The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-10-27
FEEDING HENS
PROFIT SECRET
Government Experiments Carried
on for Eight Years Give In
terestinq Results.

Valuable results of interest to
poultry men have been obtained by
the United States Department of
Agriculture in experimental tests
at the government poultry farm at
Beltsville, Md, where different ra-
tons have been fed to various
of eight years. At this time, more
than 1000 hens and pullets are used
in feeding trials of this kind.
The pens range in size from 80 to
so hens, all the fowls being trap
nestled during the period under
test. During the last three years,
the mash which has given the most
uniform and best production has
consisted of mixture of percent
bran, 4 percent middlings, 26 per-
cent meat scrap and 66 percent corn
meal. This mash was the result of
experiments where the hens were
allowed to select their own mash
ingredients. When given free
choice of these various feeds, the
fowls consumed the various ingred-
tents in the above proportions. Sew
eral pens, both of Leghorns and
Rhode Island Reds, of 80 hens each
have averaged from 40 to 1900
eggs apiece where this mash has
been fed. The feeding mixture
seems to be especially adapted for
Leghorns, although it has also Civ
en- good results with the Reds. The
Wyandottes and Plymouth Rocks
are inclined to accumulate too
much fat when fed this mash, and
one somewhat lower in meat scrap
content gives better results when
fed to these two breeds.
Larger Types Gain Weight.
The Wyandottes and Plymouth
Rocks maintained on the Beltsville
farm are large, standardized fowls
and the tendency to take on fat on
this mash probably did not occur
in the case of smaller types of Ply
mouth Rocks, such as commonly
are found on commercial poultry
farms. Experiments conducted dur
ing the current year in which this
mash was modified by the addition
of Is percent ground oats and the
reduction of the meat scrap by
percent and the corn meal by II
percent have not shown any ad
vantage. The evidences are that
ground oats added to the ration pro
duces no beneficial results. II
pays to vary the proportion OF
grains in the scratch mixture from
an economical standpoint according
to the market price of these farm
crops. At present, a scratch mix
ture of three parts cracked corn
two parts oats and one part wheat
by weight is used with this mash
In previous years fish meal has
not proved a more profitable and
practical source of protein in the
mash than meat scrap, but during
the present year the production
has been very good where the fish
refuse has been used, and as the
price of this material has decreas
ed, larger net incomes result from
its use. Sixty percent protein fish
scrap now can be obtained for from
81 to 50 per 100 pounds cheaper
than 55 percent protein meat scrap
Innumerable varieties of fish scrap
have been fed and no harmful eff
fects have resulted from feeding
even fish scrap of varied compost
lions, some being unusually rich in
oil content. Tankage has been fed
against meat scrap as source OF
protein and at this time SO percent
protein tankage is available on the
market for 20 cents per 100 pounds
less than 55 percent meat scrap
conditions which justify the extern
sive use of tankage as a poultry
feed. Tests in which only Is per
cent meat scrap was fed in the
mash have not resulted in as high