292 
War Rations for the Hen; What the 
Wheat Scarcity Has Taught 
Scratch Feeds. —The requests from 
the Food Administration, and the regula¬ 
tions from the Federal Government have, 
in many sections of the country, cut down 
in some cases, and entirely limited certain 
poultry feeds, which heretofore had been 
considered absolutely necessary for the 
best, results from the poultry flocks. 
Chief among these feeds, of course, has 
been wheat. In a great many rations 
wheat has been cut down to 10 per cent 
of the scratch feed ration, and in a great 
many other instances wheat has been en¬ 
tirely taken from this ration. Barley has 
been’ substituted and fed a great deal 
more this year to poultry than ever be¬ 
fore. Along with barley, the scratch feeds 
were composed principally of corn and 
oats, and in a few instances, with the ad¬ 
dition of buckwheat. The following are 
some of the scratch rations which have 
been used in many sections with very good 
results : Parts by weight—Oats. 3 : barley. 
1 , wheat, 1; also, corn. 6, oats. 3, and 
barley 1. These scratch feed rations, 
when fed with a properly balanced mash, 
have both given excellent results in egg 
production. However, when a ration of 
this kind is used where the fiber content 
is high, one should be careful not to get 
the fiber content too high in the mash 
feed, as the digestive system of hens, 
although requiring a large amount of 
fiber, will not stand nearly so much as 
other farm animals, for instance, the cow 
or sheep. • 
Mash Ration. —Although the scratch 
feeds have been varied, as outlined above, 
very considerably, regarding their nu¬ 
tritive ratio, etc., with results of produc¬ 
tion varying but very little, still one must 
be verv careful in compounding or mixing 
his mash ration. Experiments and testa 
have shown us that the mash ration is 
really the more important part of the 
poultrvman’s feeding program ; that this 
is the part of the ration which parries the 
protein as well as some of the protective 
ingredients of nutrition, and that the pro¬ 
duction from hens can be materially in¬ 
creased or decreased and varied by proper 
and improper balancing of the dry mash. 
It has also been found that production 
will be greater if larger amounts of dry 
mash are fed in times of the year when 
production naturally is great, when it is 
the desire of the poultryman to maintain 
or to hold the maximum production as 
long as possible. For instance, in the 
late Winter and early Spring, when the 
natural production from our flocks is in¬ 
creasing very rapidly, in order to keep 
the hens in the best of condition, and to 
hasten this increase in production, one 
should induce the hens to consume more 
and more mash in their daily ration. 
Later in the Spring and early Summer, 
when it is the tendency for production to 
decrease again, an increased consumption 
of mash will have a tendency to- main¬ 
tain the hens in better condition, and to 
hold up the egg yield, and this method 
should be practiced until late Summer and 
early Fall, or the season at which the 
hens naturally go into their necessary 
moult and quit laying. 
Balancing Masii and Scratch Feed. 
—In balancing the proportion of scratch 
feed and mash fed in the ration, it will 
be found that the hens prefer the scratch 
to the mash. In other words, if they were 
allowed to pick up their ration as they 
want to, it would be found that almost 
all, or at least a very large proportion of 
the day’s ration would be consumed in the 
form of scratch feed. By cutting down 
the amount of scratch feed given the hens 
the feeder makes it necessary for the hens 
to consume more mash, and by cutting 
the scratch feed down to a minimum, it 
will be found that hens can be forced to 
consume almost all of their ration in the 
form of mash. One should be very care¬ 
ful in cutting down the scratch feed or 
in making the hens consume a large 
amount of mash that the mash does not 
contain too high a content of fiber, as 
feeding in this way makes it necessary for 
the hen to consume the mash as a whole, 
thereby obliging her, if thero is too much 
fiber in the ration, to eat too large a 
quantity of fiber in order to get the 
amount of nutrition that she needs. . It 
will also be found that if the mash ration 
consists of too much fiber the hens will 
not relish it nearly so much. 
