yC-NRLF

How To FEED POULTRY

FOR ANY PURPOSE

WITH PROFIT

A Complete and Authoritative Treatise on Feeding All Classes of Poultry —Nutritive

Values of Feeds — Formulas to Meet Every Probible Requirement and for Fowls

Kept Under All Conditions — Practical Rules for Feeding, and How

to Adapt Them to Individual Requirements — A Text Book

for the Beginner — A Reference Book for the Expert

BY JOHN H. ROBINSON

FULLY ILLUSTRATED

PRICE, $ L.25

Copyright by

RELIABLE POULTRY JOURNAL PUBLISHING COMPANY

Quincy, Illinois

1920

PUBLISHED BY

RELIABLE POULTRY JOURNAL PUBLISHING COMPANY

QUINCY, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.

CONX E NTS

CHAPTER I
General Factors in Poultry Feeding 5

CHAPTER II
Properties and Composition of Poultry Feeds . 10

CHAPTER III
Principles, Methods and Systems of Feeding 26

CHAPTER IV
Preparation of Feeds for Poultry .. 37

CHAPTER V
Feeding Chicks From Hatching to Weaning 44

CHAPTER VI
Feeding Chicks From Weaning to Maturity..... 59

CHAPTER VII
Feeding for Egg Producton 71

CHAPTER VIII
Fattening and Finishing Poultry for the Table 85

CHAPTER IX
Feeding Breeding and Exhibition Fowls .'. 90

CHAPTER X
Feeding Turkeys, Peafowl, Guineas and Pheasants 95

CHAPTER XI
Feeding and Fattening Ducks 98

CHAPTER XII
Feeding and Fattening Geese 103

CHAPTER XIII

Growing Feed for Poultry 108

Index . 112

MAIN L'liRARY-AGR'.CUI-TURE: L

C HAPTEU T •

General Factors in Poultry Feeding
af

Economic Conditions Determine Methods— Increased Use of By-Product Feeds Makes Knowledge of the Science of
Feeding Useful to Every Poultry Keeper — Nutritive Requirements and Feeding Habits of The Several
Kinds of Poultry — Comparison of Digestive Organs of Animals and Birds —
Relations of Art and Craft in Poultry Feeding

THE aim of this book is 'to give a working know-
ledge of the whole subject of poultry feeds and
feeding. The conditions of modern life, and the
economic developments in poultry culture, and in other
interests directly or indirectly related to it, make some
acquaintance with the scientific side of the subject essen-
tial. A generation ago, under what we have been accus-
tomed to call natural conditions of life for them, o; r
several kinds of domestic poultry fed themselves, or \ver2
fed, almost entirely upon the
waste products of farms,
and the wastes from the
homes and the barns and
gardens in the less thickly
populated urban districts.
What town poultry keepers
could not supply their flocks
from such sources was made
up by purchase of grain
from nearby farms.

In the last thirty years all
this has been changed The
increasing demand for poul-
try and eggs in cities has
led to a great increase n
the amount of poultry kept
in sections where the farmers
have no surplus stock feed
to sell. At the same time.
the increasing use of pre-
pared cereals for human
food made great supplies of
by-products suitable for
stock feeding. Such by-
products consist of the
coarser, less palatable, and
least nutritious parts of the
grains from which they are
derived; or of the residue
when a particular food ele-
ment is separated from *a
certain grain to give a hu-
man food having peculiarly
desirable properties. T h e
profitable use of such by-
products in stock feeding is
a question of combining
them properly with other
feeds and of being able to
obtain them at least as
cheaply as the feed ele-
ments they contain could be
bought in the cheapest com-
mon whole feed article that
might be used for the stock
to which they are to be fed.

It follows that the intel-
ligent and economical use of

I. K. FELCH FEEDING A FLOCK OF HIS LIGHT

BRAHMAS
(From a snap-shot by J. H. Robinson, May, 1901)

I. K. Felch, known as "The Father of Poultry Cul-
ture in America", was born in Natick, Mass., January
17, 1834, and died there August 31, 1918. From 1846 until
his death he was actively interested in poultry culture.
The first record of an exhibit of poultry by Mr. Felch,
and his first published statement relating to poultry
are in the report of the Middlesex South Agricultural
Society's Fair at Framingham, Mass., September, 1864,
published in "Massachusetts Agriculture, 1864." At this
fair he exhibited a cock and four hens. Golden Penciled
Hamburgs, which he had imported in 1863, in competi-
tion for the premium awarded for best pen of fowls and
best statement of their performance for six months pre-
ceding- the fair. The part of his statement relating to
their production reads: "The fowls have been for most of
the time enclosed in a yard, three rods long and one rod
wide, and their food has been nothing but corn, with
fresh water and oyster shells, at an expense Of $3.75
for the five fowls for the six months. The four hens
have laid in the six months 472 eggs, and one of the
hens has been sick ten weeks of the time, being an aver-
age of 118 eggs to each hen. But to give each hen her
just merits, we should consider that the sick hen only
laid about half as many eggs as each of the others.
Allowing her to lay 60 eggs would leave 412 to be laid
by the three others — being 137 eggs each. One of the
hens has in my judgment laid 150 eggs within the past
six months. From observations we know that she laid
constantly and more than the others."

these feeds requires some knowledge of the chemical com-
position of feed stuffs, and of the scientific principles of
feeding. True, the abundance of feeds of this kind has
led manufacturers and dealers to give particular atten-
tion to the production of commercial mixtures of feed in
which these by-products are combined, either with whole
•feeds or with other by-products, in such proportions that
the mixture is equal or superior in value to some com-
mon whole feed for which it is offered as a substitute,

or perhaps is a complete ra-
tion for a specific purpose;
but even in using these feeds
the poultry keeper needs to
know something of their
composition and of the prop-
erties and values of the in-
gredients which they contain.
He needs this not so much
for protection against adul-
teration of mixtures by un-
s c r u p u 1 ous manufacturers
and dealers, as for insurance
against the contingency of
being unable to obtain sup-
plies of a feed that he has
been accustomed to us^, and
to enable him to combine to
the best advantage the use
of good commercial mixtures
and feeds obtained from
other sources.

The acquaintance with the
scientific side of the subject
that serves this purpose must
be correct as far as it goes,
but need not go farther than
familiarity with the names
and properties of the nutri-
ent elements in feeds, their
general relations to the nu-
tritive requirements of ani-
mals—particularly poultry—
and simple methods of calcu-
lating the values of rations.
These are in reality matters
which under modern condi-
tions are no longer peculiar-
ly scientific but have become
a necessary part of practical
common knowledge of feed-
ing. For that reason it
,seems best in a popular dis-
cussion of the subject to
present the rudiments of the
science of feeding as a part
of the practical statement of
the subject, introducing each
in its appropriate place in

the general discussion.

HOW TO FEED* EQ.ULTJtfriE3B.. ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

A MAINE FARM THAT SPECIALIZED IN POULTRY — BREEDING BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCKS TO STANDARD

AND FOR EGGS AND MEAT

Here about three or four hundred old birds and from a thousand to twelve hundred chicks had the range of the
orchards, pastures, meadows, and some of the cultivated fields- — in all about forty acres — and could pick a consider-
able part of their living- at some seasons.

What Poultry Eat

Of poultry in general it may be said that their diet
is more like that of man than the diet of other domestic
animals. The pig is the only one of the larger animals
that is an omnivorous eater, and while the pig will eat meat
of any kind when it can get it, it seems much better able
to subsist on a vegetable diet than most kinds of poultry.
In comparing the natural diets of the most common kinds
of poultry we find at the same time such similarity and
such adaptability in all, that they may be kept on the
same ration, with slight and easily made variations, and
yet such differences and such special adaptabilities that
one kind may thrive on feed upon which another would
be half starved. Their differences in structure and habits
of life also enable them to obtain feed under different
conditions. The likeness of the several common kinds of
poultry in the matter of feeding is of advantage to the
poultry keeper when he wishes to keep two or more
kinds under intensive conditions. Their unlikeness is of
advantage when he wishes to utilize as fully as possible
the waste feeds on a large area of land, or large quan-
tities of particular kinds of waste or cheap feed.

The kinds of poultry to be especially considered in a
general work on poultry feeding are, — fowls, turkeys,

ducks, and geese. The guinea, peafowl, and pheasant re-
quire substantially the same feeding as the turkey, and the
swan may be considered a large goose. We can, therefore,
cover the whole subject thoroughly by treating matters
relating to the feeding of fowls, turkeys, ducks, and geese
ftlly, and then making shorter special statements for the
other kinds.

Feeding Habits of Fowls

Fowls are the most domestic of poultry. They will
forage only as far as is really necessary to get feed. They
appear averse to getting so far away from their coop or
from cover where they feel safe, that they cannot reach
it by a quick dash if danger threatens. So they usually
forage over a limited area, working over it thoroughly,
but rarely going far in any direction. The ordinary farm
flock of fowls, with the chickens that are raised each year,
generally take all the poultry feed there is about a farm
house, its outbuildings, and the nearby land. That is why
so many farms in America have only fowls, — no turkeys,
ducks, or geese. Fowls are, on the whole, the most use-
ful and profitable kind of poultry; therefore they take
precedence of the others except where particular interest
in one of the others results in either limiting the number
of fowls kept or making special provision for it beyond
the range of the fowls.

A MASSACHUSETTS MARKET POULTRY PLANT IN A LARGE BACK YARD WHERE 1200 TO 2000 WINTER

CHICKENS WERE GROWN A YEAR

Here everything consumed by the birds had to be bought for cash. Only nearness to good markets, good work
and a good product make poultry growing profitable under such conditions.

GENERAL FACTORS IN POULTRY FEEDING

Fowls eat almost any tender grass and weeds. They
eat all kinds of common grain and most large weed
seeds, but little grass seed or small weed seeds. Even
small chickens are not at all keen for grass and weed
seeds so small that old fowls pass them by. Fowls eat
most kinds of insects and worms that are large enough
to be readily visible, but seem quite indifferent to the
very -small insects that attack vegetation. They do not,
as far as the writer has observed, eat ants, but they are
fond of "ant eggs." They also are fond of nearly all
kinds of fruit and vegetables— the only popular article^ of
human food in this line which they do not like being
beans.

Feeding Habits of Turkeys

Turkeys are much less domestic by nature than fowls.
Being larger, and requiring more feed, — and having also the
same reluctance in consuming small bits of nutriment, tur-

the nearest water and remain there all day. Nor will they
be particular about coming home at night. Their natural
feed is the small animal life they find in the water, and
especially along the margins of ponds and streams. With
this they eat a great deal of coarse and tender green
stuff. They probably get little grain in wild life, yet in
domestication they can stand a heavy diet of ground
grain.

Feeding Habits of Geese

Geese, so like ducks in appearance that people who do
not know both well often find it difficult to distinguish
between large ducks and small geese, are the most herbi-
vorous of poultry. They can live entirely on grass and
similar green forage, with such animal feed as they may
get from their range. While they prefer marshy land and
access to the water, they will thrive on any good pasture.
They like grain, and make their greatest growth when

A NEW ENGLAND INTENSIVE POULTRY FARM— WHITE BIRCH POULTRY YARDS, BRIDGEWATER, MASS.

The houses for laying-breeding fowls are in the background at the right. The small houses at : the .left ; are
for breeding ducks. In the middle foreground and center are brooders for young chickens; the colony houses across
the rear are for weaned chicks. Small fruit trees may be seen in all yards.

keys range much more widely than fowls. They have not
the same attachment for home, and when foraging is poor
on their accustomed range they are inclined to wander
away, looking for a better feeding ground. This habit
makes them especially valuable in the destruction of
grasshoppers and other insects which often come in great
numbers and move rapidly over large areas. Insects and
grain, with some tender vegetation, are their principal
diet. They will eat most of the things that fowls eat,
but their wanderlust generally leads them to the big
pasture fields and woods, leaving the products of gardens
and orchards to their less enterprising neighbors.

Feeding Habits of Ducks

Ducks are the most carnivorous of our domestic
birds. They are inclined to be as domestic as fowls —
provided the dooryard affords «them an opportunity to
dabble in water. Otherwise they will, if at liberty, seek

given a liberal grain ration with unstinted green feed.
They will go long distances to feed, but almost invariably
come home long before nightfall.

The foregoing general statements of the feeding
habits of fowls, turkeys, ducks, and geese show how these
different kinds of poultry are adapted to the utilization
of feeds which generally are not consumed by or not
.available to other kinds of farm live stock, and how,
'while using such wastes, they also do good service in
destroying all kinds of insect pests. In all arrangements
for poultry on farms, therefore, the first thing considered
should be the possible service of poultry in these matters.
This is in most cases limited by the necessity for pro-
tecting the birds from natural enemies. Yet it usually is
possible to do much more in this direction than is com-
monly done, and it makes the problems of feeding poultry
on the farm much easier, and the profits correspondingly
gi eater and more satisfactory.

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

The Digestive Organs of Poultry

There are some things in the feeding of poultry that
are better understood if one keeps in mind the resemb-
lances, as well as the differences, in the three types of di-
gestive system which are found in our domestic animals
and birds.

The horse masticates its feed thoroughly as it takes
it into the mouth; the feed then passes into the stomach,
where digestion takes place, and from this into the small
intestine where it is assimilated.

In the pig the digestive system and the processes are
similar to those in the horse, but mastication is not so
thorough. Pigs cannot digest dry fodders and hard grains
as fully as horses do, although they have strong teeth
and powerful jaws.

In the ruminants — cows and sheep — there are said to
be four stomachs, though only the last in the series is
properly a stomach. A cow partly masticates her feed as
she eats it. When the feed is swallowed it passes into the

first stomach or
paunch, which is
so connected
with the second
stomach that the
contents shift
back and forth
from one to the
other with a
churning motion.
After a period of
this action the
feed passes into
the third stom-
ach where it
forms into balls,
which are re-
turned to the
mouth for com-
plete mastication.
When swallowed
this time it pass-
es into the fourth
stomach, which
is the true stom-
ach, and from
there to the in-
testines.

We are accus-
tomed to say
that birds have
no teeth, but the
beaks and bills of

birds are to all intents and purposes a combination of
incisor and canine teeth. So birds have teeth for biting,
cutting and tearing, but not for mastication. The throat
is very wide in proportion to the size of the creature,
and the gullet capable of great distention. Birds can
swallow feed in much larger pieces in proportion to their
size, than most other animals can.

The feed swallowed by a bird passes into the crop,
which is an enlargement of the gullet. In the land birds,
fowls, turkeys, etc., the crop is globular and quite large.
In ducks, geese, and other aquatic birds, there is no such
distinct development of the crop, but the whole gullet
is capable of great distention, and when the birds are able
to eat greedily of a bulky feed, this distention of the
gullet may be observed the entire length of the neck.

THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS OF
THE FOWL

a, Tongue; (upper bill removed); b,
Esophagus; c, Crop; d. Esophagus; e,
True Stomach; f, Gizzard; g, Duode-
num; h, Small Intestine; i, Caeca; k,
Rectum; m, Cloaca; o. Liver; p, Spleen;
r, Gall Bladder; s, Pancreas. Courtesy
of the New Jersey Experiment Station.

From the crop of a bird the feed passes into the
stomach proper, which is a very small organ, and from
that to the gizzard — a muscular sac having for its inner
surface a thick, tough, corrugated skin. Here it is re-
duced to a pulp, and in this condition it passes to the in-
testines. According to traditional popular belief the giz-
zard itself is not capable of masticating the feed, and — to
assist it in that function — the bird swallows bits of
gravel or any hard substance that will give a number of
sharp cutting edges. Full discussion of that matter is
deferred to the appropriate place in the discussion of
feeds, but it may be pointed out here that in birds the
feed is subjected to the strong action of the gastric juice
before going to the gizzard, while in animals which mas-
ticate their feed completely in the mouth, the action of the
gastric juice comes after mastication.

Nutritive Requirements of Poultry

The body of a bird consists of a framework of bone,
to which are attached the muscles that control it; a per-
manent external covering of skin, in which grows a
changeable covering of feathers; and the internal organs
of respiration, circulation, digestion, sensation, and re-
production, which are required to sustain the organism
and the species. Most of the internal organs are essen-
tially enlargements and peculiar developments of the
skin which lines the inside, just as it covers the outside
of ihe body.

Certain facts about the composition of the body are
apparent on ordinary observation. We can see that the
skeleton contains a great deal of lime, and — in the body
of a bird that was in normally good condition when killed
— we can see more or less fat. We also see that this fat
is in different amounts in different birds, and often in
different places. And observing birds that were known to
be in health, and perhaps producing well when killed,
though not in what we consider prime condition for the
table, we naturally and rightly infer that fat is not an
essential part of the organism as are the bones, muscles,
skin, etc. In extremely fat birds it is easy to see that
the excess of fat may both hinder locomotion and interfere
with the functions of the internal organs.

The mineral matter of the bones — and the fat. when
present, are the only parts of the body of a bird in which
we seem to recognize elements of the body in form like
that in which they may be seen elesewhere. The rest of
the structure appears quite unlike the grains and vege-
tables which observation showed us make up so large a
part of the diet of our domestic birds. For information as
to the elements which compose flesh and feathers we
turn to the chemist.

Chemistry tells us that flesh, skin, etc. of birds are
made of nitrogenous material to which is given the
general name protein. The chemical analysis of poultry
meat finds in it principally water, protein, and fat. The
substance of all fleshy tissues is formed from protein,
and it is customary to consider the fat found in them as
not an essential part of their structure. This, however, is
a too-narrow view, overlooking the function of the fat,
or oil, in various parts of the body in keeping it in good
order. Even the bones contain fat. Of the chemistry of
feathers we know little, for they have no feed value, and
chemical investigation in this line has so far been almost
entirely devoted to the things that are used to feed either
men or animals. It would appear, " however, that they
contain a considerable proportion of protein.

The analysis of meat does not show the presence of

GENERAL FACTORS IN POULTRY 'FEEDING

carbonaceous elements other than fat, — except in very
small quantities in the liver. This absence of the starches
and sugars from the dead body does not mean that they
are not highly essential to the nourishment of the living
body. All that it signifies is that they are not stored in
the body in the form in which they are taken into it.
That poultry need such feeds, and in large quantities, is
plain, for they consume them, and generally prefer what
the feeder considers a too-carbonaceous ration to a
more nitrogenous one. The reason for this is apparent
when we consider that what an animal eats not only
builds up and keeps in repair its body, and provides ma-
terial for a product, such as milk or eggs, but must first
keep up the heat of the body and provide the energy re-
quired for every motion and function.

day's rations meet the needs of the birds. But poultry
of all kinds are much like human beings in their tastes and
in their likes and dislikes for particular things.

The common feed elements they require can be pro-
vided in many different combinations. Birds accustomed
to a particular combination are often so reluctant to take
another that they will eat of it only enough to maintain
them, but not enough to give theii best growth or pro-
duction. We cannot say that this is always purely taste
or whim — something that they should be forced to over-
come, and will overcome if they can get nothing else.
Birds brought up on a certain diet have their digest've
systems especially adapted to it, perhaps to such an extent
that they are poorly adapted to some other diet which may
be given them. To force them to a diet they apparently do

LOW-LYING PASTURE LANDS AND THEIR PONDS AND BROOKS ARE IDEAL FOR DUCKS AND GEESE.

Scene on Brook View Farm, West Newbury, Mass.

In the requirements for the growth and maintenance
of their bodies, poultry are like animals, but in the re-
quirements for reproduction another element comes in.
For the shells of their eggs they need much more lime
than is contained in any vegetable or flesh feed. This they
evidently obtain in a state of nature by eating small bits
of stone, shell, etc., that will supply it. In domestication,
with egg production extended through much longer sea-
sons, and with birds kept so long on the same areas that
all material of this kind at or near the surface has been
consumed, it becomes necessary to supply shell-making
material libe'rally.

Art and Craft in Poultry Feeding

For reasons which will appear as the subject is de-
veloped in succeeding chapters, the feeding of poultry
could not be reduced to an accurate science, even if all
poultry of the same kind had precisely the same taste
and capacity for digesting and assimilating feed. It
would still be necessary for the feeder to rely upon his
judgment in many circumstances, and to be governed
largely by temperature in his endeavors to make each

not relish is not good policy, unless it is known to be a
good ration, and unless also it is a ration which the poul-
try keeper intends to feed regularly.

From what was said earlier in this chapter the reader
will rightly infer that poultry can be brought to adapt
themselves to almost any diet or system of feeding by
which they obtain enough to eat. But this is true of poul-
try, or of a kind of poultry, only in a general way. Individ-
ual birds vary both in the extent of their adaptability, and
in the direction of adaptability; and the adaptation of a
flock to a diet or a system of feeding unsuited to some of
them is really brought about by the extermination of the
individuals not adapted to it. They do not grow as oth-
ers do. They are more susceptible to disease. So by a
process of natural selection they disappear entirely within
a few years.

Whether it is policy for a poultry keeper thus to
adapt his flock to a particular system, depends upon his
object in poultry keeping and the real merit of the sys-
tem. In general, the good feeder works by the opposite
rule, studying by every means in his power to provide the
rations that are most palatable to the birds and that give
the finest development.

CHAPTER II

Properties and Composition of Poultry Feeds

What Cheny.stry Finds in Feeds — Peculiar Properties and Uses of Cereal, Vegetable, Animal, and Mineral Feeds
Profitable Use of Commercial Mixtures and Condimental Feeds — Table of • Analyses and
Nutritive Values of Feeds of All Kinds — Explanation of Mathematical

Calculation of Rations

WHILE it is chiefly the nutritive elements in
feeds that concern the poultry feeder, most of
the whole feeds and many of the by-products
contain a considerable percentage of indigestible matter.
The presence of this in a feed is often immaterial, as far
as the results of using the feed are concerned, but may
considerably affect the cost. Some indigestible matter is
positively injurious, while some may be beneficial under
certain circumstances. These points have to be considered

in connection with
the articles to
which they apply.

Chemical analy-
sis of feeds finds
in them a great
many different in-
gredients, but in
the ordinary dis-
cussion of matters
relating to f e e d-
ing, these are con-
sidered in the few
groups to one or

NEVER TOO YOUNG TO BEGIN TO the other of which
LEARN POULTRY FEEDING , r ,u

each of the sep-
Note equipment to suit scale of _rof i

operations — a lard pail for mixing arat€

feed, an old milk pan for the water m a v be assigned

which the boy has learned ducks must

always have with their feed. These are — pro-

tein, carbohy-

diates, fats, ash, and fiber. Mention of the functions of

these was made in the preceding chapter. Here we have to

consider their character more particularly.

Protein — The most familiar example of nearly pure
protein is the white of egg, which contains no carbohy-
drate, just a trace of fat, and about one per cent of ash
— with about seven times its bulk of water. This is of
peculiar interest in a study of poultry feeding because in
the results of the process of incubation we see a mmure
germ, quickened into life by the continuous application of
a suitable degree of heat, grow to a perfectly developed
chick, by a mode of assimilation of the tissue-forming
material which the albumen of the egg provides. The
solids of lean meat and blood are about ninety per cent
or more protein. In milk the protein is in the form of
casein. Pure, dry protein is a hard, horny substance; and
in grains the hardness of the grain depends upon the
amount of protein.

Carbohydrates — The apple and potato are the com-
mon food articles which contain the highest percentages
of carbohydrates, and the lowest of both protein and fat.
The white potato is almost clear starch. In the sweet
potato a part of the carbonaceous material is in the form
of sugar. In the common grains the amount of starch
varies from fifty to seventy per cent. Grains and seeds
which contain large amounts of oil are those in which a
considerable part of the common proportion of starch
takes the form of fat.

Fats — The familiar pure fats used in human food are
10

butter, lard, oleomargarine, and the various vegetable
oils. The common grains contain relatively small percent-
ages of fat, running from about two per cent in wheat,
barley, and rye, to five per cent in oats, and five to eight
per cent in corn. The poultry feeds having the highest
percentages of fat are the meat by-products, beef and
pork scrap, which may contain as high as thirty to forty
per cent of that element, and cottonseed and linseed
products, which have the same wide range of fat content.

Ash — The common ash or mineral matters in feeds
are phosphates of lime, soda, potash, etc. Chemistry finds
some mineral matter in all feed articles, and some of the
grasses and forage plants contain high percentages of it.

Fiber — The fiber in feeds is generally indigestible,
and consideration of it in a study of feeding deals mostly
with the question of the effect of the fiber in an article
upon its palatability, and its possible irritating effects
when too much is taken into the digestive system. The
fibers are largely carbonaceous in character, though lack-
ing in nutritive quality. Oat hulls are the most familiar
form of fiber in poultry feeds.

Vitamines — Besides the five classes of food elements
just described, investigators in food research have re-
cently demonstrated the presence in most food articles in
a natural state, of certain elements of great importance in
nutrition which have been called vitamines. The chemical
nature of these has not yet been satisfactorily determined.

AN OCCUPATION FOR DECLINING YEARS

This man, when he became too old to work at his
regular trade, built a small poultry plant at the edge
of the woods, and with about two hundred hens and the
chickens raised to keep up the flock kept the wolf from
the door in his old age without working beyond his
strength. His feed pail is larger than that of the boy
above, but his work and equipment are not "on a busi-
ness footing."

PROPERTIES AND COMPOSITION OF POULTRY FEEDS

11

COLONY HOUSES FOR LAYING STOCK ON FARM OF F. W. C. ALMY, TIVERTON FOUR CORNERS, R. I.

Their importance in nutrition is evident, but the amounts
necessary or most economical in rations have not yet been
found experimentally. In the present state of knowledge
of the subject it appears that questions as to the use of
vitamines are of little — if any — practical interest to stock
feeders, because to a very great extent the conditions
which reduce the normal quantities of vitamines in human
diet, correspondingly increase the supply jn by-products

quantities of water-soluble vitamines, but much of the
fat-soluble. Lard and sugar contain no vitamines. Ordin-
ary lean meat contains little of either kind, but liver,
kidney and heart have a good deal of both. Leaves and
roots of plants contain much water-soluble vitamines, and
any oil in them may contain fat-soluble vitamines. It does
not appear that there is any danger of poultry fed a
suitable variety of feeds lacking a sufficient supply of

BUSINESS-LIKE1 POULTRY FEEDING — IT PAYS TO USE HORSE POWER WHEN THE SCALE OF

OPERATIONS WARRANTS

This -is a common type of feed wagon, locally called a "dough cart", long- used in Southeastern New England.
All the feed and water for many flocks can be carried at one load. The type of poultry farming with the equipment
shown on this page has been more continuously successful for large farm flocks than any other.

of the manufacture of human foods, which are used for
stock feeding. Thus in the finer grades of wheat flour
the vitamines are largely absent, nearly all in the wheat
remaining in the coarser by-products.

