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Show POULTRY 1 I j"1 BBj FOOD FOR LAYING HENS. Lcwiston, Nov. 16, 1908. Editor Dcserct Farmer: Will you kindly tell me how much grain or food hens need' to keep them in good healthy condition for laying purposes? I give them a mash of table scraps, wheat, bran and milk almost every day together with cabbage and mangels man-gels for green and a mixture of wheat and oats as the grain. Not knowing how much they need I am afraid I have been giving too much, because they do not socm as lively as they did and are not laying as many "eggs. Please let mc know what fifty hens will need. M-RS. A. BERGESON, Lcwiston. Answer by C. S. Gorllne, Poultry Editor. The general rule is one quart of feed to each twelve hens and the usual method of feeding is whole grain in litter or straw in a scratching shed twice a day morning and eveningwith even-ingwith a mash at noon; some prefer pre-fer the mash at night, others in the morning .the time, wc think is immaterial, im-material, but the mash and green food is required as a succulent offset to the dry grain. Therefore, as a morning feed for 50 hens, say four quarts of wheat, and the same amount at night, with mash and green stuff at noon or through the day. The next day, we would alternate with oats, the aim being variety, and as much as possible. pos-sible. Your feeding isSill right, and at this season of the year, you are safe in giving them all they will eat, but generous feeding will not make good layers of poor ones; it will simply sim-ply -bring out the best there is in therm. o |