National Opinion

Feeding Fowls.—Don't keep food always by your poultry, because, if laying fowls, they are made too fat, and if fattening ones, not fat enough. To fatten poultry feed three times in twenty-four hours all they will eat, and remove all they leave, and they will eat more than when cloyed and disgusted by the constant presence of food. To keep layers in proper condition, feed twice or thrice daily a regular ration, but not as much as they will eat. Some say feed as long as they will run for what you throw to them and eat greedily, but that is not right; for they will get too fat, unless they are laying freely. They will show eagerness about as long as they can swallow, and will scramble for what you give them until in their rivalry they stuff and cram themselves week after week, and become a mass of fat, and yet they will still act at feeding time as if they were half-starved. Feed your regular laying stock moderately, and be governed by their state of flesh rather than by their greed. Take a few fowls from the perch at night occasionally to test their weight, and a little practice will enable you to quickly decide on the condition of the flock. Increase the ration as the yield of eggs increases, and so long as the laying keeps pace with the diet you may give rich and stimulating feed in any quantity. Feed the select breeding stock more sparingly than the rest of the layers, so as to give only a moderate yield of eggs for hatching purposes, for if you promote great prolificness in the parents the result will be weakness in the progeny. Chickens, during the period of their rapid growth, should be fed very often, with a variety, and all they will eat.