Two kinds of vitamines are recognized, — water-solu-
ble and fat-soluble. The first are said to be essential to
sustain life, the others for the growth of the young.
Both are found in whole milk. Butter has insiginficant

vitamines. Hence special attention to them is not called
for unless it should be clearly shown that their use in
some specified way gives unmistakable greater efficiency
in feeds, and especially in the use of cheap feeds.

Physical Properties of Feeds

In feeding practice it is often found that poultry
show decided preferences between feeds having approx-

COOPS FOR YOUNG CHICKENS REARED WITH HENS ON FARM OF F. W. C. ALMY,
TIVERTON FOUR CORNERS, RHODE ISLAND

12

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

imately the same chemical composition so far as the prin-
cipal nutrients are concerned. To a limited extent such
preferences may depend upon those nutrients being some-
what different in the form in which they occur; but as far
as ordinary observation shows, the birds are governed in
their preferences largely by the ease of obtaining feed,
and by whether the act of swallowing it is attended by
unpleasant sensations. They do not appear to have any
nice sense of taste, but do seem to show some judgment
as to whether a particular feed before them is worth
eating. In general they take the feed that they can get
easiest and show aversion to those containing large pro-
portions of dry fiber.

Corn and Corn Products

Corn is at the same time the most valuable and the
most dangerous of the grains fed to poultry. Its value
comes from its cheapness (under normal conditions), its
general availability, its high digestibility, and the fact
that most kinds of poultry prefer it to other grains. Its
dangerousness is due to the fact that it is the hardest

AFTER THE CORN IS CUT ON A NEW YORK FARM

The chickens have been in it all summer but not visible to the camera. Chickens
and corn are an ever-profitable combination.

grain properly to ripen, cure, and preserve; and that even
when the whole corn has been well cured, the products
milled from it are apt to heat and mold in warm weather,
and when fed in that state may be highly injurious.
Avoidance of the dangers of corn is a matter of care and
good judgment on the part of the poultry keeper. Any
unsoundness or unwholesomeness in corn products is
easily detected by inspection, or such simple tests as
may be applied by the poultryman.

The general preference of poultry for corn is by no
means an exclusive one. In a mixture containing corn
they are apt to eat the corn first, whether it is whole or
cracked, but do not invariably do so. If they are fed up
on corn and have had little of other grains, they
will often lose appetite for corn and eat greedily of a
grain like oats or rye, which ordinarily they would leave
until all the corn had been consumed. The large size of
the grains of whole corn, and its bright color evidently
have much to do with its attraction for poultry, for 'it
may be observed that they are much more partial to
cracked corn that is clean and bright in appearance than
to that which is bleached and dull looking. They will show
this preference immediately when unattractive corn is

placed before them. Hence we cannot conclude that it is
perception of the inferior ouality of the dull-looking corn
that makes them reluctant to eat it.

Corn may be fed to poultry in any form — green or
ripe, whole, cracked, coarsely or finely ground, raw, or
rooked. It is not economy to feed green corn to poultry,
and the only occasion for feeding it is to use green sweet
corn from the garden that has become too hard for th^
table. Where the quantity of this is so small that it is
not worth while to go to the trouble of thoroughly curing
it, it is as well to feed it to poultry at once, for such odds
and ends of sweet corn left about are apt to mold before
they cure, or to be eaten by mice. Many people are afraid
to feed unripe corn to poultry because they have heard
much of the dangers of feeding new corn to other stock,
especially to horses. As far as feeding to poultry is con-
cerned there is no danger, provided the corn is sound and
clean. If it has heated or is moldy there may be risk in
using it freely, but in all cases of damaged or inferior
feeds it is a safe rule to use the damaged article in such
amounts as will be readily eaten
once a day by poultry that are well
fed at other times with sound feeds.
This practice enables a poultry
keeper to use to advantage feeds
that may have become damaged on
his hands, or that can be obtained
at a price low enough really to jus-
tify their use.

In buying corn and corn products
the appearance and texture are gen-
erally fair indications of their qual-
ity. The protein and the fat in a
grain of corn are principally in the
germ and near the outer surface,
the starch appearing as the soft in-
side portion of the kernel. The more
protein and fat the corn contains
the larger will be the hard, darker-
colored portions of the grain. By
splitting a whole grain of corn or
by noting the relative proportions
of hard and highly-colored and soft,
lighter-colored parts of the particles

of cracked corn one can tell whether it is relatively high
in feeding value or not. Of course these determinations
are not accurate, but with experience the feeder's judg-
ment may become good enough for practical purposes.
The quality and texture of white corn are not as plain to
observation as in yellow corn, but the same difference ex-
ists, and the judgment of the eye may be reinforced in
the inspection of cracked white corn by testing the par-
ticles with the teeth. The color — (that is, white or yel-
low), does not influence the quality.

The quality of corn meal may be judged by the ap-
pearance, weight, smell, taste, and the effect of scalding
with boiling water. Meal from ripe, hard, dry corn is
bright and clean looking, and swells immediately when
wet with boiling water of which it will take up a con-
siderable quantity, making a sticky mush. Meal from
poor corn is dull in color, light in weight, often smells
stale or moldy, and when tasted lacks the flavor of good
meal. Wet with boiling water it does not make an ad-
hesive mass, but the particles remain separate and, when
the mixture stands, tend to settle to the bottom like sand,
leaving the water on top. There are, of course, all grades
between good and poor meal, and the feeder learns by

PROPERTIES AND COMPOSITION OF POULTRY FEEDS

13

A FAMILY OF WHITE TURKEY'S FORAGING ON A RHODE ISLAND FARM
Turkfvs are methodical feeders, and specialists in the extermination of buss destructive to grass and grain crops.

long observation to judge each of the numerous grades at
about its actual feeding value.

It is usually, though not always possible to get corn
products of good quality, if purchasers insist upon having
no other and return inferior goods when such are de-
livered to them. There occasionally are seasons when
early frosts stop the growth of corn throughout large
sections before it is thoroughly ripe, and after such a
season little corn of really good quality may be available
for stock feeding.

Corn and cob meal is not a common commercial pro-
duct. Its use appears to be of most interest to poultry
keepers who raise considerable quantities of corn, and
who suppose that corn and cob meal would make a suit-
able substitute for a mixture of corn meal with wheat
bran. As ground at home it is usually so coarse and so
overloaded with fiber that poultry will eat very little of it.
As occasionally found on the market it is much finer,
and appears to be a mixture of corn chop and corn bran
w-ith not much, if any, of the cob in it. In general it is
very poor economy to try to use the home-ground article,
and the commercial product is valuable only for limited use
with high concentrates.

Corn bran is the coarse outer covering of the grain
separated from the meal. Corn feed meal is a mixture of
coarse meal and bran separated from fine table meal.
Corn gluten meal, corn gluten feed, and corn germ meal

are by-products of the manufacture of starch and glucose.
Their comparative feed values are indicated by the state-
ments of percentages of the various feed elements which
they contain, as given in the table on page 23.

Wheat and Wheat Products

Wheat is commonly rated the best grain for poultry.
Its superiority is not due to greater feeding value, but to
better keeping qualities and an almost complete absence
of risk in feeding. Cases of sickness from the use of
damaged wheat, while not unknown, are by no means
common. Large quantities of wheat that have been
damaged by water are dried and sold as poultry feed.
Where the. damage is slight and the wheat in fair con-
dition, about as good results may be obtained as from
sound wheat. Where the damage is great, as when wjieat
is badly scorched, it does not seem to injure poultry, but
because of its unpalatability they will not eat it freely
enough to thrive or lay well on it. Wheat of good milling
quality is rarely offered for poultry feed except in wheat-
growing sections where it may be the cheapest of the
grains available, or in small lots by growers in sections
where so little is grown that there are not facilities for
milling or transporting it to mills. The feed wheat on
the market generally is of a grade not desirable for mil-
ling, but as good as any for feeding purposes. Shrunken,
shrivelled, and frozen wheat, and ordinary wheat screen-

DUCKS ON THE MARGIN OF A LONG ISLAND RIVER — ATLANTIC DUCK FARM, SPEONK
Ducks are often grown in dry yards, but the work is much lighter 'when they have water runs.

14

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

A MARKET POULTRY FARM IN THE SOUTH SHORE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
(Continuation of this view on page 15)

ings, composed of small and broken wheat, often appear
to be good for poultry feeding as the best commercial
grades. As applied to wheat screenings this means clean
screenings, free from large quantities of weed seeds and
chaff.

The red wheats are generally better value than the
white, being richer in protein, which makes them harder.
The best way to test the quality of wheat is by biting
the grains with the front teeth. Poultry eat wheat more
readily than any other grain but corn. The difference in
feeding value between good corn and wheat, as noted in
ordinary practice, is imperceptible. Such advantages as one
or the other may appear to have in particular instances
are plainly due to conditions under which it is, for the
time being, the more suitable feed. Experiments made at
some of the experiment stations to determine the relative
values of corn and wheat have given the same conclu-
sions, though it must be admitted that the methods
adopted sometimes have not been such as allowed a clear
comparison. However, the conclusions arrived at gener-
ally accord with the observations of practical poultrymen.

Wheat by-products are the parts of the grain separ-
ated from flour in milling. They vary, according to the
process of milling and the kind and grade of flour, to
such an extent that for many years there has been great
confusion in the identification of the different kinds and
grades by the names that are applied to them. Since
nearly all states now have feeding-stuff inspection laws,

A MODEST BEGINNING

The business farm shown above heg-fn in tv-is ITV-I-
try house on a town lot. When Mr. H. D. Smith, Rock-
land, Mass., located on the farm shown above, he took
the "first poultry house" with him.

and products of this kind originating in one state may be,
and commonly are, shipped to many others, the officials
in charge of feeding-stuff inspections have cooperated
to standardize the terms used in describing them. The
definitions of wheat products as agreed upon by them
are: —

"Wheat bran is the coarse outer coating of the wheat
berry obtained in the usual milling process from wheat
that has been cleaned and scoured."

"Shorts or standard middlings are the fine particles of
the outer and inner bran separated from bran and white
middlings."

"White middlings or wheat white middlings are that
part of the offal of wheat intermediate between shorts or
standard shorts or standard middlings and red dog. This
term correctly applies to high grade middlings, low in
bran content, thus being highly digestible. An off-grade
flour which contains 2.5 per cent or less of fat and 13%
or less of protein should not be confused with white
middlings."

"Wheat mixed feed or ship stuff is a mixture of the
products other than flour obtained from the milling of
wheat."

"Red dog is a low-grade wheat flour containing the
finer particles of bran."

In the feeding of poultry the wheat products are gen-
erally combined with other milled feeds, principally the
corn products, though oat products are often used also.
The most common commercial form is the mixed feed
or ship stuff. Where "mixed feed" is mentioned as an in-
gredient of mashes this is what is meant unless it is
specified that the reference is to one of the many mixtures
of different grain products put out by dealers as complete
feeds. These last would be more appropriately and plainly
described as mashes.

Bran alone has little nutritive value and is obviously
not attractive to poultry. Mixed with fine corn meal it
gives desirable bulk to the mass, prevents it from packing
in the crop, and supplies mineral elements in which the
corn meal is lacking. Middlings mixed alone with water
make a sticky, pasty mess. When bran and middlings —
wheat mixed feed — are mixed with water, the consistency
and palatableness are improved but still are not as good
as when corn meal is added. A combination of these three
ingredients, with a little meat meal added, gives a simple
mash, of ingredients almost everywhere obtainable, and
one of high efficiency. Hence the corn and wheat pro-
ducts are the usual base in standard mashes, variations
and substitutions being made to utilize other ingredients
that may be locally or occasionally more economical. Fur-

PROPERTIES AND COMPOSITION OF POULTRY FEEDS JT

15

MARKET POULTRY FARM — SHOWING COLONY HOU

(Continuation of

ther discussion of this is deferred until the methods of
feeding are taken up.

Oats and Oat Products

The value of oats for poultry feed is extremely vari-
able. Heavy oats with plump, full kernels and thin hulls
;ire quite equal in value to corn and wheat. A moderate
amount of hull does not seem to reduce either their palat-
ability or their nourishing properties, as compared with
vhat the birds will eat readily of the other grains men-
fioned. In the British Isles oats are commonly rated the
best of grains for poultry, and many American writers,
following English authority, have unstintedly praised
oats, and as unsparingly condemned corn as poultry feed.
The reason for the preference for oats in England is that
the oats produced in the British Isles are uncommonly
good, while the climate is unsuited to corn. In America,
on the contrary, most of the oats produced are of medium
to poor quality, while good corn may be grown almost
everywhere. In the South oats are almost always poor
and light. Tn the Northern States the quality is much
better and the production much greater, yet enormous
quantities of oats that seem to be entirely suitable for
horse feed, are of-little value for poultry feed. Canadian
oats are, on the whole, better than our best northern oats,
and the English opinion of the value of oats in poultry
feeding is more applicable there than on this side of the
boundary line. Another reason for the English objection
to corn is that it makes yellow fat in poultry, whereas
their markets prefer white fat.

The ordinary examination of oats for quality is made
by simply removing the hull from the grain. Anyone who
has been feeding oats without examining them, and has
perhaps wondered why his poultry did not appear to like
oats and would eat little even when kept short of other
grains to compel them to do so, will be surprised, when
he examines an ordinary sample of the oats he has been
feeding, to find how few grains contain large plump ker-
nels, and how many are almost entirely hull. It does not
pay to buy oats for poultry unless they are good enough
so that the birds, eat them readily as a part of a mixed-
grain ration. Hulled oats make good poultry feed, but
the price should not be higher than good feeding wheat.

Ground oats and mixtures of oats with other ground
grains are common feed articles. Their value in either
case depends upon the original quality of the grain, and
the freedom of the mixture from additions of surplus oat
offal from other sources. It is not possible for anyone to
say positively upon inspection whether a sample of ground
oats or mixed feed including ground oats, having an ex-
cessive amount of hull, was made of very poor oats, or

S'ES FOR GROWING CHICKENS ALL THE WAY BACK
view on page 14)

was adulterated. The only question that really concerns
the buyer is whether the proportion of hull is greater than
desirable in a poultry feed. If it is, he should reject the
article, for the excess of hull makes it an undesirable — an
expensive and a dangerous feed. The hull in ground feeds,
beyond a very small amount, is highly irritating to the in-
testines of poultry, and dangerously so in young poultry.
On the other hand, good ground oats, reasonably free
from hulls, are a desirable and valuable feed to use either
separately or in mixtures. So the intelligent and econom-
ical use of oats is a question of obtaining a good article
at an appropriate price. Rolled oats and oatmeal are
widely recommended as superior feeds for young chick-
ens. They are good feeds when not stale, but whether
they are the best feeds to use in any case depends uporu
the quality and prices of other available chick feeds, and!
especially upon whether the corn obtainable is good and
safe to feed.

Barley and Barley Products

Barley as a poultry feed occupies a place between
wheat and oats, as to its palatability, but is much less
generally available than the other grains so far considered.
Nowhere but on the Pacific Coast, where the bulk of our
crop of barley is grown, is it regularly available for poul-
try feeding. In the markets throughout the rest of the
country the supplies of barley are irregular and the prices
compared with those of the grains to be had in abundance
are inclined to be erratic. This last feature is probably
due to the readiness of poultry keepers to pay a premium
for a grain that is rather scarce, thinking that they can
afford to do so for the sake of giving variety to the

ONE OF THE COLONY HOUSES ON FARM OF
H. D. SMITH

16

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

ration. If poultry keepers generally would make a study
of the relative feeding values of grains as apparent by the
proportions of hull and waste that they contain, which can
be determined by ordinary inspection, and then buy ac-
cordingly, the prices of all sorts of grains would soon
be properly adjusted to the price of corn, which under
normal conditions is nearly everywhere the cheapest
grain obtainable

Barley and wheat have about the same nutritive value,
except that barley contains a larger percentage of fiber,
the grain having a hull. Hulled barley and wheat should
be bought for poultry feed at the same price. Barley witii
the hull is usually worth 10 to 15 cents a bushel, or 15 to
25 cents a hundred, less than an ordinary grade of feed
wheat. The proportion of hull varies greatly, just as it
does in oats, though good barley is much plumper than
the best oats, and the poorest barley is rarely as poor as
a large part of the oats on the market. Poultry that have
never had barley sometimes scour badly if suddenly
changed to a diet containing much of it, but the trouble
r rally disappears within a few days. If it does not, it

CHICKS IN BROODERS IN GRASSY YARDS' AT GRANDVIKW FARM, AURORA,
N. Y. — GRAIN GROWING IN FIELD BEYOND

may fairly be assumed that some other things in the ration
or in the conditions to which the birds are subjected need
attention and co.rection.

Brewers' grains and malt sprouts, though commonly
described as poultry feeds, are not generally used for that
purpose, their chief use being as cattle feeds. The prohibi-
tion of the manufacture of liquors in the United States
will take this class of products off the market, and it is
entirely problematical whether barley will continue to be
grown in quantities that will make it an important item
for poultry feed. Its prime use has been for brewing, and
its availability for stock feeding has depended upon the
amount of surplus over what the brewers could use.

Rye and Rye Products

Rye is produced in America in much less quantity
than any other of the common grains. The chief use of
the plant here is for green forage for all kinds of live
stock, and for the straw which is especially valuable for
bedding and litter by reason of its length and extreme
toughness. During the recent war period rye flour was
extensively mixed with wheat flour for human food, and
the value of rye in feeding animals appears to be greater
in mixtures with corn than when the attempt is made to
feed rye or rye products alone. Rye is said to produce
digestive disorders, and anyone not accustomed to it who

will eat a little pure rye bread will discover that it has
in much greater degree the acrid properties sometimes
noted in oat preparations. In parts of Europe where rye
is more extensively grown than here, it is used for feeding
all kinds of live stock, but authorities on feeding in those
countries advise against feeding it alone, and also say that
it gives better results fed cooked than when given raw.
On the whole, the American poultry feeder need not con-
cern himself much about this line of products. If he has
rye on hand or can get it cheap he can use it in a limited
way with other ingredients.

Buckwheat and Buckwheat Products
Poultry seem to like buckwheat in limited quantities,
but not to care to make a full meal of it as they do of
corn, wheat, or good oats. There is not much buckwheat
available for poultry feeding in this country and what
there is, is often of inferior quality, which perhaps ac-
counts for the reluctance of the birds to eat it freely.
In Europe, and particularly in France, buckwheat and its
by-products, groats, bran and middlings, are much used
in feeding poultry. French buckwheat is said to be
superior to that grown in England.
Some poultrymen here occasionally
grow buckwheat on land they want
to freshen, and use the unthreshed
straw as litter, letting the poultry
feed on the grain as they thresh it
out by scratching. This practice
might profitably be followed much
more widely than it is.

Miscellaneous Grains and Seeds

Broom-corn seed, sorghum seed,
f axseed, cottonseed, kafir corn, millet,
rice, etc., are suitable for poultry feed,
but are not generally obtainable at
prices that compare favorably with
the common staples. Broom-corn
seed, hulled, has given as good re-
sults as wheat .after the fowls be-
came accustomed .to it. Kafir corn is
now grown quite extensively on the
dry lands of the Southwest and Far

West, and there is an increasing use of it as poultry feed
in and near the places where it is grown, but elsewhere
supplies of it are irregular and, as a rule, the prices asked
are too high. In warm climates that are too dry for corn,
poultrymen should use kafir corn in the yards and on
available land, just as corn is used in places that suit it.

Millet has not the value commonly attributed to it as
poultry feed. Large birds eat its small grains reluctantly,
and chicks thrive best if the amount of millet in their diet
is limited to what they will take when well fed on grains
that they like better. Any attempt to force them to eat
considerable quantities of millet leads to underfeeding and
restricted growth. Used moderately as an extra, it is a
good feed, but even so it is not an economical feed unless
the price is close to the price of corn. .

Rice is an excellent feed for poultry, but the produc-
tion of it in this country is so small, as compared with
that of the common field grains adapted to general cul-
tivation, that the amount used is insignificant. It consists
mostly of broken and damaged rice, principally in prepared
chick feeds. In this form rice may be given with entire
freedom. There is no risk in its use, but the rice by-
products (bran and hulls) should be' given with more care.
The bran is apt to contain a large mixture of hulls which
are not only worthless, but may be injurious.

PROPERTIES AND COMPOSITION OF POULTRY FEEDS

17

Cottonseed and flaxseed are of interest to the poul-
try feeder chiefly for their by-products. The primary
commercial value of these seeds — apart from their value
for planting — is in the oils extracted from them. In this
process the seeds are pressed into cakes containing all the
other elements and the residue of oil which the process
did not remove. The earlier processes of extracting such
oils, left in the cake a high per cent of fat, but improved
processes have so reduced this that the meal into which
the flaxseed cake is ground before being placed on the
market as a feed is very low in fat. Cottonseed meal is
much higher in fat, because the oil is not so greatly in
demand as linseed oil. The chief value in commercial oil
meal is the protein it contains while cottonseed meal is
rich in both protein and fat and, since meat by-products
have risen to unusually high prices, there is an increasing
use of both for poultry feed. A number of experiment
stations have studied the relative values of cottonseed
meal, and meat scrap, and the general conclusion arrived
at is that it is a valuable substitute for meat scraps when

According to tradition, sunflower seed is a valuable
feed for poultry, a little of it added to the ration being
(so it is claimed) peculiarly valuable for hens while molt-
ing. This appears to be another of the cases where the
apparent value of a feed depends upon the combination in
which it is used. In a ration lacking in fat, plump, well-
filled sunflower seeds given as liberally as the fowls
would eat them, would undoubtedly show marked bene-
ficial results, but ordinary observation cannot discover any
advantage in feeding them to birds that have a liberal
amount of corn and of meat scrap or oil meal. Much of
the sunflower seed given to poultry is immature and con-
tains little nutriment— so little that well-fed birds will
hardly touch it. If one buys sunflower seed he should
examine it to make sure that there is something more than
hull, and he should keep in mind that an average good
sample is about one-third hull, and the actual nutritive
value less than that of corn. A little of such an article
is useful for the sake of variety, and for that purpose it
may be worth a little more than the staple grains used in

COLONIES OP WEANED CHICKS IN ORCHARD ON A NEW YORK FARM— AN IDEAL PLACE TO GROW CHICKENS
Windfall apples make good feed and the chickens destroy insects that would spoil fruit.

only ordinary results are sought, but when the best re-
sults are desired meat scraps are more efficient because
they are more palatable. Hence the partial substitution of
cottonseed or linseed meal for meat scraps appears as
the best method of securing maximum production at min-
imum cost, when meat products are high and these con-
centrated meals .relatively cheap. The substitution of one
of them for half the meat scrap in a ration does not ap-
pear to make it less palatable to the birds, or in any
way to diminish its feeding value, and the saving in cost,
while small on one day's ration makes quite a substantial
amount when applied to long periods and large flocks.

Most kinds of poultry are fond of peas but care little
for beans. This seems quite singular in view of the fact
that in their composition these two seeds are much alike —
as far as principal feed elements are concerned. It is also
remarkable that beans — one of the most universally popu-
lar human foods, have no attraction for poultry in their
raw state, while peas are eaten greedily. Most kinds of
poultry will eat raw, dry beans only under pressure of
great hunger, and then only in limited quantities. Thor-
oughly cooked beans they will eat freely and with apparent
relish, and they also readily eat bean meal when mixed
with other mill products.

the ration, but it is extravagant to pay several times the
common prices; for such extras, as poultry keepers fre-
quently do. .

Vegetable Feeds

Vegetable substances used for feeding poultry, other
than grains and their products, may be divided into two
general classes; leaves and forage, and roots and fruits.

All kinds of poultry will eat tender, succulent green
stuff in much larger quantities than are generally given
to them in confinement, but a great many things of this
kind they care for only in their tender stages of growth,
eating them at other stages only when nothing else of
the kind can be obtained. Cabbage is the most useful
vegetable of this class for poultry feeding, considering its
keeping qualities and the possibility of having supplies
through almost the entire year.

For feeding as cut,, or for growing in poultry yards
where the birds can eat of it at will, rape is popular. Let-
tuce is perhaps the favorite with the birds, but as a rule
the only lettuce that can be profitably fed to them is that
which has passed the stage at which it is used for human
food. These three things poultry will eat regularly and
freely. Most of the common root crop tops, such as beet

18

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

leaves, onion tops, etc., they eat in small quantities when
tender, fresh and crisp, but do not care much about when
tough or wilted. Grass that is kept short, and all kinds of
leaves of weeds growing in such grass, are eaten by poul-
try with great relish and in surprisingly large quantities;
but as soon as any such vegetation gets a little hard and
tough they eat it sparingly if anything else more succu-
lent can be obtained.

Of roots, the most useful for poultry feeding and the
one most widely grown expressly for the purpose, is the
mangel-wurzel beet. After this come sugar beets and large
table beets. Turnips are widely used, but as they some-
times give an unpleasant flavor to eggs poultrymen have
to be more cautious in feeding them. The bad flavor from
turnips seems to be due sometimes to the "rankness" of
turnips grown on strong land, and sometimes to the birds-
eating partially decayed turnips.

Stock carrots, table carrots, potatoes, and onions all

BREEDING DUCKS AT ATLANTIC FARM, SPBONK, L. I.

These ducks can get a good deal of animal feed from the water, and therefore
do not need extraordinary amounts of it in their ration.

make good poultry feed. The question of their use is a
matter of availability or cost. Where there is a 'surplus
of such stuff of unmarketable grade, it is cheap poultry
feed. If it has to be bought, the price should be based
not on the value of the marketable stuff of the same kind
for human food, but on the value of the waste product
in comparison with the staple poultry feeds. This point
will be explained more fully in connection with the dis-
cussion of the values of feeds as shfjwn by the general

measurement of nutritive value.

Of common fruits the apple is most generally avail-
able for poultry and has the advantage that spotted and

bruised fruit will keep much longer than similar fruit of

peaches, pears, and plums. None of these things need go

to waste if there is poultry to which they may be fed, and

birds that have at the same time free access to corn or

wheat and to any of these, seem to get a well-balanced

ration. Tomatoes are in the

same class with the things

just mentioned, but rather

lower in actual feeding value.

Cucumbers and all kinds of

melons are greedily eaten

by poultry.

