The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-05-01
POULTRY KEEPING.
The Food Requisite to Secure Contin ne,
Egg-Productiou.

The Food Requisite to Secure CONTINUED
Egg-Production.
Naturally any bird produce eggs mere
" for the purpose of reproduction of the
species and in only sufficient quantity
for incubation and the rearing of the
young brood. A hen by long process
of domestication has had its natural
disposition in this direction changed
very much, Just as in the ease with
cows, which produce milk for much
longer period than nature really calls
for for the rearing of calf. The do
mestic hen has been educated or trained
to lay eggs during nearly the whole
year, instead of for only month or
so in the spring. This training has been
carried on for very long period. and
il is only during comparatively recent
time that the hen has b, come so product
i've as it now is. 1t is not uncommon
now for a hen to produce one hundred
and twenty eggs in a year and to con-
time laying fer ten years. 1t has been
recorded of brown Leghorn hen that
she ldlu over TWO llDuSaHu tggS Ill
eleven wears Such a case however is
quite exceptional. and at moderate
estimate hens proiuctivenes' might
be taken as equivalent TO one hundred
and twenty eggs for three years, after
which, as rule, it will not pay to keep
her any longer. This product, howev-
er. is equivalent TO product of three
times the hens own weight yearly. and
this, of course, can not be expected
wihout a very liberal feeding OF such
food as will supply all the ele-
ments of the egg. An egg is the
most concentrated form of animal
matter. 1t contains all the elements
of living animal, and in addition a
large excess in the form of the shell.
which is its natural protection Neces-
sarily everything that is in the egg
must be supplied in the food. so that
feeding for eggs is subject that the
poultry keeper should study very care
fully. An egg is rich in various e'e-
ments that are not generally under
stood. For instance, it contains large
proportion of sulphur, the decompo,i-
ton of which produces the maodorous
sulphuretted hydrogen which gives to
decayed eggs their exceedingly OBJ
jectionable character. An egg also
contains large proportion of oil.
phosphorus. lime and nitrogen. The
shell is nearly all lime. Moreover, the
character of hens digestive ap-
paratus is to be considered; for, as q
hen has no teeth, these necessary parts
of the digestive apparatus have to be
provided for in another way This is
by part of the stomach known as the
gizzard. an exceedingly strong mus
cular organ, which is provided with
hard, rough, corrugated surfaces that
act precisely as the grinding surfaces
of a grain mill To facilitate this
grinding or mastlculating process. the
hen swallows gravel and small stones,
by which the hardest food, frs: SOFT
ened in the crop. is triturated and re-
duced to pulp. This peculiarly of the
hen makes it necessary to furnish her
with a supply of gravel, and, if this
consists of limestone, ii will serve the
purpose of nutriment and supply nee.i
ed lime, as well as perform the
requisite mechanical action IN the
gizzard.
The greatest mistake in feeding fowls
Is overlooking Hens are gorged with
food which makes it fat, instead Of pro-
viding those elements which 90 TO
make up the egg. Corn consists almost
wholly of starch and oil, and while it is
a good food for fattening fowls it is one
of the worst of all foods for producing
eggs No one food contains all the
needed elements, and a mixture of vari-
Gus kinds should be given. 1t is quite
possible that the production of eggs
may be largely increased by a truly
scientific system of feeding. and the
ordinary poultry-keeper should make
study of such a system: not being
alarmed at the idea of the scientific
part of II, because science is nothing
more than perfectly right and exact
practice, and is nothing that any ordi-
nary sensible person need to be afraid
of.
The following foods contain all the
elements that exist in eggs: Oats. wheat.
barley, corn. bran. linseed, hemp seed.
rape seed, crushed fresh bones, mustard
seed. green cabbage and clover. and a
reasonable mixture of all these varied
more or less, with the aid of crushed
limestone and gypsum would afford
every element called for 70 produce
constant yield of eggs A large
quantity of broken fresh bones is one
of the most important aids and with
wheat, barley, broken linseed oil cake
and mustard seed and plenty of green
vegetables and water, will provide
everything that is required But food
alone is not enough, and there are some
other necessa-ies which viii be men.
toned hereafter - Henry SteUart. in
a. T. Times.