| Show P T y DEVE DEVELOP LOP PULLETS BODY FOR LAYING use care in early feeding to bring maturity ny aly roy rov 3 deare dearstyne tyne poultry department north carolina state college service the proper feeding of chickens during the period of early development la is of vital importance in determining their future laying capacities so tests testa at branch station farms during the past five years have proved one of the most critical periods in a birds life to la that between the time it goes off the starting mash and the time it la Is placed on a laying mash diet the feeding should be such as to bring the birds to bodily maturity at approximately the same time they start laying and not before after the birds start laying most of their food goes into egg production and very little if any goes to skeleton growth hence a bird that starts laying before it has reached full growth Is liable to remain undeveloped and will seldom have the stamina needed by heavy producing hens too great an amount of protein in the food before the laying period Is apt to start the pullets laying too soon an excess of carbohydrates or a feed of cereal crops alone also are conducive to too early laying A good feed should have the proteins and carbohydrates bo well balanced A mash containing per cent protein of which 4 per cent was animal protein fed along with the regular scratch feed was found to give the best results in the experiments conducted with rhode islands reds and white leghorns Leg horns fed on this diet the birds reached sexual and physical maturity at approximately the same time |