Clover and Alfalfa
As poultry generally do
not care for green grass
after it becomes a little hard
and tough, hay to be at
tractive to them must be
made from grass cut at the

stage at which they prefer it, and cured to preserve the
green color. Clover and alfalfa are most suitable for this
purpose, and are more conveniently handled and fed when
ground into meal or cut very finely. While there is not
much difference in the feeding value of the two when both
are of like grade, the weather generally in alfalfa-growing
sections is more favorable for curing than in clover-grow-
ing sections. Hence a much larger proportion of the
alfalfa is nice in color, and in every way attractive, and
alfalfa tends, steadily to displace clover in the poultry
ration wherever they come in competition.

Animal By-Product Feeds

There are two sources of supplies of this kind — loca
supplies consisting of the wastes and trimmings from small
butcher shops, from the family table, and perhaps an oc-
casional old horse; and the general commercial supplies
put up in convenient form and ready for use, by all classes
of packing plants handling meat and
fish products. Supplies from local
sources are generally limited and ir-
regular. At the same time they are
often the most desirable to use as far
as they will go, if they can be ob-
tained at reasonable prices and their
preparation for use does not involve
too much time and labor. Except for
small flocks, local supplies as a rule
are of little consequence. The multi-
plication of poultry keepers in towns
and suburbs tends to divide avail-
able local supplies until the amount
that any one poultry keeper can get
becomes so small that it is hardly
worth his while to look after it. He
finds it much more convenient to buy,

in quantity to suit his needs, meat scrap, meat meal, dried
blood, fish scrap, and other similar preparations which

will keep indefinitely, and are always ready for instant use.

•
Nearly all experienced poultry keepers consider green

cut bone, which usually has with it considerable fresh
meat, the best of animal feeds for poultry, and the one
which supplies the additional mineral matter needed in
most palatable form. But few poultry keepers that have
large stocks can get anywhere near as much of this as
they could use, and unless they have a power cutter they
are apt to prefer prepared feeds exclusively, for while
cutting bone for a small flock is good exercise, the man
who cuts on a large scale needs to be properly equipped
for it. Meat and fish by-products as sold for poultry
vary considerably in composition. Dried blood and blood
meal are largely albumin, but most of the brands of
meat meal on the market are high in fat. As far as

YOUNG DUCKS REARED WITHOUT ANIMAL, FEED
Same age, and originally same number as flock on opposite page.

PROPERTIES AND COMPOSITION OF POULTRY FEEDS

19

feeding quality goes, practically all are valuable additions
to the ration, and the choice — if there be any — between
brands of different composition is a matter of price as
compared with content. The .best way to compare values
is on the reports of their composition as published by the
experiment stations which are by law authorized to
analyze feeds and to publish the results for distribution
to consumers in their states.

It is a noteworthy fact that the greatest danger in
using this class of poultry feeds comes from the fre-
quency of their containing much more protein and fat
than the manufacturer has given on his label or bag as
his guarantee. The manufacturer does this for his own
protection against the possibility of many lots of goods
running below the guarantee if he places that too high,
since he cannot in a waste product of this kind make
uniform quality as he would in a standard product. The
consumer not being informed of the situation assumes
that the guarantee gives exact composition and uses it
accordingly. Manufacturers t h e m-
selves sometimes advise the propor- [~
tion of an article to use, basing it on
their guarantee. This is a mistake in
the case of a high concentrate of va-
riable quality, for it often leads the
user to put into a mixture more than
should be used, considering other ele-
ments in his ration. Then if bad ef-
fects develop the feeder supposes
that there is something injurious in
the feed, when the whole trouble is
that he is regularly using a little too
much of it.

The question of feeding value in
feeds of this class cannot be determ-
ined by the agreeableness or dis-
agreeableness of the odor. Some

have a rather agreeable odor when moistened — especi-
ally when mixed with hot water. Others have a dis-
agreeable odor — rather suggestive of fertilizer. It is
natural to conclude that the better smelling article is
in every way better, and poultrymen generally are in-
clined to give it the preference; yet it happens again and
again that when they cannot get the article they prefer,
and are compelled to use one that on odor they pronounce
less desirable, they find it in every way as satisfactory as
the other. Occasionally a lot may be damaged in some
way so that it is unpalatable and unfit to feed, but in
general what the chickens will eat readily will not injure
them, unless an excessive quantity is given, and the proof
of quality is in the results. Nearly all meat scraps and fish
scraps contain considerable amounts of mineral matter.

Milk and Milk Products

Milk in any form is good poultry feed. If it appears
to have bad results in any case the trouble can usually be
located in an undesirable combination of something else
with the milk, or in extreme susceptibility of certain birds
to the effects of such changes as from sweet to sour milk.
The general statements that have been put out as to the
inadvisability of feeding both sweet and sour milk, as to
peculiar virtue for sour milk, and as to bad effects of
sweet milk, are all based on limited observation and
special instances, and some of the most widely quoted of
them were soon corrected by those issuing them, but the
error always seems to spread faster than the correction.

A poultry keeper may find that milk, or milk in a
particular form, does not agree with his birds or with
some of them. The logical thing to do is to investigate,
in order to find the reason and to correct it, for when milk
seems to disagree with poultry there is something else to
be corrected. It may be that the amount of meat in the

YOUNG DUCKS GROWING FOR MARKET AT ATLANTIC FARM

In such numbers the ducks each get little of the animal feed in the water, and

must have heavy proportions of meat in their rations.

ration is excessive in connection with the amount of milk
used. In one case observed, where sweet skim milk was
said to scour laying hens, the trouble was that, with a
dry mash containing a large proportion of nice alfalfa
meal, and the vessel of milk standing close to the feed
hopper, the hens ate mash and milk so freely as to pro-
duce the peculiar looseness of the droppings that goes
with heavy feeding of green alfalfa. If milk seems to have
bad effects there is always a reason, and usually a simple,
easily remedied one.

Skim milk and buttermilk are the forms in which
milk is commonly available. Regular supplies of these are
generally to be had at really low cost only on farms
where butter is made, or in the vicinity of creameries. At
present there is a partly solidified form of buttermilk on

the market that is very good
for poultry feed. This "semi-
solid buttermilk" as it i's
often called, is given to chicks
at all stages of growth and
is considered especially de-
sirable for them, as milk is
believed to have an excep-
tionally favorable effect upon
growth. Many poultry feed-
ers supply semi-solid butter-
milk also to laying fowls,
while it is regarded as al-
most essential in rations for
special fattening. As a drink
for chicks it usually is di-

YOUNG DUCKS REARED ON HIGH PROTEIN MEAT SCRAP
Same age as those on opposite page.

20

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

• ,

FARRER BROS.' MARK:

FLTRY FARM, WEST NORWELL, MASS. — ONE OF THE
PLANTS OF THIS CLASS, ESTABLISHED ABOUT 1890

FIRST SUCCESSFUL LARGE

Heavy production of poultry on a small area has at times made it necessary to limit operations with poultry and
purify the soil by raising- vegetable crops — after which it can be again used for poultry. The nearest thing- to a
"panacea" for poultry diseases is CLEAN LAND.

luted with water, but may be given to hens just as it
comes from the barrel in which it is shipped.

At various times in the past milk products in dry
form, convenient and desirable for poultry feed, have
been put on the market. Everything of this kind is good
for poultry. The question of feeding any particular article
is the question of price. A number of milk by-products
have been withdrawn from sale as poultry feeds after
their reputation had been well established, because the
manufacturers had devised a way of preparing them for
human food and could dispose of them for that purpose
at higher prices than they could obtain for stock feed.

Mineral Feeds

The most important of the mineral feeds is oyster
shell. Hens that are well supplied with it do not seem
to require anything else to provide material for egg
shells, nor will they (in the writer's experience) con-
sume any appreciable amount of indigestible grit when
that is supplied on the theory that it is necessary to
aid the gizzard in grinding the feed.
Any shell or lime in form that it
can be fed to birds seems to an-
swer the purpose of supplying min-
eral elements needed, and it would
appear that on soils containing much
finely broken stone, poultry are
able to get from such matter all
the mineral elements they need for
the ordinary purposes of growth and
maintenance. Both young and old
stock on good range appear quite in-
different to special supplies of bone
or shell, except as material is plainly
needed for egg shells. Under other
circumstances, especially when quite
limited for range and on ground that
has been long used for poultry, and
perhaps overstocked with it much of
the time, the use of considerable
amounts of bone meal in the feed of
growing poultry has shown marked beneficial results.

While ground oyster shell is the most generally
available of things of that character, very small sea shells
which can be eaten without grinding are just as good,
and are largely used by poultry keepers living near the
seashore. Poultrymen in places where such shells are

abundant sometimes do a considerable trade selling this
material within convenient shipping distance. There are
also in some inland localities beds of infusorial earth an
deposits of chalky or giavelly stone which disintegrate
easily, and this material seems to supply all the minera
feed requirements of poultry.

In general practice it is better to supply materials
of this kind separately, so that the birds can take as mucl
as their appetites seem to require, than to undertake tc
mix them with the feed in any definite proportions.
can be mixed with ground grains only when in the forr
of meal, as bone meal, or finely ground oyster shell. Fee
in this way they frequently cause irritation of the in-
testines. In some experiments in the use of ash and grit
for chicks, sand has appeared to be as effective as bone
or shell, and some have inferred from this that it was
the gritty character of materials of this kind rather that
their digestible elements that made them valuable tc
poultry. That conclusion however ought not to be ac-

A LONG
This is the building

BROODER HOUSE ON FARRER BROS.' FARM
at the extreme right (and only partly seen) in picture above.

cepted without inquiry into the character of the "sand"
used, and the possibility of its dissolving into small par-
ticles, and — in fact — being digestible. Coarse sand mixed
with poultry manure that afterwards stands for a long
time sometimes entirely disappears, not a trace of the
grains of sand remaining. The processes of digestion

PROPERTIES AND COMPOSITION OF POULTRY FEEDS

21

might have the same effect, and perhaps reduce the sand
much more speedily.

Division of opinion as to the function and need of
grit need not confuse anyone as to the course that he
should follow in feeding. All admit that some digestible

SMALL COLONY HOUSE USED FOR CHICKENS AFTER LEAV-
ING THE BROODERS, ON FARRER BROS.' FARM
In these 6x8 ft. houses fifty winter chicks are carrier to mar-
ketable size for large roasters. The window is never closed, and
the door open nearly all the time, day and night.

mineral matter is needed. If poultry are constantly sup-
plied with oyster shell and granulated bone they will cer-
tainly get all of it that they need, and a small supply of
a grit that is certainly indigestible will then be found to
last indefinitely. If the grit provided is eaten freely by
birds that have plenty of shell and bone, it may be con-
cluded that it is valuable as a source of supply of similar
mineral elements.

Commercial Mixed Feeds — Their Place in Feeding
Economy

The foregoing discussion of feeds has been confined
quite closely to feeds in their natural forms or as simple
by-products. There is a large class of mixed feeds formed
by combinations of both whole feeds and by-products that
is of great interest and calls for special attention. It is of
considerable importance to the poultry feeder to have a
correct understanding of the place of these feeds in good
feeding practice, and of the extent to which he can use
them to advantage, and also of the nature of the service
performed by the manufacturers of such feeds, and of the
means for protecting consumers against misrepresentation
aii'i adulteration of a class of feeds which offers special
teirpiations to manufacturers or dealers inclined to be
dishonest in preparing or handling feeds.

Commercial mixtures of ground feeds are made gen-
erally and primarily for the sake of adding to by-products
of grains used for human food the elements that will sub-
stitute in a stock feed for those that were taken out.
Thus one of the oldest mixtures, called provender, com-
bined coarse bran with ground corn and oats. As by-
products became more numerous and abundant, it was to
the mutual interest of the manufacturers and of a large
class of those who used them, to make mixtures of feeds
for special purposes at the mills. With the increasing use

of mixtures of ground feeds there came a demand also for
mixtures of grains — whole and cracked. This demand came
in the first place from small poultry keepers who did not
want to buy numerous different articles in small lots, at
the highest retail prices, and also — to some extent — from
poultry keepers buying on a larger scale, who
were not disposed to take the trouble of
studying out the most desirable combinations
for themselves, or who, when they did so and
tried to make their own mixtures, found 'more
or less difficulty in obtaining supplies of cer-
tain articles wanted.

It was the demand of these classes of poul-
try keepers that led to the extensive manufac-
ture, advertising, and sale of commercial
brands of poultry feed. The high grade and
generally uniform quality of the popular stand-
ard brands of both mash and scratch feeds
for poultry has led to their extensive use
among poultry keepers who do not use them
exclusively, because their cost as a rule is
higher than that of average feeds the poultry-
man mixes for himself, but who find the com-
mercial mixtures especially desirable for
young poultry, and the most economical means
of supplying more variety in grains than the
stocks of local grain dealers afford. In fact it
is the absorption of nearly all desirable sup-
plies of miscellaneous grains by the plants
that manufacture commercial poultry feeds,
that keeps these out of the general market.
While the special commercial mixture of scratch feed
has a variety of grains not easily obtained in any other
form, and is therefore of peculiar value to poultry keepers
whose stock is restricted for range, it is also highly valu-
able because of the uniformly high quality of the corn
which is the basis and the greater part of most such mix-
tures. One of the greatest troubles in poultry feeding
in America is to get good cracked corn, bright, clean, and
free from mold in warm, damp weather. The difficulty has
been greater in recent years because of the extent to which
farmers all over the corn belt, in their eagerness to get
large yields, have planted slow maturing corn, the growth

TYPE OF POULTRY HOUSE USED FOR GROWING
SOFT ROASTERS ON A SMALL SCALE

These houses are detached, and each has its own
small yard withhi a large yard. This admits of closer
control of the chickens especially while small. Many
persons with a few small houses of this type, or a little
larger, hatch or buy several hundred chickens late in the
season, to be sold when prices are highest in the spring.
From such small plants nearly all successful large ones
have grown.

22

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

of which often is checked by early frosts, making enor-
mous quantities of soft corn which is not desirable for
meal or to crack, and which deteriorates quickly after
milling. The large manufacturer of poultry feeds partly
avoids the dangers of using poor corn by buying in corn-
growing sections the best corn obtainable, and further
overcomes them by artificially drying the corn before
giinding or cracking it.

After a season like that of 1917 when it was estimated
that fully sixty per cent of the corn grown in the United

EMBDEN GEESE GRAZING

There is an old saying- — "a goose eats everything
before it and spoils everything behind it." This is true
. only when they are given poor pasture.

States was soft, even the large feed manufacturers must
use some soft corn, but as what they use is dried it is far
superior to the greater part of the corn on the market, and
will keep in good condition for more months than the
ordinary run of goods will keep weeks. The poultry
keeper who finds his local supply of cracked corn un-
reliable or undesirable buys at least enough of a popular
standard commercial mixture to provide against the con-
tingency of being unable to get good corn locally in hot
weather. Hence, while peihaps comparatively few large
poultry keepers use commercial mixtures exclusively,
practically all buy them in large quantities.

The popularity of widely known commercial mixtures,
both mashes and scratch feeds, and the frequency with
which the demand for them outruns the supply, leads mil-
lers and dealers in all localities to imitate them, or to
offer substitutes of their own compounding. While in
some instances these may be as good as the originals, in
general they are not, for the corn products in them are
1'kely to be the same inferior articles which the poultry
keeper wishes to avoid. The best way 'for a poultry keeper
to keep informed as to the values of all supplies on the
market is through the report of his experiment station
upon the different brands of commercial feeds sold in
his state. A list of the experiment stations will be found
on page 111. These reports protect both the consumer
and the honest manufacturer.

From what has been said the reader will see that the
question of buying commercial mixtures, or of buying the
ingredients separately and making his own mixtures, de-
pends upon the conditions under which his flock is kept,
upon the quality and regularity of local supplies, and
upon his own inclination or ability to judge of the values
of feeding stuffs as found on the market, and to com-
pound rations. Stock on good range, with abundance of
green feed and natural animal feed may eat soft corn
or somewhat heated corn without being any the worse
for it, and will not suffer for lack of more variety in
giains, while stock in bare yards will quickly show the
effects of poor corn, and is more cheaply fed on a good
commercial mixture than on a variable supply as selected
by a keeper who pays little attention to the quality of the
feeds delivered to him.

Condimental Poultry Feeds

Condimenta! poultry feeds are preparations in which
articles having stimulative and tonic properties, and
others of some value in the treatment of common ail-
ments, are mixed with a base or filler of some common
feed suitable for the purpose, the preparation to be used
in small quantities in the mash. The regular use of such
preparations parallels the use of spices, seasonings, and
mild stimulants and correctives in human diet. That
some use of such things is necessary is a matter of com-
mon knowledge. The real questions at issue between
those who advocate and those who discourage the use o
proprietary articles of this class are, whether this is th
most economical way to give stimulants, tonics, and cor
rectives regularly, and whether it is better to use them a
general remedies, on the poultryman's own judgment, o
to treat cases of disease each in accordance with its pecu-
liar needs, and upon competent medical advice.

Especially stimulating preparations known as eg;
foods have to the present time been the most generally
effective substitutes. for the high seasoning and spicing in
human diet, which gives to ordinary table waste much of
its special palatableness and value as poultry feed; one
reason for this is found in the simple fact that a great
many poultry keepers who are careless about supplying
these things as seasoning to make a ration more palatable
to the birds, will be very faithful in giving the same in-
gredients, with others of a stimulating nature, when the
diiect purpose is especially to stimulate egg production.
Again in stock of low vitality, and quite generally in
stock of ordinary vigor in long seasons of raw, chilly
weather, and when birds seem inclined to molt slowly,
the use of such preparations is commonly attended with
marked beneficial results, and on the whole the use of
those having medical value is probably much safer for the
aveiage poultry keeper than to attempt to treat his stock
for a particular disease with a particularly appropriate
remedy for it.

To get medical advice for poultry that seems some-
what out of condition is not often practical. Except
where the stock is valuable and something seems to be
seriously wrong, the expense of securing advice either
from a doctor or an expert poultryman competent to
treat the situation is prohibitive. So while a poultryman
who has some skill in the diagnosis of poultry ailments,
and some knowledge of the particular remedies for each,
may use his special knowledge rather than a general
remedy, the average poultry keeper is more successful, as
a rule, in the use of feeds with condimental and some

A FAMILY OF RHODE ISLAND "MONGREL GEESE" —
WILD GANDER, AFRICAN GOOSE1, AND FOUR

CROSS-BRED GOSLINGS

These are considered the finest of table geese. They
are grown mostly on grass in good pastures, grain be-
ing fed in very limited amounts, except by those who-
buy and finish them for market.

PROPERTIES AND COMPOSITION OF POULTRY FEEDS

23

medicinal properties which tone up the birds, help di-
gestion, regulate the bowels, and help nature to resist and
throw off specific troubles that may be developing.

The practical thing for a poultry keeper who thinks
perhaps his poultry would be the better, regularly or oc-
casionally, for something of this kind is to try it out.
He can demonstrate for himself whether there is an ad-
vantage to him in using it, and if he finds that there is,
he can decide for himself whether it is better for him to
continue its use, or to make such changes in feeding and
conditions that there will be no occasion to use them to
the same extent.

Kitchen and Table Waste as Poultry Feed

Under this heading should be included the kinds of
feeds that come from the table, whatever their source.
Thus we have all sorts of garbage from hotels and
restaurants, and waste bread, broken crackers and the
like from bakeries. None of these things come on the
general market. The refuse from cracker factories is the
only article of the sort that can be bagged and handled
as staple feeds are, and this is nearly all bought up in
advance by the large duck farms. What they may leave
is taken by poultrymen near the factories. Stale bread
is usually sold to near by poultrymen or, in metropolitan
districts, it may be collected by men who peddle it out
in lots of a few bags to suburban poultry keepers. The

higher class hotels and restaurants now usually either
have their own farms where their waste is fed to poul-
try or hogs, or their waste is taken by someone who
uses it for feeding hogs, as also is most of the waste
from cheaper hotels and restaurants. The obstacle to
getting for poultry what is desirable feed for them in this
waste is that it requires separating what the poultry will
not eat, and disposing of it for swine. As feeders of
swine will take everything, keepers of hotels and restaur-
ants who have not farms of their own will not go to the
trouble of keeping waste in such manner that ptmltry
keepers can use it. So with the exception of occasional
supplies of stale bread, the average poultry keeper's use
of this class of feeds in closely limited to what comes
from. his own household.

Eggs

Of by-products of the poultry yard only infertile eggs
and those in which the dead germ has not yet decomposed
are available for feeding, and their use is generally limited
to feeding the chicks the first few days. Infertile eggs
that can be tested out at the third or fourth day, as can
readily be done with white-shelled eggs, are as good for
culinary purposes a-s ordinary stale eggs, and even eggs
tested out after seven days of incubation are marketable
for some purposes, so that the feeding of infertile eggs
is less common than some years ago.

Analyses and Nutritive Values of Articles That Are or May Be Fed to Poultry

,

F

oi

______ ~3

.23^ cj CD 3 oj 3 o3

... CCttlPn fefc £K fe>

Corn and corn products

Field corn 10.9 1.9 1.5 10.4 70.3 5.0 1:7.9 106

Sweet corn 8.8 2.8 1.9 11.6 66.8 8.1 1:7.5 111

Pop corn 10.7 1.8 1.5 11.2 69.2 5.2 1:7.3 107

Small and immature field

corn 35.7 1.0 0.9 7.3 50.7 3.5 1:8.1 68

Cracked corn 12.3 1.3 8.6 73.9 b 3.9 1:9.5 103

Corn bran 9.8 6.3 2.6 10.7 63.2 7.4 1:7.3 105

Corn meal— unbolted 12.0 2.2 1.3 8.7 74.1 4.7 1:9.5 104

Corn meal— bolted 12.0 1.2 1.0 8.9 72.0 4.9 1:9.5 106.

Corn meal— granulated 12.5 1.0 1.0 9.2 74.4 1.9 1:8.6 102

Corn and cob meal 15.1 6.6 1.5 8.5 64.8 3.5 1:8.6 94

Corn germ meal 10.7 4.1 4.0 9.8 64.0 7.4 1:8.4 105

Hominy meal 11.1 3.8 2.5 9.3 64.5 8.3 1:8.7 108

Gluten meal _ 9.6 1.6 0.7 29.4 52.4 6.3 1:2.3 111

Gluten feed 8.1 6.4 1.3 23.2 54.7 6.3 1:2.9 107

Wheat and wheat products

Wheat 10.5 1.8 1.8 11.9 71.9 2.1 1:6.3 102

Wheat screenings 11.6 4.9 2.9 12.5 65.1 3.0 1:5.8 97

Wheat bran 11.9 9.0 5.8 15.4 53.9 4.0 1:4.1 90

Wheat middlings 12.1 4.6 3.3 15.6 60.4 4.0 1:4.7 98

Red dog flour „.... 9.5 2.1 3.0 16.9 63.9 4.6 1:4.4 106

Low grade flour 10.6 1.1 1.4 13.3 71.5 2.1 1:5.7 104

Mixed feed (bran and

middlings) 10.6

Oats and oat products

Oats ..11.0 9.5 3.0 11.8 59.7 5.0 1:6.1 96

Oatmeal .. ™ 7.9 0.9 2.0 14.7 67.4 7.1 1:5.8 113

Oat bran 7.7 19.3 3.7 7.1 57.9 2.3 1:8.9 81

Oat feed 8.2 12.5 4.2 12.6 56.3 6.2 1:5.7 96

Oat middlings 9.2 3.8 3.2 20.0 56.2 7.6 1:3.7 108

Rolled oats 8.4 1.9 15.0 66.6 7.5 1:5.7 114

Barley and barley products

Barley 10.9 2.7 2.4 12.4 69.8 1.8 1:6 100

Barley screenings 12.4 7.6 3.6 12.2 61.6 2.6 1:5.8 92

Barley meal 11.9 6.5 2.6 10.5 66.3 2.2 1:6.8 93

Malt sprouts— dry 10.2 10.7 5.7 23.2 48.5 1.7 1:2.3 87

Brewers grains 8.2 11.0 3.6 19.9 51.7 5.6 1:3.3 97

Brewers grains— wet 75.7 3.8 1.0 5.4 12.5 1.6 1:3 24

9.7 3.6 12.0 59.9 4.2 1:5.8 94

Explanation of the Feed Table and of
the Method of Using It

The first column in the table gives
the amount of water In each article.
All feeds have some water. The com-
mon grains when dry and whole have
about ten per cent of their weight in
moisture. When ground or cracked,
the percentage of water is slightly in-
creased. Green feeds generally have
nearly 90 per cent of their weight
water, but there is considerable varia-
bility in the table, and in many cases
the difference in water appears to be
due to difference in condition at the
time of analysis, one of the articles
being more dried or more mature in
growth than another, rather than to
actual differences in composition — as
far as moisture is concerned. The
amount of water in a feed does not
affect its nutritive value, but may af-
fect its cost value.

The second column gives the per-
centage of fiber. A single glance at
this column is all that is necessary -to
show whether a feed has an objection-
able proportion of indigestible fiber.
An article that has more than five or
six per cent of fiber is not generally
eaten with much relish by poultry.
Fiber is the one element in feeds that
we want as low as we can get it.

The third column gives the ash or
mineral matter in the article. This is
higher in the by-products, as a rule,
than in the grains and their straight
milled products, but it really is not of
much importance, because the mineral
in feeds is generally insufficient and
the deficiency can be supplied cheaper
In shell and bone than in grain stuffs.

The fourth column gives the protein
— the flesh formers. The grains run
about 10 to 12 per cent protein, but
the seeds run much higher, and the
solid animal products generally higher
still. In considering the feeding values
of articles much higher in protein than
the common grains, the principal point
is their availability and the cost of
using them to make up the possible
deficiencies of protein in the grains and
by-products which constitute the bulk
of the ration. Sometimes one is more
economical, sometimes another.

The fifth column gives the carbo-
hydrates, consisting of starches and
sugars and like elements. In the com-
mon grains, when dry, these are about
60 to 70 per cent, and knowing that
somewhere near this amount is re-
quired for average normal circumstan-
ces, we can see at a glance whether
an article approximates normal re-
quirements, and by looking at the next

24

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

column can tell whether an article 'be-
low normal in these elements makes
t up in the more concentrated car-
bonaceous elements.

The sixth column shows the per cent
ol fat. In the common grains this is
from 2 to 5 per cent. Theoretically a
large per cent of fat will compensate
for a deficiency in starch, etc., but in
practice it is found that the large use
o* fats makes a feed either unpalata-
ble to the birds or injurious to their
digestive organs, hence the article
with high per cent of fat is to be con-
sidered chiefly in view of the possi-
bility of making this supply deficiency
of fat in more bulky materials.

