Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 153, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1918 — CHEAPER POULTRY RATIONS [ARTICLE]

CHEAPER POULTRY RATIONS

(Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture.) The demand for wheat for humant consumption necessitates that it bo used as economically and sparingly as possible for feeding animals and chickens. Some “just as good” rations which contain no wheat have been tried out in egg laying tests by the United States department of agriculture, and excellent results have been secured. Thirty laying hens, to which wheatless rations were fed, produced in the two years covered by the test on an average of 1473 eggs for the pullet year, and 121 eggs during the second year. This compares favorably with egg yields secured on other rations containing wheat, and therefore more expensive. The wheatless ration is also being tried on a pen .of Buff Orpington pullets and during the past ten months they have laid on an average of 1113 eggs, a very good yield for this period. The wheatless ration used was re follows: Scratch mixture —Two pounds of cracked corn, one pound of oats. Dry Mash—Three pounds of cornmeal, one pound of beef scrap. The scratch mixture was fed sparingly, the hens being permitted to eat about as much of it as of the dry mash. During the two-year test the hens were provided with free range where they could pick a variety of green feed. Leghorn pullets were used and it was found that it took 4.6 pounds of feed to produce a dozen eggs. Fifty-two pounds of grain was consumed by each pullet annually, and of this amount twenty-six pounds was from the scratch mixture. When wheat is omitted from the ration it is advisable to feed more beef scrap. Laying hens should have a good supply of protein, and the additional beef scrap supplies this essential in one of the cheapest forms. Cotton seed meal used to replace half the beef scrap in the mash has given good results on the government poultry farm and has had no bad effect on the quality of the eggs. Where cotton seed meal replaced all the beet scrap the results were unsatisfactory both in number and quality of eggs. Mussel meal has not proven as good a substitute for beef scrap as fish meal, which, to the amount of 25 per cent of the mash, has affected the flavor or the taste of the eggs. -