PROFITABLE EGG FARMING. 
PRODUCING EGGS AT MINIMUM COST. 
Digestible Nutrients Which Should Be Fed to 
Laying Stock to Furnish the Chemical 
Constituents of the Egg and Main¬ 
tain the Hen in Health and 
Activity—Properties of 
Protein and Nitrog¬ 
enous Materials. 
BY JAMES It. COVERT, 
Of the United States Experiment Stations, Department of 
Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
As cold weather approaches and the market¬ 
ability of eggs increases, the problem of how to 
increase the yield of that toothsome article be¬ 
comes interesting. The veteran, the amateur, 
and the good housewife vie with each other in 
an endeavor to compound a ration which shall 
produce the maximum yield of eggs at minimum 
food-cost. The public is awakening to a realiz¬ 
ation of_the food value of the egg. More atten¬ 
tion is given the subject of feeding, and the 
agricultural press is devoting more space to 
articles on poultry. Some of the Experiment 
Stations are investigating and throwing light 
in many hitherto dark corners. Their conclu¬ 
sions in many cases closely coincide with the 
teachings of experience and show conclusively 
that correct feeding is both a science and an art. 
If to the sum total of the chemical constitu¬ 
ents in the eggs produced during a given season, 
we add the materials required to maintain the 
hen in health and activity, we have approxi¬ 
mately the amount of digestible nutrients which 
should be present in her food. As we all know, 
the digestible nutrients in food-articles vary in 
amount and quality, and some breeds of chick¬ 
ens return a greater profit in eggs for the food 
consumed than others. This article, however, 
is confined to the subject of rations which must 
be prepared with due regard to the purposes 
for which the chickens are kept. Thus, if we 
desire to produce flesh we must feed a ration 
richer in flesh forming ingredients than, if we 
were feeding for eggs which recpiire nitrogenous 
materials. Reports of digestion experiments 
with fowls are seldom met with, presumably be¬ 
cause they are not often undertaken. The 
public should take an interest in the matter and 
demand of those expert in the determination of 
feeding problems the solution of this question. 
It is assumed that the nutritive ratio for the 
laying hen and the milch cow should be approxi¬ 
mately the same. Their products closely re¬ 
semble each other, but their relative actual cost 
makes milk the much cheaper food-article for 
man, especially in the larger cities. The 
German feeding standard for feeding milch cows 
calls for 15.4 lbs. total nutritive substance in the 
digestible portion of her food, these nutritive 
substances to be proportioned as follows: Pro¬ 
tein, 2.5 lbs.; carbohydrates 12.5 lbs.; and 
ether extract, or fat, 0.4 lbs. This gives a 
nutritive ratio of 
1:5.4. In other 
words, to every 
pound of protein 
there are 5.4 
pounds of nit r o- 
genous materials. 
The nutritive 
ratio may be de¬ 
termined by multi¬ 
plying the ether 
extract by 22, add¬ 
ing to this product 
the carbohydrates, 
a n d dividing b y 
the protein. Each 
pound of fat or 
ether extract is 
assumed to have a 
feeding equivalent 
of 2.2 pounds car¬ 
bohydrates. The 
author has been 
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