The seventh column gives the nutri-
tive ratio; that is, the ratio of the
flesh formers to the heat and energy
producers. The percentage of the
nutritive elements in a feed being
known, the method of computing the
nutritive ratio is as follows: The fat
is reduced to terms of carbohydrates
by multiplying by 2.25, this being done
because fat has 2.25 times the heat and
energy producing capacity of the car-
bohydrates. This result added to the
carbohydrates gives us the total of the
heat-producing elements. The remain-
der of the process is simply a matter
of statement, and of reducing the state-
ment to its lowest numerical terms.

To illustrate with corn: Multiplying
the 5 per cent of fat by 2.25 we find
that it is equivalent to 11.3 per cent of
carbohydrates. Adding this to 70.3 (the
value of the carbohydrates), we have
81.6 as the total percentage of heat
producers. The percentage of protein
is 10.4. Expressing the two quantities
in the form of a ratio we have 10.4:81.6,
and reducing this to its simplest terms
we have 1:7.9 as the nutritive ratio of
corn. The ratio is independent of the
quantities of the feed, it is simply an
expression of the relative proportions
of the elements in the feed.

The last column gives the fuel value,
a term synonymous with potential
energy and preferred for use in tables
because it is shorter. This value is an
actual and not a relative one, and must
be taken for specific quantities of arti-
cles. In tables of poultry feeds it is
usual to give the number of heat units
in one ounce. One advantage of this is
that the common grains happen to
have an energy of about 100 calories
per ounce, and taking this as the aver-
age normal requirement we have 100
as a convenient standard for ordinary
mental comparisons and calculations
such as we make generally in practical
feeding.

The fuel value of an article is as-
certained originally by burning it and
measuring the resultant heat. The
fuel values of its different elements
are ascertained by burning them sep-
arately after they have been chemical-
ly separated. In this experimental
way it was found that an ounce of pro-
tein and an ounce of carbohydrates
have the same fuel value — 116 calories,
•while an ounce of fat has a fuel value
of 264 calories. (It will be noted that
this is a little more than indicated by
the factor 2.25 which we use in reduc-
ing fat to terms of carbohydrates in
determining nutritive ratios. The 264
is accurate; the other disregards a
small fraction). The calculation of fuel
value in an ounce of a feed therefore is
simply a matter of finding the value of
the combined protein and carbo-
hydrates, by multiplying the percent-
age of the two by 116, then finding
the value of the fat by multiplying the
percentage of fat by 264; and adding
these results.

Taking corn as an example: An
ounce of corn is 10.4 per cent protein
and 70.3 per cent carbohydrates; that
is, 80.7 per cent of 'it has a fuel value
of 116 calories per ounce. If an ounce
has a fuel value of 116 calories, 80.7
per cent of an ounce has a value of
(116 x .807) calories, or disregarding
the third decimal (116 x .80) calories,
which gives us 92.8 calories as the
heat value of these elements. Corn
being 5 per cent fat, and fat having
a fuel heat value of 264 calories per
ounce, the heat value of the fat in an
ounce of corn is found by multiply-
ing 264 x .05, which gives us 13.2
calories in the fat in an ounce of corn.
Combining our two results we have
92.8 plus 13.2 equals 106.

Analyses and Nutritive Values of Articles That Are or May Be Fed to Poultry

(Continued)

jaJC
cfi w

Rye and rye products

1-1

ftt-

<Sfr

fc&

M^e.

Rye

....11.6

1.7

1.9

10.6

725

Rye bran
Rye middlings

11.6
9.7

3.5
5.3

3.6
4.7

14.7
16.3

63.8
60.5

Buckwheat and buckwheat

products

Buckwheat
Buckwheat bran ....
Buckwheat middlings

12.6
14.0
....13.2

8.7
14.7

4.1

2.0
3.4
4.8

10.0
17.1
28.9

64.5
46.4
41.0

Rice and rice products

Rice .. ..

....12.4

0.2

0.4

7.4

79.2

Rice flour

....10.0

6.3

6.7

11.7

58.0

Rice bran

.... 9.7

9.5

HXO

12.1

49.9

Rice hulls

*.. 8.2

35.7

13.2

3.6

38.6

Miscellaneous Grains and

Seeds

and Their Products

Kafir corn

.... 9.3

1.4

1.5

9.9

74.9

Millet

....13.5

9.5

3.0

12.7

580

Sunflower seed .

.... 8.0

28.5

3.0

13.0

23.9

Broom corn seed..

....14.1

7.1

2.0

9.6

64.7

Broom corn seed meal

....13.5

6.9

2.1

9.7

642

Sorghum seed

....12.8

2.6

2.1

9.1

70.0

Sorghum seed meal

....13.2

1.8

1.6

83

71 3

Cottonseed

.... 9.9

22.6

4.7

19.4

23.9

Cottonseed meal

.... 8.2

5.6

7.2

42.3

23.6

Flaxseed

....11.8

7.9

3.4

21.7

19.6

Ground linseed ....

.... 8.1

7.3

4.7

21.6

27.9

Oil meal — old process

... 9.2

8.9

5.7

32.9

354

Oil meal — new process

...10.1

9.5

5.8

33.2

38.4

Hempseed

... 8.0

14.0

2.0

10.0

45.0

Rapeseed

....13.8

10.0

3.9

19.4

10.4

Peas

...13.4

6.4

2.4

22.4

52.6

Cowpeas

...14.8

4.1

3.2

28.8

5,5 7

Pea meal

...10.3

14.4

2.6

20.2

51.1

Pea bran

...11.7

20.1

3.5

16.8

46.2

Pea feed meal

...13.5

7.0

3.1

23.4

51.0

Field beans

...15.0

3.2

3.1

20.4

56.7

Navy beans

...12.4

7.2

3.7

22.2

53.1

Soy Beans

...10.8

4.8

4.7

34.0

28.8

Soy bean meal

...10.4

2.6

5.1

36.0

27.0

Peanut meal

...10.7

5.1

4.9

47.6

23.7

Peanut bran

...10.5

19.5

5.4

21.8

24.7

Acorns — fresh

...34.7

4.2

1.6

4.4

50.4

Grass and Forage — green

Grass clippings

...76.4

4.1

2.4

2.3

13.8

White clover

...81.5

4.3

2.1

4.4

6.9

Red clover

...70.8

8.1

2.1

4.4

13.5

Alfalfa

...80.0

4.7

1.7

4.9

7.9

Barley

-79.0

7.9

1.8

2.7

8.0

Rye

...76.6

7.5

1.7

3.0

10.3

Corn

...82.8

5.0

1.5

1.4

8.9

Millet

..87.0

4.1

1.2

1.3

6.2

Oat shoots

..83.9

3.8

1.5

2.3

8.0

Rape

..85.9

3.5

1.3

2.8

5.7

Buckwheat

..83.7

4.3

1.1

2.5

7.8

Mustard

..85.1

2.9

1.4

2.9

7.3

Dandelion tops

..85.5

0.5

2.5

7.3

Beet tops

..90.0

0.1

1.3

2.3

Onion tops

..91.0

0.1

0.8

3.0

Lettuce

..95.9

0.5

0.8

1.0

1.6

Spinach

..92.4

0.7

1.9

2.1

2.4

Cabbage

..90.5

1.5

1.4

2.4

3.9

Hay — dry

White clover

.. 9.7

24.1

8.3

15.7

39.3

Red clover

..15.3

24.8

6.2

12.3

38.1

Alfalfa

.. 8.4

25.0

7.4

14.3

42.7

Timothy

..13.2

29.0

4.4

5.9

45.0

Weeds (c)

Purslane

17.2

26.1

53.7

Wild buckwheat

7.5

14.5

75.9

Pigweed

9.2

26.5

62.8

Lambs-quarters

18.3

25.1

54.6

Cheese weed-mallow

10.0

17.7

68.9

Catnip

12.0

22.3

63.1

Hedge mustard

7.9

16.5

74.2

1.7
2.8
3.5

0.4
7.3
8.8
0.7

3.0

3.3

23.6

3.5

3.6

3.6

3.8

19.5

13.1

35.6

30.4

7.9

3.0

21.0

42.5

3.0

1.4

1.2

1.7

2.0

1.6

1.4

16.9

18.9

8.0

18.1

4.7

1.0
0.8
1.1
0.7
0.6
0.9
0.4
0.2
0.5
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.6
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.5
0.4

2.9
3.3
2.2
2.5

2.9
2.1
1.4
2.0
3.4
2.7
1.4

1:7.2
1:4.8
1:4.2

2.2 1 :7
4.4 1 :3.8
7.1 1:2.1

1:10.9
1:6.5
1:5.9

1:11.2

1:8.3

1:5.3

1:6.3

1:7.6

1:7.3

1:8.6

1:9.2

1:3.5

1:1.3

1:5

1:4.8

1:1.7

1:1.4

1:9.7

1:6.3

1:2.4

1:2.8

1:2.6

1:3

1:2.4

1:3

1:2.5

1:2.1

1:2.6

1:1.4

1:3

1:4.4

1:7

1:1.6

1:3.7

1:1.9

1:3.5

1:4

1:7

1:5

1:4

1:2.6

1:3.5

1:2.9

1:3.5

1:2.3

1:2.7

1:2.1

1:1.7

1:2

1:2.9
1:3.7
1:3.4
1 :8.7

"3 3
3*3

100
98
98

83

85

101

102
80
95
48

106

82

105

95

95

102

102

101

111

141

137

99

91

119

147

85

92

85

78

93

93

90

117

123

100

119

97

15
15
23
17
14
18
13

9
14
12
14
13
13

5

8

4

6

71
67
71
66

PROPERTIES AND COMPOSITION OF POULTRY FEEDS

25

Analyses and Nutritive Values of Articles That Are or May Be Fed to Poultry

(Concluded)

C C C C C

J« « o> a, --4,

*° «« w 2"

ess- .Q s- .C i. ;-

t-^QJ .— 4) X <D — ^

Weeds (c) — Continued.

Common mustard 7.1 15.8

Goosefoot 11.5 13.7

Pigeon grass 12.8 16.2

Quack grass 7.7 11.3

Roots

White potatoes 78.9 0.6 1.0 2.1

White potatoes — frozen 61.5 0.8 1.1 1.6

Sweet potatoes 71.1 1.3 1.0 1.5

Table beets 88.5 0.9 1.0 1.5

Sugar beets 86.5 0.9 0.9 1.8

Mangel-wurzels 90.0 0.9 1.1 1.4

Turnips 90.5 1.2 0.8 1.1

Carrots 88.6 1.3 1.0 1.1

Parsnips 81.0 6.3 1.0 1.6

Onions 87.6 0.7 0.6 1.4

Dry beet pulp 8.1 19.8 2.7 10.2

Fruits (d)

Apples— fresh 84.1 0.9 0.2 0.2

Apple pomace 80.2 4.5 0.7 0.9

Apple pomace— dry 10.0 20.5 4.0 3.2

Pears 80.9 1.5 0.4 1.0

Peaches 89.4 3.6 0.4 0.7

Plums 78.4 0.5 1.0

Cherries 80.9 0.2 0.6 1.0

Grapes 77.4 4.3 0.5 1.3

Bananas 75.3 1.0 0.8 1.3

Blackberries 86.3 2.5 0.5 1.3

Cranberries 88.9 1.5 0.2 0.4

Currants 85.0 0.7 1.5

Gooseberries 85.6 0.3 1.0

Huckleberries 81.9 0.3 0.6

Raspberries— red 85.8 2.9 0.6 1.0

Raspberries— black 84.1 2.9 0.6 1.7

Strawberries 90.4 1.4 0.6 1.0

Watermelon 92.4 0.3 0.4

Muskmelon 89.5 2.1 0.6 0.6

Cucumbers 96.0 0.7 0.5 0.8

Tomatoes 91.3 0.7 0.7 1.0

Pumpkin-flesh 93.5 1.0 0.6 0.9

Pumpkin seeds and stringy

part 76.9 3.9 1.5 6.0

Animal products

Meat scrap 1.3 8.0 58.0

Pork scrap 0.8 2.2 57.4

Dried blood 6.7 6.6 65.1

Green bone 6.9 2.2 24.5 22.3

Fish scrap 34.0

Whole milk 87.2 0.7 3.5

Skim milk— raised 90.4 3.1

Skim milk — separated 90.6 2.9

Buttermilk 90.1 3.9

Milk albumin 24.8 3.5 3.9 13.9

Cheese 34.4 3.4 23.7

Whey 93.8 0.4 0.6

f 58

75.6
74.0
68.8
79.1

17.3

34.8

24.7

8.0

9.8

5.5

6.2

7.6

8.5

9.4

58.4

14.3

13.2

59.1

15.7

5.8

20.1

16.5

14.5

21.0

8.4

8.4

12.8

13.1

16.6

9.7

12.6

6.0

6.7

7.2

1.8

5.8

3.9

5.3

4.8
4.7
5.2
4.0
50.9
1.7
5.1

fcft

1.6
0.9

2.1
2.0

0.1
0.1
0.4
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.2
0.4
1.6
0.3
0.8

0.3
0.7
3.2
0.5
0.1

0.8
1.6
0.6
1.0

0.6

0.6

1.0
0.6
0.2

0.2
0.5
0.1

1:8.3

1:22

1:17

1:5.5

1:5.5

1:4.3

1:6

1 :7-.8

1:7.8

1:7.2

1:6

1:15

1:16
1:21

1:2.8

1:7

1:4.6

4.8 6.9 1 :2

32.9

39.6

16.3

16.5

6.5

3.7

0.8

0.3

1.0

3.0

36.9

0.1

1:1.4

1:1.7

1:0.6

1:1.8

1:0.4

1:4

1:2

1:2

1:1.6

1:4.4

1:4

1:8.5

22
42
31
11
13
8
8
11
15
13
82

17
18
91
10
12
24
23
28
29
17
13
17
16
22
16
20
11
9
11
3
9
6

31

154

170

124

69

56

18

11

10

11

83

107

7

To Find the Values of Feed Mixtures

In computing- the values of possible
mixtures of feeds from the accom-
panying- table it is more convenient to
make estimates on mixtures contain-
ing- 100 pounds, or simple multiples
and fractions of 100 pounds of each
article used. When this is done the
percentage fig-ures in the table give
the amount of each element in 100
pounds, and the amounts for multiples
or fractions of 100 pounds can be writ-
ten from the table with mental calcu-
lation. Thus in the table it is stated
that corn contains 10.4 per cent pro-
tein, 70.3 per cent carbohydrates, and
5 per cent fat; and that wheat con-
tains 11.9 per cent protein, 71.9 per
cent carbohydrates, and 2.1 per cent
fat. We can calculate at sight that In
100 pounds of corn there are 10.4
pounds of protein, 70.3 pounds of car-
bohydrates and 2.1 pounds of fat. And
in the same way we can read off the
value in 100 pounds of wheat.

Suppose now we want to get the
nutritive ratio of a mixture of equal
parts of corn and -wheat. Using- 100
pounds of each in the calculation we
have:

Protein Carbohy's.
Corn 10.4 Ibs. . 70.3 Ibs.

Wheat ....11.9 Ibs.

71. 9 Ibs.

22.3 Ibs. 142.21b.«.

Fat

5.0 Ibs.

2.1 Ibs.

7.1 Ibs.

The nutritive ratio of the mixture
is 22.3: (142.2t7.lx2.25) or
22.3: 158.2 equals 1:7.1.

In this case the result could have
been reached by the simple process of
taking- the mean of the nutritive ra-
tios, but in general that is not prac-
tical.

To calculate the fuel value of a mix-
ture, we simply reduce the pounds to
ounces, multiply the total ounces of
protein and carbohydrates by 116, the
ounces of fat by 264, add the two re-
sults, which gives us the total heat

H li *»? uhe whole amount; and then
hnd the heat value in one ounce of
the mixture. This is the process for
exact calculations, and for rations
with many ingredients in varying
amounts. In ordinary practice if thf
amounts of articles used are n mul-
tiples of 100 Ibs., the heat value can
be determined with sufficient accuracy
by adding the heat values for one
ounce of each hundred pounds [n the
mixture, and dividing the sum by «
number of hundreds of pounds. Thul
m a mixture of 100 pounds each
corn, wheat and oats, the sum of the
heat values of an ounce of each i
304, and the heat value of an ounce of

bv%mwXh-Uv,e iS found bv dividing 3ol
by 3 which gives us 101 plus In cas
we have 200 pounds of corn in such I

?00XnUornnHWe ,Can simply consider each

0 pounds of corn as a separate iter
making four items in all Then th^
sum of the heat values of an ouifce of
each article in the mixture is 410 and
the heat value of one ounce is 102 £

Digestion Coefficients
In scientific experiments in feeding
account sometimes is taken of the acf-
ual digestibility of the several ele-
ments which are called "dieestihlV
nutrients" but which are, in fac^ rare
ly completely digested, and which "un-
der some conditions are very imper-
fectly digested. The percentage of
3IJM,I,bi.1It? observed is called the
Coefficient of Digestibility." The
method of using this is to assume that
the proportion of an element in a feed
found to be digested in a certain case
or in the average of a number of
cases, represents the amount of the
element that is actually digestibfe
That is if the protein in corn is 72
per cent digestible, while the carbo-
hydrates are 95 per cent, and the fat
9 per cent the percentages in the
table do not represent actual feeding
values but these must be determined
by. applying the coefficients of digesti-

The appropriateness of this in scien-
tific work where the values of the
feeds used can be determined by
laboratory methods, and the results
analyzed and checked in the same wav
is obvious. But to show the imprac-
ticability of applying the digestion
coefficients in ordinary feeding prac-
tice it is only necessary to state that
while the average digestibility of corn
in a certain report including twenty-
three investigations was 72 per cent
the range of digestibility in these in-
vestigations was from 58 to 84 per
cent. Further, with regard to the ap-
plication of digestibility coefficients
to -poultry feeding it should be under-
stood that little has been done toward
determining them for poultry, and no
one knows to what extent those
worked out with other animals will
apply to poultr". As the reader who
may take an interest in the science of
feeding that will lead him to take note
of discussions of it elsewhere will find
that in some cases much importance is
attached to the use of coefficients of
digestibility in determining the values
of rations, it seems advisable to state
here the limitations on their use, and
especially on their application to poul-
try feeding.

Notes On The Table

(a) In calories per ounce. A calorie
is the amount of heat required to raise
the temperature of one gram of water
one degree centigrade.

(b) Including fiber.

(c) The analyses of weeds here
given are taken from Bulletin 101, of
the Minnesota Experiment Station. As
they were made from weeds in dry
hay, and the percentages are for dry
matter, not for the whole as in most
analyses in this table, it has been
thought best not to undertake further
to express their values, especially as
poultry eat them only in the tender
green state. The great interest of
these analyses is the high percentage
of protein in some of the common
weeds. Looking at these figures it is
easy to see why poultry that can eat
freely of these common succulent
weeds in warm weather thrive amaz-
ingly.

(d) As these analyses are taken
from bulletins on human food and the
figures are not fully given, I have not
attempted to give the nutritive ratios,
that were not given in the sources
from which they were obtained.

C H APTE R III

Principles, Methods and Systems of Feeding

Adapting Rations to Conditions — Development of Feeding Formulas — Energy Value the Best Measure of Feeding
Value — Importance of Variety in Grain Diet — Moist and Dry Mash Systems Compared — Com-
bination of the Good Features of Both the Best Practice — Relation of Range
and Exercise to Feeding Methods.

IN the preceding chapters the nutritive requirements
of poultry and the sources of supply to meet these
requirements were discussed. In this chapter we
have to consider the details of making these supplies
available, and of getting both efficiency and economy in
feeding. As has been stated, feeding the common grains
and their straight products to poultry is a simple mat-
ter. So in a study of the principles of feeding, — in fact,
in an initial determination of the principles of poultry
feeding, we begin with observation of the results of
feeding a simple ration of common grains and their well-
known by-products.

How Rations Are Adapted to Conditions

In comparing results of feeding common grains, no
such differences in their feeding values can be found, as
many claiming to write with authority on this subject

BROODER CHICKS AT BREAKFAST

Note these brooders placed at the side of a berry patch, which afford shade
and some feed. Observe, too, that the grass while worn close near the brooders,
is fairly long- at a little distance. A range in good condition for chickens
should be growing something else at the same time.

assert exists. It is not true that hens or other poultry fed
exclusively on corn -would starve to death because of a
lack of protein for, as the reader may see by referring to
the table on page 23, corn contains a large amount of
protein, and as a matter of fact some corn contains
much more protein than some wheat and other grains
which commonly average higher in this nutrient. As far
as is known, corn contains ample supplies of protein for
the ordinary growth and maintenance of poultry, and the
objection to using good corn or corn products exclusively
or too freely (for the purpose in feeding) is not a lack of
protein but an excess of fat. If the accumulation of fat is

26

not objectionable or detrimental, or if the fat in the corn
is all used to provide heat and energy, the amount
supplied is not only an advantage, but if the fat
were not obtained from corn it would have to be pro-
vided from some other source, possibly at much higher
cost and by special effort.

Further, as the first requirement of the body is to
maintain itself at a normal temperature, and the processes
of growth and production can go on only at such tem-
peratuie, in cold weather poultry may not be able to
get all the heat they need from the carbohydrates and the
fat in corn. What happens then is that the protein in the
feed is used for heat production, and while protein has
peculiar value as a flesh former, as fuel it has only as
much value as the carbohydrates, and less than half the
value of fat.

By comparing the analyses of the different common
grains as given in the table the
reader will see that they are quite
similar in their protein and carbo-
hydrate contents, and that in gen-
eral they contain about six or seven
times as much carbohydrates as pro-
tein. The variation in fats is greater,
but with respect to this they fall
into two groups: wheat, barley, and
rye approximate 2% of fat, which is
about one-sixth to one-fifth of the
protein, and about one-thirtieth of
their carbohydrates; corn and oats
have 5% of fat, which in corn is
one-half and in oats about two-
fifths of the protein; and in corn
one-fourteenth, and in oats one-
twelfth of the carbohydrates.

The comparison of results of
feeding corn and wheat is the best
to make in getting at the principles
of feeding because, while the birds
have some preference for corn, they
eat wheat just as freely when fed on
it alone, while with all the other
grains the tendency is to eat light.
In feeding corn and wheat separate-
ly, each being the principal part of
the diet, it is found that sometimes

one is the better feed, sometimes the other, and by taking
into consideration the conditions affecting bodily require-
ments, and the effects of feeding, it becomes easy to de-
termine how far either grain will meet requirements or
serve the purposes of production under any given con-
ditions in practice.

Where fowls are confined and fed on grain, with only
enough green feed to keep them in condition — not enough
to make any substantial part of the ration — wheat will be
found to answer all the requirements of maintenance and
of heavy egg production when temperatures are moder-
ate as in spring, fall, and cool summer weather. Under

PRINCIPLES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS OF FEEDING

27

BROODER CHICKS IN GRASSY YARDS— A GENER AL VIEW AT GRANDVIEW FARM, AURORA, N. Y.
Note the colony houses for older chicks in the distance.

the same conditions the feeding of corn exclusively may
give heavier egg production in hens that do not readily
put on fat, but eventually is likely to lead to some ac-
cumulation of fat, which is beneficial as long as it does
not become excessive, but detrimental as soon as it be-
gins to hinder activity and vital functions.

In colder weather, or even in a colder house, or a
more exposed locality, corn may simply meet the main-
tenance and production requirements, while wheat being
lower in fats is deficient. Taking the percentages in
round numbers for convenience of comparison, we can
see that if a ration of corn containing 10 per cent of pro-
tein, 70 per cent of carbohydrates, and 5 per cent of fat
is a suitable ration at a particular time, and under certain
conditions, then a ration of wheat containing 12 per cent
of protein, 72 per cent of carbohydrates, and 2 per cent of
fat will be deficient in carbohydrates and fats, and the
deficiency must then be made up by taking a part of the
protein to supply heat and energy. What would happen
in the supposed case is this:

Fat has two and one-fourth tirrfts the capacity to pro-
duce heat that carbohydrates and protein have. Hence
the carbohydrates and fat in corn in this instance are
equal to 82 per cent of carbohydrates; and the propor-
tion of protein to carbohydrates required is 10 to 82. In
wheat the total carbohydrates and fat is equivalent to only
77 per cent of carbohydrates. There is a deficiency of
five per cent in the feed elements of this class needed. It
is made up by taking five per cent out of the protein
elements and using it as "fuel." This leaves only 7 per
cent of protein available for maintenance, growth, or pro-
duction, against 10 per cent in corn. That is, in the case
and under the conditions supposed, corn is nearly fifty
per cent more efficient than wheat for
such service as the feed performs
after providing heat and energy.

This does not mean that if wheat
is at any time an insufficient feed
, corn should be substituted. The ques-
tion of the principal grain to use is
a matter of availability and cost.
The base of the ration should be the
most abundant and cheapest grain.
In case that is wheat, and particularly
in sections where wheat is extensive-
ly grown and corn is not. the defi-
ciency of heat-making elements may
be made up, and the full value of
the flesh makers in the wheat con-
served, by the use of any article of
feed which will supply what carbo-
hydrates and fats are lacking. By giv-
ing an amount of meat scrap which
would supply fat equivalent to five

per cent of carbohydrates the deficiency would be met,,
and at the same time the protein would be increased
something over one percent, or a little over one-twelfth
of its actual amount. Whether this addition to the pro-
tein was useful and economical would depend entirely
upon whether it was needed and could be used for flesh
forming or in egg production. In general it is only in
periods of growth, molting, and heavy egg production
that there is any advantage in supplying more protein
than is contained in the ordinary grains.

In case corn appeared insufficient for a ration, and
that would be the case in extreme cold weather, the ad-
dition of meat scrap would supply the deficiency, and a
very little meat scrap might make the fats and carbo-
hydrates sufficient and at the same time add substantially
to the protein in the ration and to the results to which
protein contributes. So in cold weather poultry that are
growing, laying, or molting can be fed rations rich in
fats and carbohydrates without becoming overfat, while
poultry that require only a maintenance ration will keep
in good condition upon corn alone. In this case they no
doubt use much of the protein in the corn for heat form-
ing, but as the corn is generally the cheapest feed obtain-
able, the protein contained in it costs no more than the
other elements, while the protein contained in meat scrap
is more expensive; that is, where extra protein has to be
supplied it usually costs more than what is obtained in
the common form in staple feeds.

In extremely hot weather all grains may be too heat-
ing, and corn being the most heating is then of course,
the least suitable to feed by itself. But as in cold weather
we can supplement the deficiency of heat-forming material
in grain by feeding meat scraps which are much richer in

BARRED AND WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCK CHICKENS ON DOMINION

EXPERIMENTAL, FARM, OTTAWA, CANADA
Thrifty chickens showing good condition and good care and feeding.

