OCR Text |
Show PRODUCING EGGS IN WINTER Much Depends on Other Things Than Feed Early Moulted Hens and Pullets Only Layers. Egg production at this time of thfc year depends on other things than feed to a large extent. Hens that are over three years old seldom lay at all in cold weather, so unless they are wanted for spring breeders because of their Individual excellence, they should have been marketed as soon as they stopped laying und began to moult In the fall. Young lens that moulted late will not be apt to begin now before midwinter, mid-winter, under any ystem of feeding for it takes longer In cold weather to get back to laying condition. The early moulted hens and the well grown pullets are the only ones that can be expected to lay now, and whether wheth-er they do or not depends as much on tnelr condition at the beginning ol cold weather and on general care aa on feeding. The feed needs to be well balanced; that is, they need a variety of the foods that contain all the elements of growth and egg production. "Plenty of corn and water" is not a good egg ration and if that is practically all the feed they get they can hardly be ex peeled to lay many eggs, for they haven't the kind of material they need. Wheat is a much better food for laying hens than so much corn, and in the absence of that, bran Is a most excellent substitute. A mixture of bran, meat meal and bone meal may be fed dry In a hopper hop-per or the bran may be moistened with milk and seasoned with a little sail and pepper, with a little of the meal meal added. |