The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-12-26

| The hen shown in the illustration produced nearly 12 dozen eggs on 2S pounds of mash feed (equal parts corn meal, bran, middlings and beef or fish scrap) and 4S pounds of grain (equal parts cracked corn, wheat and oats) To conserve wheat and still have an equally valuable egg-yielding ration, lpoultry specialists recommend a grain ration of two parts cracked corn and ! one part oats.
 i Poultry owners who wish to obtain a satisfactory production of eggs during the winter should plan to give their birds plenty of feed Just what kind of feed that can be supplied most eco inomically and which will keep the birds 1 in healthful laying condition is one of the poultry keepers principal prob lens. The poultry division of the United States department of agriculture has for some years been conducting 1 tests on substitute feeds with laying
 hens. The poultry specialists have
 found, for example. that by feeding a Iwheatless ration there is a considerable Saving in the cost of feed and the hens will product as many eggs as when
 wheat is included.
 1 THIRTY LEGHORN BULLETS Thirty Leghorn bullets to which this lwheatless ration was fed for l F years produced an average of 1473 eggs a hen for the bullet year. This compares Ifavorably with egg yields secured with otL CT rationS containing wheat and,
 therefore, more expensive. During the l16 weeks of the second year the hens
 which were fed the wheatless ration iaveraged 2S.5 eggs per hen, 1T 5 eggs Iper hen being produced in March. The scame wheatless ration fed to a pen of Buff Orpington bullets produced from Ithe first of November to the last ot March 53 eggs hen for the 20 weeks, making the highest egg record Of any of the large feeding pens of bullets in the test Two other hens, however, lwere less than one egg a hen behind l this pen. The wheatless ration which
 was used was as follows:
 l Scratch mixture: pounds cracked lcorn, 1 pound oats
 l Dry mash: pounds corn meal, l
 pound beef scraps.
 | The scratch mixture was fed spar ingly, so that the hens ate about equal parts of this mixture and of the dry mash The total grain consumption of l feed for the year was 52 pounds, of (which 26 pounds was scratch mixture 1 IThroughout the year 1t took 1 6 pounds
 of feed to produce dozen eggs.
 SUBSTITUTES FOR WHEAT | If the wheat is omitted from the ra-
 tion it is very essential to feed con-
 siderable proportion of beef scrap or lfsh scrap in the mash. While these )feeds may seem high in price, consid- ering their high protein content and their value in egg production, they are lcheap poultry feeds. In other experi- ments conducted by the poultry divi-
 sion it was found that for the first four months bullets fed ration com
 taining beef scrap produced an aver Iage of 4t. sggs, while those fed the
 same ration, with-@the exception tiat
 the beef scrap was omitted, produced
 only 1s.f eggs.
 These experiments, the poultry spe- cialists lsay. prove that wheat is not lessenti9l in an egg-laying ration and that eYcellent results can be secured Iby using corn and oats as scratch
 mixtufe, provided this is fed with 9 Igood mash containing 25 per cent oi lbeef or fish scrap.
 While the birds should have plenty
 to eat, they should always be eager for each meal. If one-third of tho lseratch grain furnished them is fec lin the morning and two-thirds at night the birds will take more exercise thar If they receive all the grain they de sire in the morning. Good scratch mix lures may be made of equal part by weight of cracked corn, wheat ane