28

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

waste feeds requires that they be fed a variety. Hence,
in practical feeding, we have to deal not with the com-
mon grains which as they grow contain and supply the
principal nutritive elements in about the proportions that
they are required by men, animals, and birds under
average conditions of temperature and other matters
affecting nutritive requirements, but with mixtures of
these grains in numerous combinations. The principles
upon which we work in adjusting rations to different
conditions and for different purposes, however, are the
same in all cases.

For the conditions in which corn would supply all
the nutritive elements in their proper proportions, it is
obvious that a ration that supplied the same elements in
the same proportions would be the suitable ration. I*
is also plain that for conditions requiring more heat
elements than corn supplies, the mixed ration would have
to be made more heating by the addition of similar ele-
ments; and that where a corn ration was too heating, that
particular mixed ration would also be too heating. The
principle upon which we proceed in making mixed ra-
tions is most easily illustrated by taking the case where.

fats, so in hot weather we can reduce the heating effects a corn ration is too heating, or too fattening, and there
of grains by feeding more freely of bulky, succulent, and is not succulent feed or milk available to the amount that
fluid, or semi-fluid feeds, and with an ample supply of is necessary properly to reduce the corn ration. The de-
these it may still be entirely practical to continue to feed sired result is then obtained by substituting for a part
corn without any other grain. In fact, whatever grain is of the corn as much of a grain containing less carbonace-
fed in extremely hot weather, the
heating effects must be counteracted
in the way described, and under such
conditions the grain having the least
fat and starch gives best results
when, as is commonly the case with
poultry on limited range or in con-
finement, the supply of light, cooling,
succulent feeds is not as liberal as it
should be to properly balance a
hearty grain ration.

While it is possible — as has been
shown — to use a ration containing

TYPICAL HOUSE USED IN THE COLONY POULTRY
FARMING DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND

only, one kind of grain, and to use A FIBLD IN WHICH COLONY POULTRY HOUSES LIKE THE ABOVE, AND
any kind of common grain in that OF SIMILAR TYPES ARE DISTRIBUTED

way if the quality of the article fed It is very difficult to get photographs of separate small houses that give

is such that noultrv will eat it freelv a good .idea of the looks of a field containing many of them. At a distance the*

y contrasts in the buildings, land and. stone walls are not strong enough to show

(and the explanation of how it can the buildings well.

be done gives us the simplest case of

balancing rations), in good feeding practice there is al- ous matter as is necessary to give the poultry what pro-
ways more or less variety in good rations. For this vari- tein they need without giving them more heat-producing
ety there are two equally good general reasoms: poultry elements than is good for them, or suitable for the pur-
like variety, and the economical use of low grade and pose for which they are being fed.

DEVELOPMENT OF FEEDING FORMULAS
In discussing feeding matters nowadays we do so
with an understanding of the chemical constituents of
different feeds, and of the proportions in which they
should be combined for various purposes. As a matter
of fact, however, standard mashes of straight ground
products of corn and oats, and of the by-products of
wheat flour, and the common mixtures of the staple
grains used in poultry feeding were all worked out in
the practice of poultry keepers before chemists had made
the studies of feeding which now enable us to under-
stand the reasons for what is done, and to use a greater
degree of intelligence in adding new by-products and
feeds to rations.

When poultrymen began to pay some attention to
SKIDS ATTACHED TO FRONT GEAR OF A WAGON- jhe scientific aspects of the subject, there was more or
FOR MOVING COLONY HOUSES less confusion and error in applying to poultry feeding

The gable roof building is a cook and feed room. the principles and formulas worked out by scientists in the

PRINCIPLES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS OF FEEDING

29

LARGE COLONY HOUSE, COOK AND FEED HOUSE, AND DOUGH CART ON

RHODE ISLAND POULTRY FARM
The cook house is built to drive the cart through to load.

feeding of other animals. They soon discovered that the
foundation of the science of poultry feeding was in the
practice of the best poultrymen. The fact that a ration
adjusted by careful trials in practice to get certain re-
sults did produce those results, showed that it was a
properly compounded ration.

When the rations used at that time by the best poul-
trymen were analyzed and their values computed according
to the proportions of the different nutritive elements each
contained, it was found that the most efficient grain and
meat rations for growing stock and for heavy egg pro-
duction had very nearly the same proportions of protein
to carbonaceous 'elements that is found in wheat, barley,
and rye. The average for a number of good rations com-
puted by the writer at that time was precisely the same
as for barley. As computations of this kind do not take
into account the green feed consumed, which in ordinary
practice cannot be measured or weighed with sufficient
accuracy to include its values in the computation of the
rations used, they are hot scientifically accurate, yet they
are sufficiently so for common use. Before describing the
method of making such computations it is necessary to
explain the common scientific terms used in dealing w'th
feeding and with feed values.

It has been shown that the common grains, and the
mixed rations as worked out by the best practical poultry-
men before the days of scientific study of poultry feeding,
contain the relative proportions of protein and of carbo-
i aceous materials which poultry require under average,
ordinary conditions, and that with variations from those
conditions, or to secure extraordinary results, the relative
proportions of the different classes of feed elements are
increased or diminished as the case requires. This rela-
tion between protein or flesh-forming elements, and car-
bohydrates and fats (the heat and energy producing ele-
ments), reduced to terms of carbohydrates by multiplying
by 2.25 is called the nutritive ratio, or nutrient ratio.

Each natural whole article of feed
has a nutritive ratio which is con-
stant to all intents and purposes of
practical feeding. In the straight mill
products of grains the ratio is also
constant, but in by-products of vari-
able composition it also is variable,
of course, and that is wjay the neces-
sity arose for official inspection and
analysis of such products. In mix-
tures of any number of ingredients,
the nutritive ratio for the mixture is
computed by first computing the total
amount of each of the principal feed
elements contained in it and then
finding the ratio of the protein to

the carbonaceous matter, the fat being reckoned at two
and one-fourth times the value of the carbohydrates.

For simplicity and convenience of comparison, nu-
tritive ratios are commonly expressed in their lowest
terms, and as the term representing the protein is always
the smaller one, the protein is always represented by 1.
An article or mixture in which the difference in the
numerical values of the terms representing the relation of
its protein to its carbonaceous elements is small is said to
have a narrow nutritive ratio: One in which the differ-

PERHAPS THE MOST POPULAR STYLE OF CART IN

THE LITTLE COMPTON COLONY POULTRY

FARMING DISTRICT

The low platform makes it easy for the feeder. The
barrel and box are movable, and the cart can be used for
many purposes besides feeding.

THE DOUGH CART SEEN IN UPPER PICTURE
This cart has the mash box and water barrel accessi-
ble at the tail, a deep box for grain in the middle of the
frame, and a coop for moving chickens in front — a
complete equipment.

ence is relatively great is said to have a wide nutritive
ratio. An article, mixture, or ration having a narrow
nutritive ratio is therefore a relatively highly nitrogenous
feed, while one having a wide ratio is relatively a highly
carbonaceous feed. To make a ration narrower is to in-
crease the amount and proportion of its protein; to make
it wider is to increase the amount and proportion of its
carbohydrates or fats, or both.

Early investigators and students of feeding subjects
generally regarded the nutritive ratio as the best measure
of value of a feed. On the assumption that flesh-forming
elements were more essential they reasoned that the
higher the proportion of these an article contained the
greater was its feeding value, and if they did not ex-
pressly state it, their statements still conveyed to most
persons not versed in the science the impression that the
more protein in the feed the better the results would be.
It was customary to compute the values of feeds in terms
of the heat units they contained and to give these with
the nutritive ratios, but the fuel value, or potential energy,

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

as it is called, was for a long time regarded as having no
special significance in relation to feed values in nutrition.
After a time, however, it was noted in observations
and comparisons of rations that the results seemed to
follow potential energy values more closely than they did
nutritive ratios. Two articles or rations having the same
nutritive ratio might not give the same results in feeding,

A TWO-WHEELED CART ESPECIALLY FOR WATER
This was used on the farm of P. R. Park when he was
popularizing- dry feeding. Only water had to be dis-
tributed daily.

tout two articles or rations having the same potential
•energy would usually appear to be much the same in feed-
ing value. The most important practical result of this ob-
seivation was to give a better appreciation of the value of
the carbonaceous elements in feeds, and to emphasize the
•fact that while protein is the substantial structural element,
the efficient and economical use of it depends upon the
supply of carbonaceous material being so ample for every
requirement of heat and energy that the organism can
function perfectly without using protein for any other
than its special purpose. The reason that the nutritive
ratio is of no value as a measure of the value of a feed
•or ration is plain when we consider that it is merely an
expression of the relative amounts of the two classes of
nutrients in the article, while the potential energy is the
-actual sum of the values of all the nutrients in a specific
-amount (one pound or one ounce) of the feed for the
•purpose for which the carbonaceous elements are used,
.and for which the protein will be used should the special
heat and energy-producing elements be at any time in-
sufficient for their special service.

Comparison of the potential energy values of feeds
is therefore a serviceable method of determining their re-
lative feeding values, though neither that or any other
single principle can be taken as an always reliable guide,
for it will be found again and again that things which by
a certain standard of comparison appear of nearly equal
value actually have very different values and effects in
feeding. This sometimes is plainly due to the presence
in the feed of unpalatable, non-nutritious elements, which
are not included in computations of values of the nutrients
in it though they appear in a statement of its analysis,
and their presence affects the palatability as well as the
nutritive value of an article.

The relations of other elements in feeds, and espe-
cially of water and fiber, which are sometimes present in
large quantities, is best explained and illustrated by a few
compaiisons of articles mentioned in the table on pages
23 to 25. Buckwheat and tomatoes have the same nutritive
ratio — 1:7, but buckwheat has a potential energy of 83
l.eat units per ounce, while tomatoes have a potential

energy of only 9 heat units per ounce: that is, an ounce
of buckwheat will provide more than nine times the heat
and energy that an ounce of tomatoes will. The differ-
ence is due to the fact that tomatoes are more than nine-
tenths water, while buckwheat is only one-eighth water.

Green grass clippings have the same nutritive ratio,
1:7, but there are 15 heat units in an ounce of green
grass, sixty per cent more than in tomatoes, because grass
contains less water and correspondingly more of solid
nutritive elements. Lettuce and buckwheat middlings
have the same nutritive ratio, 1:2.1, but lettuce with a
potential energy of 4 provides only one-twenty-fifth as
much heat and energy as buckwheat middlings with a
potential energy of 101. Lettuce is 95.9% water, buck-
wheat middlings, 13.2%. Lettuce and cucumbers are the
lightest and most cooling of all vegetable feeds, hence
their popularity with' both people and poultry to offset
the effects of heavy grain and meat diets.

Corn meal and timothy hay have nearly the same
nutritive ratio; corn meal 1:8.5, and timothy 1:8.7. The
relation of their nutrients is practically the same, but
corn meal has a potential energy of 100, while timothy
has a potential energy of only 66, and corn meal is a palat-
able feed, capable of sustaining life, growth, and pro-
duction for considerable periods, while timothy hay is
practically worthless for poultry. Here the conspicuous
difference is in the structure of the articles and in the
relative amounts of indigestible fiber. Corn meal has only
1.9 per cent of fiber, timothy hay has 29 per cent. We can
see at a glance also, in comparing potential energies of
these articles, that even if the fiber could be removed
from timothy hay and the digestible nutrients fed to poul-
try, they would have to consume relatively large quanti-
ties of it to give the results obtained by concentrated
feeds, and their digestive organs generally have not the
capacity for doing this.

Poultry will eat fibrous feeds freely only in the green
state, or, as in case of alfalfa and clover especially cured
for poultry, when cured in the green state. The grains
which are most palatable to them are those which contain
from about 2 to 3 per cent of fiber. Knowing this, and
usually having had opportunity to observe the indiffer-
ence of poultry to a grain with as much fiber as even the
best oats, when they have a choice between that and a
smooth grain, the poultry feeder can tell at a glance at

TWO WHEELED CART FOR BOTH FEED AND WATER
USED ON A RHODE ISLAND FARM

PRINCIPLES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS OF FEEDING

31

the analysis of a grain with the feeding properties of
which he is not familiar, whether the amount of fiber in
it is so large that it will not make a satisfactory feed for
a staple. Also in considering waste products containing
large amounts of fiber he can judge at sight of the state-
ment of the fiber in a feed whether that element is present
in excessive quantity. •

A feed containing a large amount of fiber and also
rich in protein or fat might be a serviceable feed, if the
addition of small or moderate quantities of it to a feed
lacking in fat or in protein would supply the deficiency
without unduly increasing the amount of fiber in the whole
ration. But if in order to supply the required amount of
digestible nutrients, the amount of fiber is increased to
an extent that makes the mixture unpalatable to the birds,
the effect may be to decrease the consumption of feed
to such an extent that the total nutrients eaten is less
than it was before.

What science can teach us of feeding is of great ser-
vice when intelligently used in connection with ordinary
observation and practical experience. The final test of the
value of any feed or combination of feeds is the results
obtained both in production of flesh, eggs, and feathers,
and in keeping the poultry healthy and thrifty. To a
limited extent we can secure quite free consumption of
feeds that are not the most attractive to poultry by with-
holding more attractive feeds that are not so available,
or sometimes by accustoming the poultry to a ration in
which the — to them — more desirable article appears only
at intervals as an extra. Details as to this will be given
farther on. As far as they harmonize with results ob-
tained in practice, scientific methods of estimating values
are useful. Where a lack of harmony appears, it is either
because the observation of the poultryman or the formula
of the scientist is inadequate and gives occasion for some
error. We cannot look for perfection in either phase of
the study of feeding questions.

Since investigators of matters relating to nutrition
•discarded the idea that rations should be compounded
with the view to making them exactly meet the require-
ments of the animal, the compounding and balancing of
rations has been placed on a much simpler, more prac-
tical, and more successful basis. Persons who are well-
informed on the subject no longer regard science in feed-
ing as a means of exactly adjusting the supplies of dif-
ferent kinds of nutrients to the requirements of an organ-
ism— mammal or bird. They recognize rather that only
the larger adjustments in rations can be made by the
feeder, and that the minor adjustments must be left to
nature — to the instincts and appetites of the birds, and
to the capacity of the system to convert surplus nutritive
matter in excess of its immediate requirements into a re-
serve stored in the body for future emergencies.

In accordance with this general principle it is usual
now in feeding practice to make the grain rations to suit
the requirements of growing stock and of laying and
breeding stock for conditions existing during the greater
part of the season or of the year, and then to modify them
as necessary for wide changes in conditions, doing this
partly through variations in the amounts of one or more
of the principal constituents of the grain ration, and partly
by increasing or decreasing meat products or green feeds,
as the conditions require. The mode of procedure in this
respect was briefly described on pages 27-8, and will be
treated more in detail in the discussion of particular ra-
tions and of methods of feeding.

The Question of Variety in Grain

It has been shown, and the fact emphasized, that our
common grains are nearly the same in composition, as
regards the principal nutrients, and that they have the
nutrients in proportions near the average requirements of
poultry for maintenance and moderate growth and pro-
duction. Scientific students of feeding tell us that it
makes no difference to the omnivorous animal organism
w.hether its supplies of flesh formers and heat and energy
pioducers come from animal or vegetable substances —
from one feed or another. The main thing is that they
shall be in sufficient supply. The elements as obtained
from some feeds seem to be more easily or more fully
digestible than as obtained from others, but as they are
100 per cent digestible in comparatively few cases, this is
merely a matter of slightly different degrees of digest-
ibility in feeds.

But while theoretically, and practically for short
periods, animals may live on nutrients from a single feed,
it needs but a little experience in the feeding of animals
of any kind to show that they will not thrive without a
variety of feed, and in feeding poultry one quickly learns
that they not only want variety in the way of properly
balanced supplies 'of the different classes of feeds — grains,
animal feeds, and vegetable feeds, but that in each of
these they prefer some variety, and that they thrive best
and are most productive when the feeder caters a little bit
to their appetites. This is a matter to which neither the
ordinary farm poultry keeper, nor the back-yard poultry
keeper whose table waste constitutes an important part of
the feed of a few hens, needs to give particular thought.
In both of those cases, a considerable variety is incidental
to the conditions. But where a farm is heavily stocked
with poultry, or a city flock is so large that the waste
from the family table is but an insignificant part of the
ration, the question of providing a reasonable amount of
variety in feed and doing so economically, becomes one
of considerable importance.

The student of poultry feeding can best appreciate
the occasion for feeding a variety to poultry, and the
possibilities of making variety from a limited number of
articles, if he considers the similarity in tastes between
people and poultry, and the ways and means adopted in
domestic economy for varying a simple diet. The good
cook makes a great variety of things by cooking a few
staple foods in different ways, and by varying the com-

LOW WHEELED FEEDING AND WATERING CART

USED AT AUSTIN GOOSE FATTENING FARM,

MANSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS

32

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

binations. In the same way, though by cruder processes
and with narrower limits imposed by the need of always
making a profit, the good poultry feeder gives to the ra-
tions he feeds enough variety to keep the birds' appetites
keen, and to secure the largest consumption of feed by
each bird that it can digest and assimilate, and from
which it can turn out a profitable commodity while still
keeping itself in good condition for further service.

The poultry keeper who grows his grain, or who
buys and mixes
his own feeds
needs to consider
the question of
variety in grains
much more than
the one who
buys ready-
mixed feeds. As
has been stated,
the manufacturer
of c o m m e rcial
mixed feeds
makes a point of
securing good
variety b o t h in EMDEN GOOSE AT HER NEST

his mash mixtures and his scratch mixtures. He is so
diligent in getting every sort of grain, seed, or mill by-
product that will give appetizing variety to the feeds he
sells that he almost monopolizes the accessible supplies.
And as the grains the poultryman grows or buys in quan-
tity are few in number, he must give particular attention
to the matter of feeding them in different ways, and also
must be more careful to supply variety in the other classes
of poultry feeds.

In mashes of mixed mill stuffs, variety can be obtained
by occasionally making the mash different in composition.
Thus if the moist mash usually fed is a mixture of corn
meal, ground oats, and wheat bran in equal parts, with 5
per cent of meat scrap, and the birds begin to seem a lit-
tle indifferent to it, an occasional variation by omitting
the bran, and perhaps at the same time doubling the
amount of meat scrap, may be greatly appreciated. They

will not eat as much, as a rule, of the richer mash, but
they will relish it more; and while it would not be a
good mash for continuous feeding, using it occasionally
varies the monotony of the uniform mash with always
the same ingredients in the same proportions. In mak-
ing such variations the feeder must use judgment of
course, taking into consideration . the condition of the
birds and also temperature conditions. The variation
mentioned by way of illustration would not be right for
hens that were becoming fat, nor would it be appropriate
in extreme warm weather. Either of these conditions
would call for reducing heating elements.

Raw or Cooked Feeds

Until some fifteen years ago facilities for cooking a
part of the feed for poultry were regarded as a necessary
part of the equipment of an up-to-date plant for the pro-
duction of fowls and eggs, while the small poultry keeper
who did not have stock enough to warrant special appli-
ances for cooking for the poultry relied upon a big pot
on the kitchen stove. The cooking of feed for poultry was
sometimes overdone in the old days. People did too
much of it, and made too much work of what they did.
But of late years the tendency is to go to the other ex-
treme, and rigid adherence to systems that do not call for
regular cooking leads to neglect to provide even such
facilities for cooking poultry feed as are almost essential
if the poultry keeper is to be prepared to use all available
wastes to the best advantage.

The economical use of such things as small potatoes,
beets, carrots, and turnips for poultry, requires that they

A PAIR OF AFRICAN GEESE AT THE RHODE ISLAND
EXPERIMENT STATION

FLOCK OF BREEDING GEESE — MIXED BREEDS — AS

COMMONLY USED IN GOOSE GROWING

DISTRICTS

This flock produced from four to five hundred gos-
lings a year. Nearly all their feed was obtained from
the pasture.

be either cooked or cut fine in a root cutter. We can
fasten large roots in poultry houses so that the poultry
can pick them to pieces, but with small roots this cannot
be done, and if they are given without cutting they are
under the fowls' feet, rubbed in the dirt of the floor, and
soon become so soiled that the birds have to be famishing
for succulent feed or they will not eat them. Cut in a
root cutter and fed raw, there is less waste but it still
is considerable, as the birds pick the stuff over and scat-
ter it more or less. Cooked until soft, and then mixed
with meal and bran, and a little meat meal to flavor it
more highly, such waste roots make a mash that the birds
gieatly prefer to any raw mash, and the full feeding
value of the roots is secured.

Onions which are much relished in any form by poul-
try, and generally considered very beneficial, cannot be
fed raw to laying hens, or to poultry from which birds
are being taken to kill for the table, because raw onions

PRINCIPLES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS OF FEEDING

33

give their flavor to both the flesh and the eggs. But
cooked onions may be fed as freely as desired without
imparting any undesirable flavor. Oats of such inferior
quality that poultry will not eat much of them raw, will
be eaten with relish when boiled, or even thoroughly
soaked in warm water. Meat that is slightly tainted, as
waste meat scraps often are, is not a good feed for poul-
try. Though they will eat it freely, and some may not
be injured by it, there are many birds that are especially
susceptible, particularly birds kept in rather close con-
finement and fed on- heavy rations. Thorough cooking
of such meat greatly reduces, if it does not entirely
eliminate the danger in feeding it.

SYSTEMS OF POULTRY FEEDING

T N feeding poultry two general systems are in use, the
differences between them being made by adjustment
in each to suit the method of feeding the mash, which in
one case is fed moist, and in the other dry. While some
poultry keepers rigidly follow either one system or the
other, that is not generally the best practice. The best
results are obtained by combining some features of the
two. Before discussing typical suitable combinations we
will consider these two systems separately, taking the
older system first.

In the moist mash system of feeding, the ground
feeds given are mixed with water or milk, and fed at a
regular time daily, the amount given at that time being
usually carefully adjusted to the appetites of the birds,
the idea being to give only as much as they will clean up
in a period of twenty to thirty minutes, or occasionally
a longer period. The hard grains used are also generally
given at particular times, and in such amounts as will be
eaten before the next feeding. In this system as usually
applied, the aim is to feed well, yet never so much that
the birds will not have good appetites for the next meal.
The meat is usually fed in the mash, and the vegetable
feed partly in the mash and partly in other forms.

In the dry mash system the ground feeds, including
meat scrap or other ground meat preparations, are fed
dry in hoppers, which are either accessible to the birds
at all times, or are open for quite a long time daily —
several hours or more. The grains are usually fed in the
same manner as in the other system, but with less at-
tention to regularity in time of feeding when the dry

mash is accessible at all times. Fine clover or alfalfa
meal is given in the mash, but all other vegetable feeds
must be given separately.

Dry Mash Feeding

The system of dry mash feeding was developed to
avoid certain common troubles in the use of moist mashes.
The making of a
good moist mash
is not a difficult
thing, but if it is
not done with due
care to secure
proper consistency
in the mixture and
to have it appetiz-
ing to the birds,
the results are
very unsatisfac-
tory. Either they
do not eat it well,
or indigestion and
bowel troubles de-
velop. By giving
the mash dry the
ill effects of im-
properly made
moist mashes are GOSLINGS ABOUT TWO WEEKS OLD
IN SMALL COOP AND YARD

Most of the geese start life this way
— in small flocks.

avoided, but the
good results of
using properly

made moist mashes are not secured unless the feeding of
dry mash is supplemented by special provision to insure
abundance of succulent feed, which becomes of even more
importance in dry feeding than when the moist mash is
used. Fowls fed on a dry mash must either drink more
water or hp,,e a great deal more succulent feed. Poultry
do not liko a dry mash as well as a properly made moist
mash, and will not eat it as readily when the dry mash
contains the same proportion of animal matter that is
usually fed in a moist mash. To make a dry mash appe-
tizing to them, the meat scrap, fish scrap, or similar sub-
stance must be considerably increased. This can be
done with safety and with generally good results if the
birds are allowed to balance their own rations of dry
mash and hard grain — if the method of feeding is such
that they can get all the grain they want, are well sup-
plied with succulent feed, and only what dry mash they
want under such conditions.

When birds are so fed, the amount of animal mat-
ter in the mash may be increased to 20, 25 or 30 per

THOUSANDS OF GEESE ON A FATTENING FARM — THE PICTURE SHOWS ONLY ONE CORNER OF THE FARM

34

cent without bad effects, whereas a very slight increase
in the amount in a moist mash would almost immediately
cause bowel trouble. If poultry are kept short of hard
grain and vegetable feed, and at the same time fed a
highly concentrated dry mash with a large percentage of
animal matter, they will eat the mash freely, and for a
t.'me it is likely to give remarkably good results.
Before long, however, this highly concentrated ration
produces acute
digestive d i s o r-
ders, and leads
to heavy losses.
This danger in
dry f e e d i n g; if
not properly
guarded against,
takes from it the
advantage of
safety which is
one of the prin-
cipal induce-
ments for using
it. As the method
of guarding
against it is sim-
ply to feed the
birds so well
otherwise that
they will not be
tempted to eat
rich dry mash in
such amounts
that they get too
much concentrat-
ed animal feed,
the regulation oi
this point is a
simple matter.

It is c 1 a i m e d

by advocates of dry mash feeding who are opposed to the
use of moist mashes, that the feeding of dry mash saves
labor. This is a point that has to be considered according
to the circumstances in the case, and with due regard for
. the fact that when dry mashes are used special provi-
sions are often, if not generally, necessary to supply
succulent feed. It was this necessity that brought the
use of sprouted oats for green feed into common use.
While there are no doubt many instances where a net
saving of labor is made by using dry mashes, it is doubt-
ful whether that is generally the case. The real advantage
as regards labor gained by the feeding of a dry mash
always accessible to the birds is that it gives greater
elasticity to the poultryman's daily routine, relieving him
of the necessity of following a time schedule closely, and
even permitting wide departures from it, in emergencies,
without any serious effects.

And the great advantage of the. dry mash method
over the other, as both were practiced when dry mash
feeding first came in vogue, is that with a palatable dry
mash always before the birds none of them ever need
go hungry. In ordinary practice the effort to feed poultry
exactly in accordance with their requirements either as to
the kinds of feed given or as to the quality, does not work
well. To feed just what each lot of birds will eat up clean
before the next meal, requires long experience, close ob-
servation, good judgment, and practically constant attend-
ance. It makes feeding the part of the routine of poultry
keeping to which every other part of the work must con-

HOPPER FOR GRAIN, SMALL BOX

FOR MEAT SCRAP AND PAIL

FOR WATER

The usual feeding appliances in
the colony houses in the soft roaster
district o.f New England.

form, and gives the poultry keeper opportunity for only
such other work as can be done in the intervals between
feedings. On a plant so large that the greater part of one
man's time can be taken up in feeding, watering, and other
daily routine, while someone else looks after the many
other things to be done, this may not be a disadvantage;
but on most poultry plants, whether taking all one man's
time or less, one person has to look after everything, and
when the feeding is on a rigid three meals a day schedule
it will often happen that a meal is neglected, or given
hastily and not in sufficient amount. This cannot be
avoided, for there are all sorts of demands upon the
poultry keeper's time; and many of them, of a nature
that will not wait, come right at feeding time so often
that the schedule cannot be closely followed.

