Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 72, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 December 1916 — Feeds Hens Prefer When Given Choice [ARTICLE]

Feeds Hens Prefer When Given Choice

Recent tests at the Missouri agricultural experiment station seem to show that the hen knows better than many other people how to select the food that will help her most in laying eggs and keep her in the best condition. Some old ideas with regard to poultry feeding were proved sound and some others were discredited by the hens. They almost all showed a decided preference for wheat, which is very generally used as a poultry feed. Kaffir stood next in popularity, but oats and sunflower were not eaten us much as many People would have expected, probably because the hen is not able to digest much food containing a high percentage of crude fiber. The hens that did eat sunflower seed were seen cracking thorn and eating only the softer portions inside, possibly because they wauled to get rid of the crude fiber in the shell.

Bran is often used in poultry feeding, but the hens in this test which could get other foods almost always chose it instead of bran. Alfalfa leaves were tried, but none eaten to any great extent. Animal food of some kind, such a? the beef scrap or sour milk, is generally regarded as very necessary for laying hens, but most of the hens in this test did not eat much more beef scrap while laying than while not laying. Two actually ate more of it when they were not laying. Other tests at the Missouri station have shoivn that the use of either beef scrap or sour milk makes the hen’s eggs record at least twice as good as though she were fed no animal food whatever and that sour milk is slightly better than beef scrap for this purpose, in addition to being cheaper and easier to get on most farms, ’