Show GROUND GRAIN NEEDED PART OF RATION FOR LAY ING HENS A mash composed of ground grain or their products byproducts by and some form of 01 animal protein is an essential part of a ration for both growing chickens and laying hens the reason is that birds putting on growth or producing eggs can not assimilate enough nutriment from whole or cracked grains to supply the maximum need when the grain is ground says the united states department of agriculture little work is required of the gizzard and much more of the feed can be used in making flesh or eggs the scratch grain pirt part of the ration howe however vei is needed to give the gizzard something to do in order to keep the birds in health for laying hens the scratch grain thrown in the litter provides an all incentive to needed exercise it was once thought that the mash should be wet to produce the best results but experiments have proved that in spite of the slightly better palatability of the wet the convenience of feeding it dry overbalances over balances any slight blight gain in production feeding it dry is now the usual method digestibility is not increased by wetting the principal objection to the wet mish is that it requires too much labor it must be moistened then carried to the hens once a day and the troughs must be cleaned after each feeding cleanliness is absolutely essential because indigestion and diarrhea will result from feeding in dirty troughs on the other liand the dry mash hopper may be filled once a week or even less frequently and needs no further attention hens do not overeat of dry mash as they sometimes do of wet feed |