In comparing results from the different systems, we
must discriminate between instances where people who
got poor results when using moist mashes get much bet-
ter results by the use of a dry mash, and instances where
the poultry keeper made a living profit by either system.
When this is done, the dry mash system appears safest
for the novice, and the one by which he is surest of get-
ting fairly good results at the start. On the other hand,
the moist mash system appears as that by which an ex-
pert in feeding gets the biggest actual results. Whether
it will pay him to use the system that gives those results
depends upon the purpose for which he keeps poultry,
and upon whether he can feed on this system and still
handle other parts of his work promptly as required.

Combining Wet and Dry Mash Systems

When dry mash feeding was first introduced and its
merits became widely known, there was a general ten-
dency to discard moist mashes entirely. Only a relatively
small number of the poultry keepers who were getting
good results from moist mash feeding held to that prac-
tice continuously and exclusively. The first results of
heavy feeding of dry mashes containing much meat mat-
ter and other high concentrates were often so remarkably
good that poultry keepers who had successfully used the
other system for years were tempted to discard it. Both
experienced and inexperienced poultry keepers too, being
advised of the fact that in dry mash feeding much larger
amounts of animal matter could be used with immediate
good results, adopted the practice of adding more of
such materials to commercial mixtures which already
had about all of those ingredients that the manufacturers
considered safe to put in them.

GRAIN AiMD JViAoH tiurftiii. FOR INDOOR AND OUT-
DOOR USE

PRINCIPLES. METHODS AND SYSTEMS OF FEEDING

35

The effect of such feeding was remarkable growth or
egg production as long as the digestive organs could
stand this extraordinary rich diet, and then sudden col-
lapse. Poultrymen would have large stocks of chicks
coming on remarkably well for three or four months,
then they suddenly would begin to drop off in large num-
bers, and within a short time all would be gone except
the few that could stand this diet, and even those would
no longer show their former thrift. Where the use of
meat concentrates was more moderate, but still too heavy
for continuous feeding, the effects were not so striking or
so sudden, but showed in an unusual
proportion of losses from digestive
troubles. Such experiences led some
poultrymen to go back to their old
system of moist mash feeding, but the
greater number gradually saw the ad-
vantage of combining the two sys-
tems, making for each case such an
intermediate system as would best
meet its requirements.

The most important general modi-
fication of the dry mash system was
to discontinue efforts to compel poul-
try to eat the amount of dry mash
necessary to give them the quantity
of protein required to meet the esti-
mated demands of remarkable growth
or high egg production. This was
brought about by simply increasing
the whole grain so that the birds
could eat about the same proportions
of grain and mash that they usually
will when fed a moist mash; and giv-
ing more abundant supplies of green
feed — sprouted oats being extensively
used for this purpose. The dry mash
system so modified gives good results

generally, and seems to suit the greater number of poultry
keepers. It does not give the best results obtainable un-
less the feeding of sprouted oats is very liberal (or other
succulent feed is freely supplied) and the oats fed while
the sprouts are so short that the feed is really a combi-
nation of moist grain and green feed.

Where other materials that would similarly modify
the ration are more available than sprouted oats, the modi-
fications that are made usually take the form of moist
mashes supplementing the dry mash. In this combina-
tion the moist mash is not, as in old practice, the basis,
and in a sense the key to the ration, but is the convenient
means of giving the things necessary to supplement the
dry feeds, both ground and whole. The dry mash system
thus modified is the one that gives the best results to
most people, especially those of limited experience, and
those who are not able to keep close watch of their poul-
try, and to study carefully all that relates to feeding.

In the work of highly expert feeders the best results
are usually obtained by combinations in which the posi-
tions of the two kinds of mashes are reversed, the moist
mash remaining a principal feature in the ration, and dry
mash being used to supplement it to such an extent as
will relieve the feeder of the close attention demanded
by a rigid moist mash schedule, and will give the birds
the opportunity to help themselves to dry mash when the
feeder fails to supply the other on time, or when their
inclination prompts them to take it.

Relation of Exercise to Feeding Methods

Poultry at liberty, foraging for their feed, take exer-
cise walking or running about, and scratching or grubbing
for feed — according to their nature and structure. Fowls
are energetic scratchers wherever there is any promise
of reward for such effort. Turkeys scratch some, but not
nearly so much as fowls. Little chickens begin to scratch
briskly as soon as they begin to try to pick up feed. The
beak and the legs seem to have a tendency to work in
harmony. Waterfowl do not scratch, but find what feed
they get from below the surface of the ground by rooting

OUTDOOR FEED HOPPER WITH THREE COMPARTMENTS
Photo from U. S. Department of Agriculture.

and grubbing with their strong bills. It is this exercise
that makes the muscles of their necks so strong while
their legs are weak as compared with those of the scratch-
ers. The necks of ducks and geese are so strong that these
birds are caught and carried by the neck, instead of by
the feet as is customary in handling fowls. The legs of
ducks in particular are so weak that catching them by
the legs is likely to cause dislocation.

It does not seem to make much difference in the
health of a bird what kind of exercise it takes, provided
it gets a reasonable amount; nor is it necessary that the
exercise should be strenuous. On the contrary, it is to
the interest of the poultry keeper that poultry should
take no more exercise than is actually needed to keep
them in good condition and thrifty; for every motion a
biid makes is using energy that comes from feed, and so
whatever energy is used beyond the needs of the bird
for exercise to keep it in physical condition, represents a
waste. The adjustment of exercise of course cannot be
accurate, but in a general way the proper relation is se-
cured by giving a part of the feed in such form and
under such conditions that it is eaten with little effort,
and the remainder under conditions which make a mod-
erate amount of effort necessary to obtain it.

With birds on range the matter of exercise does not
call for consideration in the way that is necessary for
poultry in confinement. Birds at large are likely to take
much more exercise than they really need, and if they
are left to provide mostly for themselves they may work

36

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

so hard for what they get that, while healthy and strong,
they are neither productive nor as soft-meated as good
table poultry should be. If the keeper wishes better pro-
duction and better poultry under these conditions he can

SCRATCHING FOR GRAIN IN LITTER — THE BEST INDOOR
EXERCISE FOR HENS'

obtain his objects by any method that sufficiently re-
duces the amount of exercise the birds are taking while
at the same time giving them equal or greater supplies of
feed. Either reducing the numbers in flocks, making
more flocks and placing them farther apart, or giving a
little more feed, or both these measures together, will
bring the results sought.

With poultry in confinement — especially with fowls —
regular provision for exercise is necessary if it is desired
to keep the birds in good condition for a long term. With
birds that are to be confined for only a few months and
then killed, provision for exercise is not necessary and the
results for such a period may be better without it. Thus
in fattening poultry we prevent exercise that all feed con-
sumed may go to fat. Even egg production, if the birds
are in good condition at the beginning of confinement,

may be better without exercise, until lack of it begins to
cause weakness and low vitality.

The differences in temperament in different breeds of
poultry, and to a less extent in different individuals of
the same breed, also affect their re-
quirements for supplied exercise.
Small active fowls that are restless
in confinement may take all the exer-
cise necessary to keep them in good
condition — to prevent indigestion —
moving about the yard and looking
for a possible opportunity to get out.
While in one way serviceable, this
form of exercise is not altogether
beneficial, for contentment is essen-
tial to the most profitable production.
However, hens with this restless dis-
position will take exercise enough of
their own accord to prevent indiges-
tion or the excessive accumulation of
fat. That is the reason that hens of
the light, active, nervous breeds so
generally give good egg yields in con-
ditions where the heavier breeds give
very poor ones.

The most practical way to provide
exercise for fowls, making it to a de-
gree compulsory, is by feeding the
grain in litter on the floor of the
poultry house, using such depth of

litter as is necessary to conceal a considerable part of
the grain as thrown into it. This condition is secured by
using only a moderate amount of litter at the start, add-
ing to it as- it becomes broken, and occasionally removing
that near the floor which is finely broken and more or
less mixed with droppings or earth.

Dry leaves make the best litter for this purpose, but
comparatively few poultry keepers can obtain them in
sufficient quantities to use constantly. Oat straw and
planer shavings are the articles most commonly used for
scratching litter by those who have to buy it. Dry corn
stalks cut in lengths -of about six to eight inches make
good scratching litter, rather coarse, but durable and
wearing for a long time without replacing. Any kind of
straw, hay, weeds, or stalky rubbish that is not too coarse
and tough will answer.

MRS. CHAS. V. KEELER FEEDING CHICKENS' ON THE FARM RANGE AT "KEELERSVII.L.E",

NEAR WINAMAC, INDIANA
The birds are Standard White Wyandottes not quite five months old, and weighing from four to six pounds each.

CHAPTER IV

Preparation of Feeds For Poultry

Suitable Equipment an Important Factor in the Several Processes of Cutting, Grinding, Cooking and Mixing Feeds

For Poultry on Any Scale — Directions for Making Raw, Half-cooked and Cooked Mashes —

Baking Johnnycake — Mixing Dry Mashes— Sprouting Oats — Preparing all

Kinds of Kitchen and Garden Waste in Appetizing Forms

A MOIST mash, properly compounded and used, is
a highly serviceable feature in a ration for poul-
try. A mash of the same ingredients, improperly
mack, becomes one of the most objectionable things in
poultry feeding. The making of a good mash is not at all
a difficult matter, yet in the days when the use of moist
mashes was more common than now, probably not one in
three of those who used them made mashes that were
appetizing to the birds, and would give the results de-
sired. The general reason for this was CARELESSNESS.
Most people who used mashes learned to make them
either by experimenting with mashes of different com-
position and mixed in different ways, or from instructions
given in books and papers.

These instructions were not always as explicit as
they should be. The most common description of the
proper texture of a moist mash was crumbly, which is a
very indefinite term. While a properly made mash is some-
what crumbly, a crumbly mash is not necessarily well made.
It is difficult to put descriptions of the properties of such
mixtures into words that will always convey just the mean-
ing desired. In fact it is impossible to do so. The de-
scription that may give the right idea to the majority of
those who read it will often fail to do so for a consider-
ib'e number. The verbal description must therefore be re-
garded as never fully adequate, but more or less accur-
ately suggestive to different persons according to their
habitual understanding of the words used, and always to
be tested as to the correct interpretation of it by the

appetite the birds show for the mixture made, and by the
absence of undesirable effects in using it.

Suitable Equipment the First Essential

Where moist mashes are to be fed regularly to any
considerable stock of poultry, or are to be used at all for a
large stock, convenient apparatus for cooking and mixing,
and for handling the mash in feeding should be provided.
Much of the complaint about the labor involved in the
use of moist and cooked mashes arises from the fact that
proper facilities for such work are not provided, and so
either a great deal more time is used than is really
necessary, or the work is not done as it should be.

Equipment For Mixing a Pail of Mash

In a 12-quart pail, up to eight or nine quarts of moist
mash can be conveniently mixed. Where mash is given
as a full meal, a quart will usually feed from six to eight
or nine medium-sized hens. A light bulky mash — if appe-
tizing— is eaten in much larger quantities than a more
concentrated mash that is just as much relished by the
fowls. So, according to the kind of mash made, an or-
dinary pail will answer for mixing the mash for flocks
up to about 75 birds. In a 16-quart pail about twelve
quarts may be mixed. That is about as far as we can go
without making special provision for mash making. When
mash is mixed in a pail and scalded, an ordinary teakettle-
ful of water is required to make a pailful. The mixing
may be done either with a heavy iron cooking spoon or

ADULT STOCK WILL THRIVE IN BARE YARDS WHERE OTHER CONDITIONS ARE RIGHT

This flock has a roomy house with scratching quarters underneath, and the relatively small yard drains well away
from the building-. In the distance the young stock may be seen on good grass range.

37

38

with a hardwood paddle of convenient size for stirring
with one hand. Where both moist and dry mash are fed,
(limiting the allowance of moist mash and making it only
a partial feed), mixing in a pail may answer for as many
as one hundred and fifty birds.-

For convenience and for more satisfactory results in
every way, it often will be found desirable partially to
mix in the pail a larger quantity than can be handled in
it when all the ingredients are added, completing the
mixing in a box or trough, using a common garden spade

OLD FASHIONED BRICKED-IN SET-KETTLE

for the purpose. For such quantities more water will be
required than can be heated at one time in an ordinary
teakettle, so the trouble of making scalded mashes with-
out special equipment increases at every point as soon as
we go beyond what can be done with the teakettle on the
kitchen stove and with common appliances. It is better
then, as a rule, either to mix mashes cold, or to get
special ^cooking apparatus of the required capacity.

Small Cooking Apparatus

For cooking feed on the ordinary small poultry plant
needing special equipment for the purpose, either feed
cookers or iron set-kettles may be used. The former are
manufactured and sold for cooking feed for all kinds of
live stock, and consist simply of a stove with a boiler.
The stove cooker is cheaper, and unless the poultry
keeper can do his own bricklaying is less expensive at
the outset; but the bricked-in set-kettle is the more dur-
able, and also being of substantial construction, can be
used for the whole process of mixing where the lighter
cookers on stoves can only be used for cooking or for
light mixing, as neither the vessel nor the stove will stand
the heavy pressure of mixing a large batch of stiff mash
with tools requiring two strong hands.

Where the mixing must be finished in a mixing box
on the floor or on short legs, the full water capacity
of the cooker may be used, and no larger cooker need
be installed than is required to heat the water needed.
But where all the mixing is to be done in the kettle it
should have a capacity about fifty per cent greater than
the amount of mash it is desired to mix in it at one time.
Thus if we estimate twelve quarts, or three gallons, of
mash to every hundred birds to be fed, one thousand hens
will need thirty gallons of mash. A 40-gallon kettle
would serve for cooking and mixing this but would be
rather small to work in freely and rapidly, and the addi-
tional cost of a 50-gallon kettle would soon be used in
extra time. The size somewhat larger than is actually re-
quired not only gives more freedom and rapidity of action
in ordinary usage, but admits of mixing much larger

quantities of feed on special occasions. It is always well
in installing a set-kettle to put in as large a size as will
ever be required.

For mixing feed in a set-kettle a round-pointed, long-
handled shovel generally is found most serviceable,
though big wooden paddles and forks like those shown in
the illustration on this page also are much used. In
mixing in a kettle with a long-handled implement, the
edge of the kettle is like a broad fulcrum on which the
shovel works, shifting up and down as it is moved through
the mass. This wears the handle rapidly and to provide
for this either a shovel with long straps on the handle
should be bought, or the underside of the handle should
have a strip of iron put on to protect the wood and pre-
vent it from rapidly wearing so thin that it will break.

When a mixing box or trough is to be used it
should be large enough to admit of the fullest freedom of
movement in working over the mass of ingredients. The
smallest box that it is worth while to build and use is
four feet long, eighteen inches wide at the top, whether
made with straight or with flaring sides, and from fifteen
to eighteen inches deep, according to the construction of
the sides. For quick work with small batches of mash
(three to ten gallons), a trough eighteen to twenty-four
inches wide at the top, should have a depth of eighteen
inches, and a bottom width of ten inches, smaller troughs
being made in these proportions. Such a trough will be
found more satisfactory than straight-sided boxes, for in
the deep trough, narrow at the bottom, the depth of the
mass being worked over is greater than with the same
quantity in a wider, shallower box, and with the steep,,
sloping sides what is uppermost falls in and down every
time the implement used in mixing is lifted up through
it. Large troughs of this construction are not satisfac-
tory because their greater depth and wider flare keep the
man doing the mixing too far from the center of oper-
ation and the strain on him is too great

For large batches of mash to be mixed by hand
power, boxes are used that are built wide enough for two

INTERIOR OF COOK ROOM
Showing stove, cooker, and mixing trough.

men to work, one on each side, and long enough to give
room to work the mass back and forth from end to end
to insure thorough mixing. Such a box will be about five
feet wide, from eight to ten feet long, and a foot deep.
A box less than eight feet in length will not give two
mixers freedom of movement, while one more than ten
feet long takes a larger batch than can be mixed well and

PREPARATION OF FEEDS FOR POULTRY

39

quickly by two men, and makes an excessive reach in work-
ing the mass back and forth. Where boxes of the dimensions
given are not large enough, and it is desired or. necessary
to feed moist mashes, power, mixers should be installed.
Unless, or until, this is done it will be found more satis-
factory to mix at one time only what can be handled in
a box of convenient size, and to shovel each batch (until
the last), as mixed, into a pile in a convenient place near
the box or into the containers in which it is to be dis-
tributed for feeding. Some poultrymen who mix in this
way have a large, deep box or bin at the end of the mixing
box so placed that the mash can be conveniently loaded
from it into wheelbarrows or carts.

For mixing mash in such boxes as have just been
described, square-edged dirt shovels are used, either with
long or with short handles as may be preferred. The
length of shovel handle preferred will depend both on
the height of the man doing the work, and on whether the
box is placed directly on the floor or raised a little from it.

Steam Cooking Apparatus

Years ago a good many of the largest poultry plants
that cooked mash to feed their adult stock once a day,
and to growing chicks in the season, and so used large
amounts, of soft feed, had steam cookers of various capac-
ities and types. The mash as cooked in these was mixed
cold, about like a rather dry johnnycake batter, and in
cooking it was really baked so that it c«me out much
like a big underdone cake. The cooking was generally
done slowly. Often the mass was put in a big steam
jacket kettle late in the afternoon and cooked with slow
heat all night. Of course not all who used these cookers
were good cooks, and many fed the cooked mash in rather
poor condition. When well made and cooked it was
splendid feed, but the results of using it were not notice-
ably better than were obtained by the use of scalded and
cold-mixed mashes, and cooking on this scale was long
since generally abandoned.

Mechanical Feed Mixers

There are mechanical feed mixers suitable for mixing
either moist or dry mashes made both in small sizes for
hand power, and in larger sizes for high power. Poultrymen
also frequently make homemade contrivances of this kind.
The use of these rather than of the more common equipment
described is generally determined by and is in keeping
with the general character of the equipment of the plant.
There is not the same advantage in the small mechanical
contrivances of this class as in the large ones operated by
power, but many people prefer custom-made to home-
madie equipment as more businesslike and giving a better
appearance and distinctive character to their plant.

Power Feed Mixers

The type of machine most commonly used where
large quantities of mash must be mixed for poultry, and
especially on duck farms, is the baker's dough mixer, —
usually bought secondhand and at much less than the
price of a new machine. With such machines large quan-
tities of feed can be mixed rapidly and thoroughly. A
half-ton lot, or even more can be mixed in about the
time it takes thoroughly to stir up a pail of mash.

Shelling and Grinding Machinery

To a large poultry plant that grows any considerable
amount of corn, or the poultry plant on a farm using
power machinery of this class in connection with the
care of other kinds of stock, a corn sheller and a mill that
can be adjusted either to crack or to grind corn are very
useful. The question of the economy of purchasing such
machinery depends not only upon the supplies to be put

through them, and the cost of power, but upon the cost
of the machine. As a rule it is not good policy to go
very far in the purchase of this kind of equipment until
a business is well established, for few large plants can
mill much of the feed they use, and the occasional use of
expensive machinery does not meet the cost of it except

in a long term of years.

«

Hay, Fodder and Root Cutters

Where hay and forage plants are grown on the farm
and fed either dry or green, a machine that will cut
them fine is serviceable. Such machines can be obtained
of almost any size desired, and the smallest are so in-
expensive that a poultry keeper with more than a few
dozen birds can hardly afford to be without one. Some
of the small hay cutters will cut hay almost as fine as
meal and do it quite rapidly. Machines for cutting fod-
der are especially useful when it is to be mixed in the
mash. Root cutters will usually pay for themselves even
if a large part of the roots used are fed without cutting,
for they are not expensive and it is often found con-
venient to use them.

Bone Cutters

Wherever there is an opportunity to get green bone
and meat, in quantities that make the trouble of getting
it worth while, it pays to have a bone cutter, especially
if it can be run by power. Even with occasional and ir-
regular use a machine of appropriate size will pay, for
with it a valuable feed can be prepared which otherwise
is obtainable only by poultry keepers who can- buy of
retail meat markets that cater to the demand for cut
bone. There are a few of these in most large cities, but
not many elsewhere. The use of a bone cutter is not
limited to cutting bone. Though much stronger than is
necessary for the purpose it can be used for cutting up
stale bread, crackers, etc., and even as a vegetable cutter,
when these things are not required in large quantities.
Many small poultry keepers use a bone cutter for such a
variety of purposes.

Mixing a Scalded Mash in a Pail

In making a scalded mash containing corn meal, the
point of first importance is to have the water boiling.
When boiling water is poured on meal of good quality it
begins to swell immediately and will absorb a consider-
able quantity of water without becoming sloppy. In
starting to mix such a mash the amount of meal that is
thought to be sufficient should be put in the pail, and
the boiling water then poured over it, stirring the mass
at the same time, and continuing stirring and adding
water until all the meal is well mixed and of the con-
sistency that will sufficiently moisten the other ingredi-
ents when they are added to it.

This point of consistency can only be judged by ex-
perience. Skill and judgment in using just the right amount
of water are acquired through practice. The desirable
consistency of this mush, of course, depends on the pro-
portion of other things that are to be added to it. If the
meal constitutes one-fourth or -one-third of the dry in-
gredients of the mash, it must be thinner when the other
things are added than if it constitutes one-half. Also if
the meal is of poor quality and will not swell instantly
when wet with boiling water it will not absorb nearly so
much water, in fact will not seem to absorb much at all,
but will settle in the water much like sand does. What
to do in that case will be described later.

In the most simple mashes either bran, or bran and
middlings, and meat scrap are added to the meal. The
bran and middlings as purchased may be separate or may

40

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

be mixed. The best consistency in a mash is usually ob-
tained when the bran and middlings are in about equal
proportions, but if the mixture is to be half corn meal
it does not make so much difference if the coarse light
bran is somewhat in excess of the fine middlings with
their greater adhesive properties.

Whether the ingredients added to the meal are put
in separately or added one by one is immaterial. The
point in regard to them is to have them thoroughly mixed
with the scalded meal, and to have the resulting mash as
dry as it can be with all that has been added to it moist-
ened. A mush that seems as stiff as it can be stirred will
take from two to three times the bulk of the dry corn
meal in it to make this consistency. To work it in thor-
oughly takes strong stirring, but does not take long if
one has the strength of hand for it, and acquires the
knack of working the mass systematically to secure
thorough mixing quickly. It can be done in a small frac-
tion of the time required to explain it.

While the proper — or rather the most desirable — con-
sistency of the mash is attained by having it just moist
enough all through to hold together as fed out, it should
not be supposed that there is peculiar virtue from a nutri-
tive standpoint in this degree of moisture. A little more
or less moisture will do no harm, though it will be found
that the birds usually like the mash best when it is about
as described above. If it is rather wet they may not eat
it quite so well. If there is much dry stuff in it they may
eat it regularly enough but are likely to scatter and waste
a great deal more of it

In adding mill stuffs to get the desired degree of
dryness, a novice will often get in too much bran, with the
result that the adhesiveness of the mixture is very slight.
This condition can be remedied by adding a little more
water, either hot or cold, and then stirring in a little fine
middlings, red dog, or low-grade flour. It is a good plan
to have some of one of these articles on hand to use in
such cases, and also to make the mash a little richer and
of different flavor by way of change from time to time.

If a mash appears much too wet when the other mill
stuffs have been added to the scalded meal in the intend-
ed proportions, it may be because the mush was made
too thin or because of an unusually large proportion of
middlings in a mixture of bran and middlings. The best
thing to do then is to add bran or mixed feed — whichever
is being used, or if this seems likely to make too light
and bulky a mash, to put in more corn meal, using it
raw. It will take up moisture more readily than anything
else, though not to the same extent at once as when wet
with boiling water.

Mixing a Cold Moist Mash in Pail

A mash of the same ingredients as described above
may be mixed cold, and good consistency obtained, by
suitably limiting the amount of bran in it and using more
of the "sticky" wheat products, especially red dog, or low-
grade flour. This will mean, in the first place, the use of
more meal. Enough more must be used to make the bulk
of meal when wet with cold water (which will not swell
it at once as much as boiling water) nearly as great as
that of the meal required for a scalded mash for the same
number of hens. It should not be quite as great, because
this is a heavier mash than a scalded mash and the birds
will not eat so much of it, nor is it desirable that they
should do so.

The knack in making the cold mash is to get the
proportion of fine middlings, red dog, or low-grade flour
that will hold it together and make it palatable when the

cohesive property in the corn meal is only partly brought
out. It is harder to mix than a scalded mash, requiring
more strength and skill in mixing; and unless one has
strong hands and arms he will find it much more satis-
factory to use a mixing box and a spade for batches of
cold-mixed mash in excess of five or six quarts. In fact,
for either cold or scalded mash in quantities of more
than seven or eight quarts it will be found that the quick-
est and easiest way is to use a mixing box.

Mixing Large Batches of Mash in Set-Kettles

In making mashes in this way the meals used are
cooked more than in a scalded mash, though not usually
by any means thoroughly cooked. The amount of water
required is placed in the kettle and the fire under it so
managed as to have it nearly burned out when the water
comes to a boil.

If this is not done and there is a hot fire that will
burn some time longer under the kettle when the feed
is mixed, it will burn to the kettle, making mixing more
difficult and also making additional work cleaning the
kettle afterwards. On most plants large enough to need
cooking appartus of this kind, there is enough old rub-
bish and light wood of various kinds to use in cooking
feed, and after a little experience one learns just about
how long it is necessary to keep the fire going to have
it meet the requirements and also give economy and ef-
ficiency in the use of fuel.

If clover, alfalfa, or cooked vegetables are to be used
in the mash, they should go in before the 'corn meal.
Alfalfa that has been cured quite soft and green has a
tendency when fed to make the droppings of poultry pasty
and of a dull yellow color. This is prevented by slightly
scalding it. If when the water is boiling what finely cut
alfalfa or alfalfa meal is to be used in the mash is put
into it and well stirred before the corn meal is put in, no
looseness of droppings will appear. If vegetables are to
be fed in the mash they must be either boiled so that
they can be mashed first, or run through a root cutter
that will cut them fine enough to mix in it.

