The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1921-07-07
FEEDING FOR SUMNER EGGS
BY J. Holmes Martin

Many farmers DO not THINK II nee
essary to feed the flock at all during
the summer months since the birds
can pick up considerable food about
the farm. While it is possible to Sc
cure some production from the flock
thru the summer without any supple
mentary feeding, maximum produce
ton cannot be secured. This is shown
by the fact that the production of the
flock usually takes a spurt at the tim
Of wheat harvest when the birds Sc
cure full feed If the foch is cxl ect-
ed to produce large number Of eggs
it should be fed all the feed it reeds,
this containing the proper nutriments
which are needed in making eggs. 1t
is the law of nature that any animal
will use its feed first for maintenance.
II no food is received above the
maintenance required we cannot ex-
pect production. Carefully kept feed
records at the Kentucky Experiment
Station Poultry Farm show that hens
of the egg breeds, such as Leghorns,
require on an average IS pounds of
feed per year per hen, whereas the
general purpose fowls, such as the
Reds and Plymouth Rocks. require IS
to 90 pounds. This would mean that
a flock of 100 hens of a general-pur-
pose breed would need "a pounds of
feed per day. If the total amount Of
waste food available on the farm that
the birds can pick up is but 18 pounds
the flock will merely maintain itself
and not produce eggs. When flock
receives a full feed, approximately
three-fourths Of this is required for
maintenance and the other fourth
goes to the produ i'm Of eggs or
flesh. Hence the economical thing t.
do is to supplement the feed OF the
farm flock so that it will receive this
extra pounds per hundred hens, FOR
it is this 6 pounds that really deter
mines the production.
The waste food available on the
farm is usually in the nature Of grain,
sprouts. grasses, etc. which go to make
up the yolks of the eggs. The flock
needs supplementary feed which will
furnish material for the egg whites.
Experimental results show that tho
best feeds to supply the white-form-
ing material are sour skim-milk, but
ter-milk, tankage, and commercial
meat scrap. One hundred pounds of
sour skim-milk is the equivalent OF
Z pounds of meat scrap or 9 pounds
Of tankage. A flock Of one hundred
hens would require 3 gallons Of milk
per day. If milk is not available, a
dry mash containing 20 per cent
tankage or meat scrap should be fed.
The other 80 percent Of the mash
should consist of variety Of the fol-
lowing mill feeds: bran, middlings,
ground oats, corn meal, and alfalfa
meal. In order to get the birds TO
consume this dry mash, it is neces-
sary to keep the flock confined to the
house each morning until nine or ten
o'clock with nothing available but
the mash and plenty of cool water
Other advantages of confining the
flock each morning are that it en-
courages the hens to lay in the nests
where the eggs can be easily gath
cred and keeps the nests and eggs
clean on rainy days. The flock will
also be confined il one wishes TO Gull
out any hens or dip the birds for lice
At the state fair educational exhib'
il Of the College Of Agriculture, q
certain farmer came up 10 the author
and said that he did not believe in
"al this bunk about a balanced ra
ton" He said that his flock was pro
ducing a large number Of eggs anC
he was not feeding them at all. Up
on questioning the farmer II wal
found that the birds had free acces:
TO a large field Of alfalfa and thai
they were always around the hos
troughs when he fed the hogs skim
milk. In addition they were getting
considerable wheat from an adjoining
field and hence they were receiving q