A Good Proportion. —The feeding 
practice relative to the proportion of 
scratch feed and mash fed laying hens 
which has been very successful is as fol¬ 
lows: With pullets which are kept for 
laying entirely and from which no hatch 
in'g *ggs are' to be saved the following 
Spring, should be started off in the Fall 
with about 15 lbs. of scratch feed per day 
per 100 birds. As the pullets start in to 
lay, the scratch feed should he cut down 
gradually to about 12 lbs. per 100. As 
the production increases, the scratch feed 
should again be cut down to about 10 lbs. 
per 100. and as the late Winter and early 
Spring come along and production in¬ 
creases rapidly, the scratch feed shoulc 
be cut down to about 8 lbs. per 100. In 
the late Spring and early Summer this 
cen be cut down to 5 lbs. per 100, and 
this proportion fed until late Summer or 
early Fall, or at the time when the hens 
are going into a very complete molt, at 
which time the scratch feed should be 
gradually increased until these birds are 
getting from 12 to 15 lbs. of scratch feed 
per day 
Metjioi oi Feeding. —Scratch feed 
should be fed about one-fourth of the 
amount in the morning at daybreak, one 
fourth some time during the middle of the 
day. and one-half at night, just befoi'e 
dark, so that the hens will just about fin¬ 
ish it up when it gets dark enough to 
roost. This method should be followed 
during the whole year, with the exception 
of July and August, at which time it is a 
good practice to feed most of the scratch 
feed before noon, as in the very hot after- 
‘Pk RURAL NEW-YORKER 
places for all of the hens. A detrimental 
factor which very often happens in poul¬ 
try keeping is the lack of feeding space 
on the dry mash hoppers. 
Feeding the Breeders. —In the feed¬ 
ing of hens, flocks which are going to be 
used for breeding in the Spring, the pro¬ 
portion of scratch feed should be kept 
Hens Bush ( 't the Dry Mash 
noons of those days the hens quickly be¬ 
come prostrated from the heat, especially 
if they are excited and are obliged to 
scratch and exercise for their feed. It 
must be remembered, of course, that the 
drv mash hoppers should be open at all 
times when this method is practiced, and 
that there should be plenty of feeding 
high. Following along the above method 
as advocated for pullets, after these pul¬ 
lets have gone into their molt, they are 
getting from 12 to 15 lbs. of scratch feed 
a day per 100. This proportion should be 
maintained until after the breeding sea¬ 
son. Immediately after the breeding sea¬ 
son the nronortion of scratch feed should 
February 15, 1919 
be cut down gradually until the hens are 
getting from 5 to 8 lbs. of scratch feed 
per day per 100. This should he con¬ 
tinued until late Summer and early Fall, 
at which time the birds are going into 
another molt. 
Desirable Mashes. —The following 
are some of the mashes which have been 
successfully fed: Equal parts, by weight, 
of wheat bran, wheat middlings, corn- 
meal. ground oats and meat scraps; or 
equal parts, by weight, of Alfalfa meal, 
wheat middlings, ground oats, cornmeal 
and meat scrap; or one part, by weight, 
wheat bran, cornmeal, ground oats, meat 
scrap, one-half part gluten feed, one-half 
part oilmeal; or one part Alfalfa meal, 
one-half part gluten feed, one-half part 
oilmeal, one part ground oats, one part 
cornmeal, one part meat scrap. The lat¬ 
ter ration, although not quite as efficient 
as the others, on the other hand, entirely 
does away with mill feeds known more 
generally as wheat by-products. Regu¬ 
larity in feeding, especially in keeping an 
ampie supply of dry mash before the hens 
at all times, is very necessary. A con¬ 
stant changing and obliging the hens to do 
without dry mash at frequent intervals is 
very detrimental to the best production. 
Benefits of Mash. —Not only is it 
true that the mash fed is really the regu¬ 
lating part of the ration, and that in cer¬ 
tain seasons of the year hens should re¬ 
ceive a large proportion of mash, but it is 
nlso true that these same mashes, if skil¬ 
fully fed in moist conditions, along with 
the mash in the hoppers, will be bene¬ 
ficial. Especially is this true iu the late 
Summer, when the hens are apt to drop 
off in egg production. This will have a 
tendency of holding them up longer into 
the Fail. It is also a good practice to 
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MANUFACTURERS OF QUALITY FARM IMPLEMENTS SINCE 1865 