The process of mixing from this point, when vege-
tables are used, or from the start without them, is just
the same as when mixing mash in a pail, only on a larger
scale and with larger apparatus, requiring two hands and
being a full-size, man's job, for to be done well and as
easily as so large a batch can be handled it must be done
quickly. Otherwise the heat which is still under the ket-
tle and in the brickwork around it will dry the mash so
fast that it becomes stiff and hard to handle, and- this
difficulty is increased by the greater stickiness of the
meal due to partial cooking.

When the mash is mixed in the morning it is usu-
ally fed right after mixing. Many poultrymen prefer to
mix it at night and let it stand in the kettle until feeding
time next morning. Handled in this way the mash is
pretty well cooked when fed. An objection to leaving
the mash in the kettle, especially if the fire continues to
burn for some time after it is mixed, is that it often
burns to the kettle. The easiest way to keep the kettle
always clean and smooth is not to allow mash to remain
in it after mixing, but to take it out at once, put a pail or
two of water in, and, with a broom kept for the purpose,
wash the sides of the kettle clean, letting the feed
washed from them remain in the water to which more
will be added the next time feed is cooked. When feed
is cooked daily there will be no danger that feed thus left
will sour, but whenever there are to be longer intervals
between cooking it is better to empty the kettle.

PREPARATION OF FEEDS FOR POULTRY

Making Large Batches of Mash in Mixing Boxes

Making a Scalded Mash — The process in this case
is the same as in the use of small mixing boxes; but on
a larger scale, and with attention to a few points that do
not have to be especially considered in handling small
batches. The meal being scalded in the vessel on the
cooker and vegetables (if any are to be used) having been
handled as in the preceding case, the other ingredients of
the mash are spread evenly over the bottom of one end
«.,f the mixing box, as a mason spreads the sand in a mor-
tar bed before running his slaked lime on it. Drawing
the material a little high at the sides of the box will pre-
vent the mush from sticking to them, and ridging it
across the bottom of the box will prevent the mush from
spreading past it. All this can be done with a few mo-
tions of the mixing shovel.

The scalded mush being turned in on this, the mass
is mixed with shovels. The work is done rapidly and
thoroughly if after the mash is about half mixed it is

FEED WAGON AND POWER MASH MIXER AT KEITH
DUCK RANCH, EASTON, MASS.

The mash mixer in the upper part of the picture is self-
dumping- and empties into the feed wagon below.

simply shoveled to the opposite end of the box, turning
each shovelful over as put down. Shoveling it over this
way two or three times should be enough. After one
gets the knack of it, this can be done quickly, especially
by two men working together, one on each side of the
box. In all mixing of large batches of mash, whether
moist or dry, two men can do the work in about one-
third of the time required for one man to do it. As two
men usually do the feeding where it is on such a scale,
there is no occasion to let the services of the extra man
in mixing mean loss of time in drawing him from an-
other job especially for this.

Making a Cold Mash — As in making small batches
by this process, the corn meal is wet and then handled
just the same as when scalded, and the same attention
must be given to the use of smaller proportions of bran
and more of the finer materials. Where convenient the
meal may be wet for twelve hours or so before mixing.
This can be done either in pails or in the mixing box. A
method used by some poultry keepers with very satisfac-
tory results when a liberal amount of meat scrap is used
in the mash, is to spread the scrap on the bottom of the
mixing box and pour on it as much water as it will ab-
sorb when soaked for about twelve hours and be quite

wet. The amount of water this material will take in this
way is much greater than one who has never tried the
plan would suppose, and is usually sufficient to saturate
the mill stuffs of the mash when they are added and the
whole thoroughly mixed.

Mixing Moist Mash By Machine

Machine-made mashes are — so far as the writer's
knowledge goes — always cold mixed. Where machines
are used it is mostly necessary to make a number of mix-
ings, and to undertake to scald or partly cook the meal
for them would make a great deal more work and trou-
ble than would be warranted by any possible improve-
ment in the feed as a result. As the reader may infer
from the emphasis placed on the importance of manip-
ulation of ingredients to utilize as fully as necessary in
each case the cohesive properties of the finer and heavier
ingredients to bind the coarse and light material, the
principal advantage in scalding mashes is to bring out
the cohesive property in meal, especially in corn meal.
In mixing mash by hand it is easier to get the consistency
desired with corn meal that swells nicely than with any-
thing else. To get similar consistency with the corn
meal only wet and wheat products furnishing the binder,
takes much more power in mixing. This is a decided
drawback to cold mixing by hand, but a machine driven
by engine or motor has all the power that is needed for
the work — and to spare, — hence where the machine is
used, cooking or partial cooking is superfluous.

From what has been said of the power of mixing
machines, such as are used on large poultry plants, it
may be inferred that it makes no particular difference in
what order the ingredients go into the mixer, which
usually is large enough to mix a batch requiring a hun-
dred-pound bag of each ingredient. The custom of start-
ing with the meal probably is most widely followed,
much as a matter of habit. In mixing on this scale the
mixer, which is a large heavy machine requiring a firm
foundation, is usually on a cement floor on the ground
floor, or basement, and the feed is stored in a room over
it, with an opening in the floor just over the mixer so
that the ingredients can easily be poured directly into it.
Three men are usually required to operate such a
mixer to advantage, — one in the feed room, one at the
mixer to put in the water and to dump the batch when
mixed, and a third to take away the mash as turned out
on the floor, either shoveling it into pails or boxes in
which it is to be distributed, or into piles out of the
way. The water is sometimes put in with a hose, some-
times by the pailful from barrels of water at hand. This
last admits of exact measurement of the water to be
used, but some men become so expert in judging with-
out measuring that they use the hose letting the water
run as the grains are poured in and shutting it off when
the appearance of the mash indicates that enough has
been used to give the desired consistency.

When cut green feed is mixed with mash in making
it on this scale, a fourth man may be used to cut it and
bring to the mixer as required. The time consumed in
mixing a batch of mash in this way is usually about five
minutes. These big mixers are used principally on duck
plants. When the subject of feeding ducks is considered
in detail the reader wiH see that even with this quick
work quite a little time must be given every day to the
mixing of feed on a large duck farm.

General Notes on Making Moist Mashes
To make the description of methods under differ-
ent conditions as connected as possible, we have in the
foregoing pages kept closely to the plainest mashes that

42

can be made, and to mashes mixed with water. Under
this heading will be considered topically the points re-
lating to the use of other materials.

Milk in any liquid form obtainable, or whey, may
be used instead of water in making mashes. Sweet skim
milk will bind the mill stuffs better than water, but with
sour milk and whey no difference will be observed. When
milk is heated it is generally desirable to avoid scalding
it to an extent that will make it constipating. The ex-
ception is that when the mash mixed with it is to be fed
to birds that are a little inclined to looseness, the scald-
ed milk in the mash may be a corrective for this. Dry
milk products can be handled in mash making in the
same way as meat scrap.

Clabber milk and the commercial semisolid butter-
milk are always best used cold, and are especially good for
both milk and bran mashes, which are most excellent for
feeding in hot summer weather, also for heavier mashes
of milk and corn meal — sometimes with meat scrap
added — that are good both for fattening and as occa-
sional rich feeds for variety.

Oat Products in Mashes — Whenever good ground
oats, rolled oats at feed prices, or any substantial oat
product can be obtained, it is a good idea to substitute
the oat product for about half the corn meal commonly
used in making mashes as described in preceding para-
graphs. The combination of oats and corn, especially
when they are coarsely ground together, is one of the
most appetizing and useful mashes, — a little rich for
general regular use, but most excellent wherever a rather
concentrated, highly nutritious mash is wanted. Ground
oats alone do not swell as much and as quickly as the
best corn meal, but swell more than inferior corn meal.
With good meal the mixture swells well, with poor meal
the oats in combination give a better result. These
statements refer to ground oats in which the hull is not
present in excessive amount.

Soft Fruits and Vegetables in Mashes — Tomatoes
and pears, peaches, plums, and occasionally soft varieties
of apples are often available for small flocks of poultry
in quantities far greater than can be used to advantage
if fed separately to birds that get some soft mash besides.
A good plan in such cases is to mix the mash with the fruit
or vegetable, and also allow the birds all they will eat of
it separately. The mash is made by crushing the fruit
or vegetable to a pulp and then mixing the mill stuffs with
it, using them in any proportions desired. For mashing
such articles in larger quantities than can be mashed and
mixed in an ordinary pail, a tub made by cutting a keg
of convenient size in two may be used, or if none such
is available a common pail will do, though ordinary light
pails of either metal or wood will not stand much of this
treatment without breaking the bottom. A wooden pail
may have the bottom reinforced by attaching a round
piece of suitable thickness to the underside with screws.
A metal pail that is strong and has a perfectly flat bot-
tom may be used without damaging it, but a pail with
the bottom creased, or with the sides extending below
it ought not to be used in this way.

The mashing may be done with any heavy wooden
implement of suitable form and size. For occasional use
or for small quantities, a pick handle makes a good
masher. If, however, there is frequent occasion to use
one, it is worth while to make one with a broader mashing
surface. A section of a round stick of cordwood, from
eight to twelve inches long, and four to five inches in
diameter, with a hole bored in the center of one end, and
a broom handle, or round piece of wood of about that

size driven into it for a handle makes a good masher for
this purpose.

Table Scraps in Mashes — For feeding to poultry it is
nearly always better to mix a little bran and meal with
table scraps, as saved for the purp.ose, than to give the
scraps alone. The dry mill stuffs take up the moisture in
the scraps, of which there is sometimes a considerable
amount, and as these are leavings of gravies, soups, cereals
with milk, puddings, etc., the nutritive matter in them is
all saved when they are mixed in a mash, while if simply
put in a trough these soft and more or less fluid things
are not always eaten clean, and the frequent feeding of
them in this form results in very dirty troughs. Where
the flock of poultry is small and the scraps mixed in a
mash make more than is required, it will often be found
that by simply taking care to keep out of the vessel in
which the scraps are collected, the fluids that have no
special value (and might as well go down the sink drain),
the moisture in the scraps is reduced so much that the
appropriate amount of meals with them does not make
more mash than is needed.

In the use of table scraps for poultry, and also when
feeding meat trimmings, as when hogs are butchered on
the farm, care should be taken not to give the birds op-
portunity to swallow large pieces of fat meat. A fowl
can swallow quite a large strip of fat as it is often cut
from a piece of meat at the table by. a person who does
not eat fat, or trimmed from the raw meat by the cook
before cooking, and fowls are quite fond of a little fat,
and quickly pounce on any they find in their feed.

It is probable that large pieces of fat often are swal-
lowed in this way
and do no injury;
but it is also cer-
tain that in a great
many i n s t a n ces
fowls known to
have swallowed
large pieces of far,
or to have had the
opportunity to eat
freely of fat, have
died shortly after
with acute symp-
toms of poisoning.
For that reason,
either instructions
should be given to
those saving
scraps for poultry
not to put such
pieces of fat with
the rest, or the
person doing the
feeding should al-
ways be on the
lookout for them,
and cut them up
before feeding. If
this is done no
one bird can get
enough to injure
it, and what each gets will be a benefit to it.

Infertile Eggs in Mashes — When eggs are available
to feed to young poultry the best way to use them is to
break shell and all, and stir with them as much meal or
mixed mill stuffs as the egg will moisten.

HOMEMADE OAT SPROUTER

PREPARATION OF FEEDS FOR POULTRY

43

"Making Sprouted Oats

Sprouted oats, while not the first choice of green feed
lor poultry, are probably used by more poultry keepers
than anything else, because they can practically always
be produced, in any quantity desired, in a few days. All
that is necessary is to keep them moist and at a temper-
ate degree of heat. They may be sprouted in small
quantities in a box in the house or cellar in winter, or in
any convenient spot on the ground outdoors in spring
and summer. Where they are to be used regularly for any
considerable period, it is advisable to make systematic ar-
rangements for a continuous supply. This is easy out-
d^ors in summer. All that is necessary is to have a regu-
lar succession of plots of oats spread about an inch thick
on the ground and kept wet, — each plot being of such
size as is required to furnish the oats needed for the
number of days intervening between the times of starting
plots. Where a great deal is used, the intervals may be
daily. Usually it is not best to have them longer than
three or four days, which admits of beginning to feed
from a plot when the green sprouts are of fair length,
and finishing it before they become too long, and the nu-
triment in the grain has all gone to stem and root.

It should be kept in mind in preparing and using
sprouted oats, that the greatest value is not in their use
as green feed only, but in their use as a combination of
soft grain and green feed. In careful practical observa-
tions on the feeding value of sprouted oats at different
stages, one of the largest farrxs in America found that the
most economical way to use them is to feed when the
sprouts are about ar inch long. When it is more important
that they should provide green feed than that they should
give the greatest possible nutritive value from the grain,
they should not be fed until the sprouts are several inches
long; but the poultry feeder should plan to have larger
quantities to feed while comparatively short, rather than
to get the greatest bulk of green feed. Another advantage
in this is that the shorter the time of growth for the oats
used the less trouble there will be with the formation of
molds, which often are injurious to poultry.

For sprouting oats indoors the most common prac-
tice is to use trays about 24 to 30 inches square and about
2 inches deep, arranging these on open racks or in closed
cabinets in tiers 12 to IS inches apart. The advantage of
the closed cabinet depends upon the temperature of the
place where the oats are sprouted. It can be heated with
a lamp or otherwise, and more rapid growth secured
where the room temperature is too low for quick growth.
While some poultry keepers make their own equipment
for sprouting oats, probably a far greater number buy
sprouters as made and sold by manufacturers of poultry
appliances. Poultry keepers who use a great deal of
sprouted oats sometimes devote a good-sized building to
the purpose, not placing the oats in many tiers as in the
small racks and cabinets, but using a wide bench about 30
inches high, and also the space under this on the floor.
This plan saves labor, but calls for more space and a
special building or' a large room devoted exclusively to
this work. Usually these oat-sprouting rooms are ar-
ranged so that hot water or steam heat can be used to
keep the place at the desired temperature.

The common process in sprouting oats is to soak
them in water for twelve hours or more before spreading
them in the trays. The depth of the layer may vary from
an inch to about two inches. Where the depth is over an
inch it is necessary to stir the oats daily until the sprouts
are so long that this will break them off. In so thick a
mass the tendency is for those at the surface to dry much

faster than those in the middle. The oats are sprinkled
daily, or oftener if it seems necessary. They must be
kept moist, but not too wet.

The tendency to the formation of mold makes it ad-
visable to wash trays with a disinfectant before each lot
of oats is put into them. A solution of equal parts of for-
malin and water is commonly used for this purpose.
Making Baked Johnnycake for Chicks

Johnnycake, whether of corn meal alone, or made of
a mixture of meals, is one of the best of chick feeds. The
trouble of making it precludes its use generally where
chicks are grown on a large scale. The advantage of using
it is greatest where the number of chicks is so small that
the amount of a moist mash they can eat while it re-
mains in good condition is not large enough to make it
worth while to bother with moist mash. A poultry keeper
who has a few broods of chicks with hens can bake a
cake that will last them for three or four days or more.
For any larger number of chicks bakings can be made at
as long or at shorter intervals, according to the size of
the flock and the amount that can be baked at one time.
Also the baking can be done when convenient, while the
mash must usually be mixed at stated intervals.

Any woman who knows how to make a Johnnycake, or
corn bread, for the family table can make a good feed
for little chicks by the same recipe. It may be better than
is really necessary for the chicks, but since it will be good
chick feed there is no excuse for one who can make it
giving their little chicks feeds that are not giving satis-
factory results. When in doubt or in trouble with little
chicks, feed Johnnycake; is good advice for the novice. It
may not be economy or good policy to use it heavily-and
regularly, but it is the reliable stand-by in emergencies.

Johnnycake as made for chicks can be of coarser ma-
terial, may have in it any infertile eggs that are not affect-
ed with rot, and may also have any table scraps that can
be readily mixed with the batter. The following recipes
are given for Johnnycake for poultry feed: —

No. 1 — Corn meal, 1 quart; infertile eggs, 1 or 2; baking
soda, 1 teaspoon. If eggs are not available use double
the quantity of soda. Mix with sour milk to a stiff
batter, and bake well.

No. 2 — Take 1 pint of corn meal, 1 teacup of wheat bran,
1 teaspoon of meat meal, 1 teaspoon of soda, 1 tea-
cup of cold water. Mix thoroughly, and bake 2 hours.

No. 3 — Take 3 quarts of corn meal, 1 quart of wheat mid-
dlings, 1 cup of meat meal. Mix with water or skimmed
milk to which add 4 tablespoons of vinegar and 2 tea-
spoons of soda.

No. 4 — Add a little soda to sour milk — about a teaspoonful
to the pint of milk. Stir in coarse corn meal and
ground oats in equal parts to make stiff batter, add one
infertile egg, broken shell and all, for each pint of
batter. Bake in deep pans well greased.

No. 5 — Cornell Johnnycake. 4 pounds of corn meal, 1% Ibs.
(1 dozen) of infertile eggs, 6 pounds (2% quarts) of
sour milk, 5 level teaspoons of baking soda. Stir
thoroughly and bake well.

It will be noted that the proportions of eggs in the
different recipes vary greatly. This point is usually regu-
lated by the available supply of eggs for the purpose.
Within these limits the more eggs the richer and lighter
the cake.

Mixing Dry Mashes and Scratching Mixtures

Small lots of dry mash or of fine grains may be mixed
in mechanical mixers of convenient and appropriate size.
Large batches usually are mixed with shovels on a smooth
board or cement floor. Any spot swept clean will do. The
mixing can be done with scoop shovels, for the dry stuffs
are much easier to handle and mix than wet. The job
should be thoroughly done in order that the mash as dis-
tributed to the poultry may be uniform in quality and
composition. After mixing, the mash is either bagged
or put in bins from which it is taken as required, or is»
perhaps, distributed at once to the feeding hoppers.

CHAPTER V

Feeding Chicks From Hatching to Weaning

Relations of Vitality in Chicks and of Conditions of Life to Results in Feeding — Contaminated Soils Bad For Young

Chickens — Differences in Details of Practice With Hen Brooded and Artificially Brooded

Chicks — Model Rations For All Localities and Climates — Quantities of

Feed Consumed by Baby Chicks

A BABY CHICK is a tender little thing, so sus-
ceptible to extremes of heat and cold, and so
easily hurt by rough handling, that people natur-
ally suppose that it requires especially easily digested
feeds. Even after long experience with chicks, most people
do not fully realize that the only necessary differences in
the feeds of large fowls and small chicks are that the pieces
of the feeds they cannot separate with their beaks must

READY TO LEAVE THE NEST

be smaller for chicks, and that the use of unwholesome
things, even in small quantities, must be more carefully
avoided. Nothing that an old hen can digest is too hard
for a baby chick: in both, sound physical condition is es-
sential to good digestion.

Measured by results, the digestive power of healthy,
thrifty chicks is greatest in the first few months, and
greater- at any period of growth than in adult life. A hen
that weighs about five pounds, and lays 200 eggs in a
year — the eggs weighing 24 ounces to the dozen — pro-
duces about five times the equivalent of her own weight
in eggs in the year. An average chick hatched from one
of these eggs, and weighing less than an ounce and a
half when hatched, will weigh — if well grown — one pound
when eight weeks of age. It will have increased its
weight at the beginning of the period more than ten
times. In a second period of eight weeks it will add to
its weight three pounds, increasing its weight at the be-
ginning of the period three times, and making its total
weight four pounds, which is more than forty times its
weight when hatched.

When growth is at this rate the average daily increase
in the first months is approximately one-sixteenth of the
weight at the beginning of the day. Many thrifty chicks
have a higher rate of growth and continue it much longer
than the average. As a chicken that is growing well ap-
proaches a pound in weight the increase is often more
than an ounce a day. The real capacity of a chick for
growth is still more strikingly illustrated by comparison
with large mammals or with human beings. A child that

44

weighed eight pounds at birth and grew at the rate stated
for chicks would weigh at sixteen weeks, 352 pounds. A
calf that weighed fifty pounds at birth and grew at this
rate would weigh 2200 pounds when sixteen weeks old.
The rapid growth of young poultry is possible only when
they are in good health and well fed, and because they are
able to eat and digest relatively large quantities of rich
and highly nutritious feed.

As soon as anything goes wrong with a young chicken
in any other respect, digestion is immediately impaired
too. The digestive organs, so powerful when working
right and on suitable material, are peculiarly susceptible
to all the effects of stale, musty, and moldy feeds, and
also to the effects of eating feeds, that have come in con-
tact with soil contaminated by the droppings of poultry,
even when the contamination is not recent and no traces
of it may be visible to the eye. That is why mature poul-
try can be kept in good condition and producing well in
much more closely restricted quarters than would suffice
to grow the same number of chickens.

While ideal conditions are desirable for young
chickens, it is not always possible to have these. In all
highly intensive poultry culture there are various con-
ditions that are not the most favorable for poultry, yet
are not so detrimental that good results become impos-
sible. Indeed, if poultry keeping were carried on only
under ideal conditions, many successful backyard poultry
keepers would not be engaged in it, or would have to
curtail greatly their operations. Good care and good feed-
ing go a long way to offset drawbacks of conditions.
When conditions are more or less unsatisfactory, good
work depends upon the poultry keeper thoroughly under-
standing the disadvantages that he must contend with, and
taking every necessary and wise precaution to counteract
them. Good work under poor conditions will often give

THE FIRST DAY OUT

An old fashioned coop as still used on some farms.
The hen is tethered to the coop. The feeding board is
used to close the coop at night.

FEEDING CHICKS EROM HATCHING TO WEANING

45

much better results than indifferent care under better
conditions.

In presenting the subject of feeding for many differ-
ent conditions and for different purposes it is necessary
sometimes strongly to emphasize points as they apply to
one set of conditions which under an entirely different
set of conditions require but little attention. The reader
should therefore always note carefully to what circumstan-
ces certain emphatic instructions do apply, and to what they

COOPS FOR HEN AND CHICKS USED AT THE GOVERNMENT POULTRY

FARM, BELTSVILLE, MARYLAND
Photo from the U. S. Department of Agriculture.

do not apply. Failing to do this, poultry keepers often do
a great deal of unnecessary work. This may not make
any particular difference when the flock is small, and
when the work of caring for it is considered recreation,

fuut where poultry keeping is on a commercial basis un-
ecessary work is always to be avoided.
Comfort and Warmth the First Requirement
The first point to consider in caring for young chick-
ens is to keep them comfortable. For them comfort
eans warmth and dryness— especially for the first few
days. A hen that is hatching a brood of chicks is usually
reluctant to leave the nest from the time that the eggs
begin to pip until the chicks are all out, dried off nicely,
and themselves begin to explore the vicinity of the nest.
She will go without feed or drink rather than move at this
crisis, and if she has been well fed and is in good con-
dition she appears none the worse for a two or three
day's fast. She stays on the nest and keeps the chicks
snug, warm, and dry. They do not need feed for from 36
to 48 hours after leaving the egg, as the yolk of the egg,
which is absorbed through the rec-
tum just before the chick hatches,
furnishes nourishment until the chick
is able to get about well, and to take
an interest in things that it can pick
up and swallow.

The exact period for which the yolk
affords sufficient nourishment has not
been determined, nor is there really
any need that it should be, — nor can
one see how it could be done even
to satisfy a natural curiosity on the
point. We can learn by observation
that chicks frequently begin to pick
up feed when about 24 hours old:
that they rarely do under 24 hours;
that chicks in the same brood will be-
gin to eat some in about 24 hours,
others not for 36, or perhaps about
48 hours; and that almost all chicks

that have good vitality will begin to take feed quite freely
by the time they are two days old. We know also by
observation that chicks can go as long as 72 hours after
hatching without feed, and apparently be none the worse
for it; yet we will also find some chicks that seem to be
weakened if kept without feed as long as that. It cannot
be positively said that the lack of feed caused weakness
noted, for these cases generally occur in lots of chicks
shipped after hatching, and all the circumstances of the
shipment may not be known.

However that may be, while the
poultry keeper who is so situated that
he has to take chances on chicks that
may be full three days old before
they reach him and get their first
feed, can do so with the assurance
that the risk in keeping them without
feed for so long is the least risk in
transportation, this is a risk which
need not be taken except in such cir-
cumstances. Ordinarily there is no
occasion to keep them without feed
so long, and the chicks may be fed
as soon as they begin to show that
they are looking for something more
than warmth and comfort.

It is frequently said that chicks
are injured by feeding too soon. This

was maintained by many regarded as good authority
when nearly all chicks were hatched and brooded with
hens. It is not now so strongly held with regard to chicks
under natural methods, but many assert that too early
feeding must be avoided in handling chicks artificially.
The circumstances upon which this opinion is based are
not anywhere set forth so fully and clearly as to show
that early feeding was without doubt the cause of trou-
ble, and it would be illogical to admit that if chicks under
natural methods are not injured by early feeding, artifi-
cially hatched and brooded chicks may be — with all con-
ditions right. But while taking this position we may re-
cognize it as entirely reasonable to suppose that there
are many chickens which as a result of wrong temper-
ature in incubation, or in brooding, have a slight ten-
dency to bowel trouble which nature takes care of more
readily if they take no feed into the system until at a
suitable degree of temperature, and with rest and quiet,
the organs are normal. The case here is precisely the
same as when at any later period in life chickens and fowls
have conditions of the digestive tract when they are

BROODER HOUSE USED AT THE MAINE EXPERIMENT STATION

The movable fence is used only to confine the chicks to space

near the house while very small.

46

better without feed, though the condition and appetite of
the birds being abnormal, they will eat feed which is really
injurious to them.

Chickens that are noticeably bright and lively from
the start, and have among them none that are continually
giving a plaintive cheep, can generally be allowed to feed
as they will at any time, and with entire safety. Those
that plainly appear less vigorous, and of which any con-
siderable number are always complaining, should not only
be fed with more caution at the start, but should have
special attention in every other way, for their lack of

A COOP WITH SLATTED RUN AND TENT FLY FOR SHADE

vitality may be in part due to a condition which should
be and may easily be corrected. When there is anything
wrong with a lot of chicks, the poultry keeper ought not
to accept one possible cause as the whole cause of the
trouble, but ought to consider all aspects of the case and
assure himself that every other condition is right, before
he concludes that the fact that he fed chicks before they
were a certain age is the sole cause for some trouble
which has developed among them.

