car a push. 
It runs to the place desired, dumps automatically. It is swung 
into position with the hand or fork, and is again ready to fill. 
Note how the three operations are shown above. 
The carrier method insures cleanliness and ban- 
ishesafruitful sourceofdiscase by removingmanurc 
away from the barns. It saves the liquid manure, 
the most valuable part. In wages of heip alone, the 
Drew Carrier saves its entire cost in a few months. 
Oskaloosa.Kans.,3-23-08 
Drew Elevated Carrier Co. 
T There is no Drew Carrier excepting 
the one made by the Drew Elevated 
Carrier Co., Waterloo, Wis. There are 
others that are made to LOOK like the 
Drew, but they are not the Drew, in fact 
nor in quality. Ask us about Drew carriers. 
I am very much pleased with 
the system and regret that I 
did not install it earlier in the 
winter. I can save one day 
every week over the old wheel 
barrow system. 
F. J. SEARLE, Prop. E. Side Dairy Farm, to the home office, Waterloo, Wisconsin. 
And it will last a lifetime. No machinery to wear 
out. There is no trestle work or supports to en¬ 
cumber your barn yard and get out of repair. 
The Swivel Trolley is a feature original with the 
Drew. With this improvement, the car can be 
turned end for end without lifting from the track, 
and the difficulty of turning corners is overcome! 
Besides handling the manure, the Drew carrier 
can be used to transport hay, ensilage, grain, 
milk cans, barrels, earth or anything you wish to 
carry to and from the barns. 
We want to send you our 
new booklet on Drew carriers 
and other Drew time- labor- 
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Write for the book today— 
just a postal card—and it will 
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Address all correspondence 
DREW ELEVATED CARRIER COMPANY 
115 Monroe Street, Waterloo, Wisconsin. 
Eastern Branch: Rome, New York 
Pacific Br: Mitchell, Lewis & StaverCo., Portland, Ore. 
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