To the best of our knowledge the question of the
possible effects of early feeding goes back to the question
of keeping the chicks comfortable at this stage and is
closely related to it. Where chicks are hatched with hens
they usually come on all right, yet there are exceptions
to the rule, due to the fact that many hens are either
temperamentally or constitutionally unfit for that part of
the duties of motherhood. There are hens that will not
make good hatchers, because — apparently — their body
temperature is below normal. While we might suppose
that the temperature of such hens was still high enough
for brooding, which does not require as high a tempera-
ture as incubation, the fact seems to be that these low-
temperature hens instead of imparting vitality to the
chicks they brood, draw it from them. Then there are hens
which at hatching time and while confined to the nest
are nervous and restless. They trample the chicks, kill
some, and make the rest generally uncomfortable. Such
disturbing treatment will easily account for a little di-
gestive trouble. Poultry keepers using natural methods,
especially those whose opinions come before the public
in any form, are much more careful in selecting mothers
for chicks than they were years ago, and consequently
have less trouble at this stage.

With artificially hatched chicks, comfort depends on
the proper operation of the incubator at hatching time
and of the brooder at the start. Incubator temperatures
are often allowed to run too high; there is insufficient
ventilation in the machine, and the air both in and
around it is too dry. Often the chicks are left in the
machine a day longer than they should be, because the
brooder is not ready, or brooder accommodations pro-
vided are insufficient and they are too much crowded in
the brooders while more brooders are being made ready.
No one intends to let such things happen, but they do
often happen, and the common tendency in all parts of

work with poultry is to underrate their effects upon the
chicks, and to expect that what effects come from any
wrong condition will pass almost as soon as it is cor-
rected or the chicks are removed from its influence. It is
a safe rule to have the brooder, warmed and ready two
days before young chicks are to be put into it. An ex-
perienced operator may delay until there is just time to
warm it up before the chicks are ready for it, but a
novice should make sure that he has ample time to read-
just anything that may go wrong.

With the coal-burning stove brooders now widely used,
and working very well sometimes in
poorly constructed buildings, such
as cheap movable houses, it is espe-
cially necessary in late winter and
early spring to have no open space
under the house, and to have the
walls at the back and on the end
that gets the coldest wind perfectly
tight for two or three feet from the
floor. Small cracks or chinks higher
up in these or in the other walls
may do no harm, and where

the house is too small for the size of the stove —
as is often the case — there is an advantage in a few of
these small permanent ventilators; but cold wind under
the floor is bad even when it is well covered with sand
and chaff, for then the heat thrown to the floor by the
stove and the metal hover, striking a floor cold on the
other side, makes a strong circulation of air on the floor
where the chicks are. This book cannot go fully into
the details of brooding, but the points mentioned above
are matters which in the writer's experience have been
found such common causes of troubles often attributed
to feeding, that reference to them here is appropriate.

Another thing to be considered before taking up the
details of feeding chicks under different conditions is the
relation of the first culling of chicks to results in feeding.
In hatching chicks with hens there usually are from one
to three chicks in those hatched from one hen that are
plainly poor chicks when taken from the nest. Few
broods do not have one, and not many have more than
two. Many poultry keepers kill these chicks when taking
the chicks from the nest. Nearly all low records of losses
with chicks under natural conditions come from lots
where this first culling left only chicks of strong vitality.

FEEDING TRAYS FOR DRY MASH WITH WIRE
MESH TO PREVENT WASTE

FEEDING CHICKS FROM HATCHING TO WEANING

47

In putting out a brood or a few broods, a poultry keeper
who has noted how the weaklings eventually drop off or,
if they linger through a season, make miserable-looking,
unprofitable birds, thinks nothing of killing one in a
hatch of eight or nine, or two in a hatch of twelve to fif-
teen. He simply forgets them and does not reckon them
in his count of chicks put out. But when it comes to
proportionate culling in large numbers of chicks, few are
willing to do it. To take one weak chick from ten does
not seem serious, but to take thirty from three hundred
looks like a big sacrifice — which is a wrong way of look-
ing at it, for the chicks that come into the world con-
spicuously inferior to their companions are a loss from
the start, and the sacrifice is in keeping them, not in
killing them. If kept, the great majority of them die in
the first three weeks. Meantime they take up room which
it would often be of advantage for the others to have,
and they are hosts for germs of chick diseases which
would give their more vigorous companions no trouble
if the weaklings did not distribute them. From the point
of view of good practical common sense it is better for a
poultry keeper to be too severe than too lax in culling
at this stage.

Feeding Chicks With Hens

Where chicks are reared with hens the easiest way
is to feed them the regular meals given the adult stock,
and give any special chick feeds that are used at other
times. This is almost necessary if the hen is to be proper-
ly nourished and kept contented, for the hen will not
often take kindly to all small-size chick feed which, for
reasons that will appear in the discussion of feeding
brooder chicks, must be used when, large numbers of
chicks are kept together. The hen mother really requires
as much consideration and attention as the chicks, and it
is a serious mistake — and also a common one — to treat
the hen with a brood as a sort of necessary evil, to be
tolerated for the purpose of supplying the chicks with
heat, but beyond that to be quite neglected. Some people
even go so far as to confine the hen in a small coop and
stint her feed. Few hens will show all the maternal in-
stinct the case requires under such conditions, many .be-
coming restless and indifferent or ugly toward their
chicks, and — of course — rearing chicks with hens under
such conditions is not very satisfactory.

In general it is not desirable to have chicks that are
to be brooded with hens, hatched earlier than they can
get out on the ground. While they can be reared indoors
with the hens, it is far more trouble to handle any num-
ber of them that way than in a brooder. The advantage
of using the hen mother is that it permits of distributing
the chicks in small lots, so that they can pick a great
deal of their feed, and at the same time relieves the
keeper of a good deal of responsibility in the details of
care and feeding. When these advantages cannot be real-
ized the artificial method is better. Early broods with
hens are mostly broods hatched for the purpose of test-
ing fertility in matings, or to give a few early chickens
for the home table. They are an irregular and some-
what rare product, and for discussion of systematic meth-
ods of feeding it is better to take up at once the feeding
of young chickens when they can be put out of doors.
The time for this varies according to latitude and sea-
son. It begins in March in the South and may not come
until May in the northernmost states; but throughout
most of the country chicks can get out on the ground at
some time in April, and experienced growers try to plan
to have as many as possible of the chicks they intend to
raise for early layers hatched in that month.

When the chicks can first be put out on the ground,
the weather is usually alternate short periods of bright and
warm, and dull, cold or wet days, and the nights are
generally cold. To keep them comfortable under such
conditions the broods must not be too large, and the
coops must be quite substantial, and of such construction
that they can be made snug, or given good ventilation,
as the case requires. Nine or ten chicks are enough for
one hen at this season. The fact that an ordinary hen
can take care of more than that while they are quite
small should not mislead a poultry keeper to give more,
for the chicks grow rapidly and, should the spring be
backward with cold and frosty nights, a large brood may
outgrow the capacity of the hen to keep them thoroughly
warm, and the result then is a reduction of vitality in
some of the brood. If there is much cool weather, dif-
ferent chicks being exposed at different times, so many
may be affected that the results are on the whole not
as good as if the hen had a smaller brood. After the
coming of settled warm weather, broods may be much
laiger. Good results are often obtained with eighteen or
twenty in a brood, though breeders who want the best
possible development of individual chicks usually prefer
not more than fifteen.

When chicks are reared with hens it is almost in-
variably expected that they will get a considerable amount
of feed by foraging, — at least what animal feed and green
feed they need, and more or less seeds and grain. The
amount they can get depends in part on the location of
their coops, and in part upon the numbers put on a given
area of land. As a general rule, to get the feeds indicated
in such quantities that no other provision need be made
for animal and vegetable feeds, land occupied by chicks
must not be stocked so heavily that the grass is killed
out or is much soiled. In the early part of the season
warm, sheltered locations are to be preferred; for the
late chicks such locations are usually too warm on hot
days and the air in the coops too close and stifling on
sultry nights'. These considerations demand different
locations for early and late chicks, and besides, the late
ones ought never to be put on land that was occupied by
•early broods the same season.

On most farms that keep only the ordinary farm
flock of fowls, there is no trouble in finding suitable loca-
tions, and in rotating the young chicks so that they will
not occupy just the same spots year after year. The coop
can usually be placed so that the chicks are quite con-
venient to feed, yet can range quite a distance, and the
location changed from year to year enough to avoid soil
contamination, without entirely changing the range. For
instance, let us suppose that on a certain farm there is
not far from the house an orchard which will afford good
range for a large part of the chicks grown throughout the
entire season. Up to weaning time the chicks will not
need near all this range. Their coops can at first be
placed comparatively close together in a section of the
orchard nearest the house. As the season advances and
the chicks grow, the coops can be shifted at intervals and
placed each time a little farther apart until they occupy
half the orchard, the birds having the opportunity to range
on the other half. The soil in spots where the coops stand
may then become quite foul, but the soil in that part of
the orchard generally will not, while that in the other half
will keep clean — the droppings left by the birds being
taken up by the growing vegetation. By simply shifting
the coops to this part of the orchard in the following
season, and managing them in the same way, the condi-
tions in the two halves of the orchard are reversed. This
alternation can be continued indefinitely

48

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

An orchard makes an ideal place for young chickens,
but any available piece of land in grass can be used in
the same way. On cultivated land on which other crops
are growing, coops must be placed along the edges of the
field. This plan can also be used with mowing lands
while the chicks are small. They will run more or less
in the grass, making paths through it, treading it down a
little in places, and perhaps keeping it quite short for a,
space near each coop, but if their numbers are limited and
the coops as far .apart as they need to be for the chicks
later in the season, the damage to the grass will be quite
insignificant. The question of placing the coops to get

COOP USED FOR YOUNG CHICKENS ON A RHODE
ISLAND FARM

The hen is kept confined to the coop, the window
being opened just enough to let the chicks pass in and
out. As the joints between the boards are open, the
ventilation is sufficient in ordinary spring weather.
If it should not be, a small screen is put in the window.
This is a good style of coop to use after chill weather
is past, when it is desired to combine several broods
with one hen.

these advantages comes up early in the season, for the
poultry keeper must plan ahead. Other points relating to
the combination will be taken up later.

On the small place where a few chicks are grown
each year, and where the whole place is in lawn, garden,
and yards for the poultry, it generally is practical to
place coops for small chicks in the spring where the
growth of grass or cultivation in the latter part of the
season keeps the land fresh. On all farms where large
stocks of poultry are grown, whether by natural or by
artificial methods, it is important to have the chicks
started on land that was not occupied by any poultry the
preceding season. The only exceptions to this are sandy
locations where droppings quickly disintegrate and are
carried by the rain so far below the surface of the loose
soil that impurities are rapidly removed, and slopes where
the natural drainage is such that heavy rains and the
removal of snow in the spring wash them quite clean.

Wherever droppings can accumulate, and marked
traces of the droppings left on the land one season are
plainly seen at the beginning of the next season for
growing chicks, the rule of putting the chicks always on
Clean Land — not used for any poultry in the preceding
season, should be carefully observed. On heavy clay
soils it is still better to have the land in .cultivation or
grass for two seasons between those in which it is heav-
ily stocked with poultry.

First Feeds For Young Chickens

A generation ago it was the common practice to
make mostly soft feeds for young chickens, and carefully
to avoid giving them an opportunity to pick up large
grains. They were allowed little grain until ten days to
two weeks old, and what was given them was usually
either steel-cut pin-head oatmeal, or finely cracked wheat,
corn, or perhaps a little rice, with all coarse particles care-
fully sifted out. The soft feeds used were corn meal mashes,
more often made by simply wetting the corn meal with
water — either cold or hot — just before feeding, but oc-
casionally scalded, or mixed with milk. More careful
feeders, anxious to get the best results, used baked john-
nycake. Generally this was made of corn meal alone,
but a good many persons used for it a mixture of other
mill stuffs with the corn meal. Stale bread of all kinds
soaked in water or milk and then squeezed out quite dry
was also widely used. Hard-boiled eggs chopped fine, and
mixed with crumbs of dry bread or crackers were sup-
posed to make a superior "first feed," and though infer-
tile eggs were largely used up in this way, it was by
no means uncommon for people who grew a few chickens,
and especially for novices in growing their first highly
bred poultry, to use perfectly good eggs to feed the baby
chicks. This was extravagant, but not so much so then
as it would be now, for in those days eggs were often
quite cheap in the spring.

The use of soft feeds for baby chicks is still in com-
mon practice among chick raisers generally, but it should
be clearly understood that it is not good practice to use
a system of feeding young chickens in which soft feeds
are given to the exclusion of the common hard feeds, or
to use expensive arficles on the supposition that the lit-
tle chicks require delicacies, when less expensive feeds
of the same character would give as good results.

For more than a quarter of a century the author has
given his chicks reared with hens, as their first feed,
whatever happened to come in the routine of the day's
feeding for all poultry in the next feeding after the
chicks were taken from the nest, — which might be at any-
time from daylight to just before dark, according to how
the chicks were acting, and to other demands upon his
time. On this principle the first feed might be a com-
mercial chick feed, or baked johnnycake, or the mash
fed to the old birds, or whole wheat, or coarse-cracked
corn, or fine-cracked corn. For some fifteen years his
theory in regard to the use of coarse-cracked corn was
that the baby chicks would find in it as much fine stuff
as they wanted, while the hen would eat the coarser par-
ticles. Then one spring when the first chicks were started
in his absence the boy in charge simply fed them the
same as the hens, except that more feeds were given. As
they started off well it was decided to go through the
entire season with all coarse feeds. This was done, and
no difference in results was noted. In good, hard cracked
corn as prepared for fowls, there are few particles too
large for medium-sized young chickens. In soft corn
that does not crack well, but has many large uneven-
shaped flakes, there is a great deal that they will leave.

When fine feeds are used, it is not because the chick-
ens cannot take and digest much larger pieces, but be-
cause when the feed is in large pieces they can get a full
feed too quickly and with too little effort. This is not
a matter of prime importance in rearing them in small
numbers on good range, by the natural method, but is
very important — as we shall see — when large numbers are
kept together and brooded artificially. For the present
purpose the point to emphasize is the fact that small

FEEDING CHICKS FROM HATCHING TO WEANING

49

chickens can eat and do well on the same feeds that are
fed to mature birds. This is of great advantage to those
who grow a few chickens under circumstances that admit
of this method of feeding.

A Simple Standard Chick Ration

Morning — Moist mash as fed to old stock.

Middle of Forenoon— Chick feed mixture (preferably
a standard commercial chick feed).

Noon — Wheat.

Middle of Afternoon — Mash — same as in the morning.

Evening— Cracked corn.

In using this ration the only thing supplied espe-
cially for the young chicks is the commercial chick feed.
Considering the ration in detail we will begin with the
morning mash. The composition of a simple standard
mash for adult breeding stock at this season of the year
will be given, but for full information on the method of
making moist mashes the reader should refer to the pre-
ceding chapter.

As we are considering the case of poultry (old stock
as well as chicks) on range where they get green feed
and animal feed, the mash used will be an all-grain mash:
1 part of corn meal to 2 parts of wheat mixed feed, or
bran and middlings (see page 39).

To a hen with a brood of ten or twelve chicks, as
much of this should be given as is usually allowed per hen
in feeding the adult stock. Most novices make the mis-
take of feeding too much at first, not realizing what small
quantities are eaten by chicks just starting. Supposing
that this feed is given between 6 and 7 o'clock in the
morning, the chicks will each eat a little of it, but all to-
gether they will not eat enough to make much difference
in the hen's allowance. She may not have all she would
eat, but as she is now on a five-meal-a-day routine that
will not hurt her. The hen should -be in a coop with
slats through which the chicks can pass freely. The feed
should not be put on the ground in the coop, but either
on the ground or on a board or small flat trough or dish
just outside, where the hen can eat of it but cannot
scratch it. If the coop is on clean grass there is no need
of a feeding board.

After eating, the chicks will usually go under the hen,
especially on chilly days, but when they begin to get hun-
gry again will be likely to run
about, picking at whatever attracts
them and eating a little of what
they find. About 9 to 9:30 o'clock
they should be given about a table-
spoonful of commercial chick feed.
This should also be put just outside
the coop. If the grass is so thick
that much of it may be hidden if
scattered, put it on a board or just
in a little pile. Once the chickens are
accustomed to eating it they will dig
it out from among grass roots when
scattered in them, but for the first
few feeds it is as well to have it
easy to get at.

About noon give what wheat would
make a fair allowance for the hen,
scattering it either in her coop or
outside — keeping in mind that she is
to eat the most of it. In the middle
of the afternoon give mash, the same
as in the morning, a little less if the

hen does not seem keen for it. It will usually be found
that the hen has a fair appetite for five meals a day, and
allowing her all she wants brings her quickly into laying
condition again. That is an objection or an advantage
according to how she is handled. Particulars on that
point will be discussed a little farther on. Toward dusk
give cracked corn — a fair allowance for the hen.

For the first few days the chicks take very little at
a time. The amount they eat of any meal given is so
much less than most persons would estimate as what the
chicks should have in addition to the hen's allowance,
that hardly one person in a hundred feeding a hen with
a brood fails to put out about twice the feed needed. The
best working rule is to forget that the chicks require any
specific amount, and just feed the hen, letting the chicks
take what they want of her ration. After a week to ten
days the chicks begin to take .enough so that the feeder
sees that the hen needs more than he has been giving,
and from this time on the increase necessary for the grow-
ing chicks is easily determined.

The water for a hen and brood should be outside the
coop, but where the hen can reach it. Vessels of the
"fountain" type that the chicks cannot get into, are not
as essential as for larger lots of chicks, but are most
convenient. If open pans or saucers are used they should
be shallow. Then if the chicks do get in them the down
is not wet. With fountains, watering once a day should
be enough. With open vessels the number of waterings
depends upon how much dirt gets into them. On clean
sod once a day may be enough. It is not advisable to give
milk in open vessels, or in any vessel that gives the
chicks a chance to smear each other with it when drink-
ing. Notwithstanding the recommendations sometimes
given for milk for young chicks, the writer considers that
its use should not be allowed if thereby the chicks are
smeared and the down made rough and the chick uncom-
fortable and miserable looking. Some may suppose that
the chick is none, the worse for that, but a mussed-up lot
of chicks never looks thrifty, and it may reasonably be
doubted that the milk taken with this result contributes
more in nutriment than is taken away in discomfort. Milk
should either be fed so that the chicks are not soiled
with it, or given in the mash, or withheld until they are
large enough to drink it without as much soiling as when
small chicks have it in ordinary vessels.

METHOD OP

The young chickens

COOPING YOUNG CHICKS WITH HENS AT LESTER
TOMPKINS' FARM, CONCORD, MASS.

here are always put first on grass land on which no poultry
was allowed to run in the previous year.

50

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

For small broods on range the ration described above
gives ample variety. In fact, if the range is a good one,
the ration could be of mash and cracked corn — as far as
the chicks are concerned — and they would grow as well
as on any carefully compounded ration that could be de-
vised for them. The hen, however, confined to her coop
would soon become very fat. The coop should be moved
its own width or length once every three or four days,
any droppings that can be easily taken up being removed
from the ground, especially if it is intended that after a
few shifts the coop will go back to its first position and
make the circuit a second time.

With early chicks, the hen should always be confined
to the coop until the chicks are weaned. In no other
way can we be sure that the hen will brood the chicks as
long as they need brooding. When a hen hatches a brood
of early chicks and is allowed to run with them, and is
well fed, she is almost certain to begin to lay before they
are feathered, and most hens that begin to lay when at
large with chicks soon drive the chicks from them and go
back to the old flock. Not one hen in a hundred that is
kept confined with her brood, and not allowed to asso-
ciate with any other fowls will refuse to brood them after
she resumes laying. On the contrary, though not so solic-
itous for their chicks as before, hens handled this way
will often lay almost daily for weeks and brood the chick-
ens readily at night, even if they refuse to do so in the
daytime. With late broods it is not so important for the
hen to attend to brooding when chicks are three or four
weeks old. They may get along very well by themselves,
yet it will always be found that, when the period of the
hen's brooding is so short, her brood is more backward
all through the season than those that have had proper
brooding until well feathered.

Variations in Feeding Chicks With Hens
The ration that has been discussed provides an al-
ternation of soft and hard feeds. Such a ration does not
start chicks off as fast as one of nearly all, or all soft
feeds, but it builds up the digestive system, and chicks fed
by this method can consume larger quantities of feed to
advantage and use more rough feeds in the later stages of
growth than those which by heavy feeding of soft feeds

COOP RUN TO USB WHERE CHICKENS MUST BE PROTECTED FROM CATS

This run is 6x12 feet on the ground and 2 feet high, and is made with the
sides and ends hinged so that it can be folded up when not in use. That con-
struction works well while the hinges are new, but hinges not used soon rust
and become immovable. The best way to make this coop is with top and sides
and ends separate panels to be held together when in use by eight-penny fine
nails. Only ten or twelve nails are needed to make the coop stiff enough to
move about as desired, and a coop of this size is much easier to handle in
separate pieces.

make remarkable growth at the start. For stock birdsj
either for laying or breeding, the system that builds up a]
strong organism with power in every function is the best.
For growing poultry to be marketed at an early age the!
other method may be better.

The feeds are given on page 49 in the order in which
they are most commonly fed. It really makes no difference
about the order of the meals, except that, in general, the
chicks will show the best appetites for the feed in differ- '.
ent forms if hard and soft feeds are alternated. If john-
nycake is used instead of mash, or in place of mash and
of one other feed, the system instead of including two
soft and three hard feeds, would have three soft and two
hard feeds. This would be more desirable if commercial !
chick feeds were not used, or if the cracked corn obtain-
able were at all inferior in quality. It should not be as-
sumed that because small chicks will eat and will do well
on a ration that includes some feeds of grain as fed to
adult fowls, the matter of giving them things espe-
cially prepared for them can be entirely put aside. The
practical point is to strike a happy medium between the
common ration for mature poultry, and the methods of
chick feeding which call for different rations for the
chicks at every meal.

For chicks in confinement, or on limited range, both
green feed and animal feed should be provided from the
first. Many instructions for feeding chicks defer feeding
these things for a week or ten days, or even more, — giving
the impression that earlier feeding of them is detrimental.
Such opinions appear to have arisen from the common
piactice of postponing the giving of other than the "baby
feed" most easily obtained as long as it was possible for
the chicks to thrive on a limited diet. Before oat sprouting
came into general use, suitable green feed for early chicks
was extremely scarce. Poultry keepers used to grow a
little lettuce, or sprout a little grain in a small box, to
give the chicks an occasional taste of green feed, but the
amount so provided was generally insignificant in com-
parison with the wants of the chicks. Green feed being
so difficult to get, it was customary to put off feeding it
until the chicks were really suffering for want of it, and
then to give it more as a medicine than as a feed. When
we put chicks on good range in the
spring, giving them ideal conditions,
the ration we have discussed in detail
is supplemented from the start by
grass and other tender green feed in
considerable variety, and by worms
and insects. When there is not a
range for chicks that affords these
things, the poultry keeper must sup-
ply them as fully as is practical and
economical.

What is practical and economical
depends in part upon the circum-
stance and the purpose for which
poultry are grown, but also very
much upon the ingenuity of the poul-
try keeper, and his ability to secure
early and continuous supplies of
green feed from quite limited space
outdoors, in the season, in addition
to making use of the oat sprouter for
the earliest chicks. The writer has
seen as good chicks as were ever
grown under the most ideal condi-
tions produced year after year in
small bare yards, but at a cost in

FEEDING CHICKS FROM HATCHING TO WEANING

51

time and labor far beyond what was profitable when the
time could be used otherwise at any ordinary rate of
•compensation. In some cases this was judicious for the
poultry keeper gave only leisure time, but in -others in-
terest in the chickens and the determination to leave noth-
ing undone that would contribute to their perfect develop-
ment led to such neglect of a major occupation that the
net result was a steadily diminishing income from a regu-
lar occupation, which was not offset by the better results
secured from poultry.

While it is desirable to give chickens all possible ad-
vantages, it is useful to know that we can grow good
chicks — though not the best — without some of these ad-
vantages. Unstinted supplies of green feed are of great
benefit to growing chicks, but when they are not to be
had without extraordinary effort or expense we can grow
good chickens by giving them just enough to tone them
up a little and keep the digestive organs from suffering
the effects of a too-heavy grain ra-
tion. When this plan is followed the
effort should be to have small sup-
plies of green feed daily rather than
larger amounts at less frequent inter-
vals. The situation is greatly helped
by the use of clover or alfalfa meal
in mashes for the chicks. When these
articles are from hay that was cured
green and are really of first rate
quality they are a good substitute
for fresh green stuff. The problem
of supplying animal feed is much
simpler for the prepared meat feeds
are so highly concentrated that small
quantities will substitute for the ani-
mal feed commonly secured on range.

Feeding Chicks in Brooders
In feeding brooder chicks, with
rarely less than fifty in a lot, and
the ordinary small lot containing a hundred or more, and
the broods on large plants from two hundred to five hun-
dred or more, many things must be done quite differently
from the practices that will answer very well in handling
small broods with hens.

In the first place, the chickens have no mother to in
any way take an interest in them, and are in such num-
bers that even when they have some range they quickly
strip it of all edible things close to the brooder — which
range would supply a small brood with feed accessories
for an indefinite time. So the large group of chicks has
r.o inducement to keep busy looking for feed on the out-
side range near the brooder, nor does that land afford
them the variety it would to a few of their number. Where
a small brood of chicks could eat a fair meal of such
hard grains as are fed to older birds, and then busy
themselves picking up feed of various kinds on their range,
the large group — if fed grains that the chicks can "eat
•quickly — will get little else, and the chicks, being naturally
inclined to activity, and having so limited a variety of
feeds in the large grain, begin to pick at anything and
everything in their reach. They pick at each other, and if
a chick is listless and instead of resenting it or moving
away when picked submits to it until the others start the
blood, they soon kill it and develop the habit of canni-
balism which causes so much trouble sometimes in grow-
ing chicks in brooders.

If a chick is soiled about the vent, or if the down
anywhere is plastered together — as it sometimes is when
a chick does not dry off well at hatching, or when they

have access to milk or a soft, sticky mash, or any sub-
stance with which they become smeared while feeding on
it, that condition seems to tempt the chicks to peck at
each other and as soon as blood is drawn the victim be-
comes a prey of his little companions. Brooder chicks will
sometimes eat building paper when their coop is covered
either outside or inside with material of this kind that
they can nibble off. In general this does them no harm,
and if their ration is a concentrated one the paper they
take may be as beneficial in diluting it as the indigestible
fiber in any of the common feeds; but when chicks resort
to such practices, they do not stop with the destruction of
all paper within reach. That of itself is wasteful, for it
must be replaced at considerable cost of labor, if not of
material, but chicks with abnormal appetites and habits
are subject to all sorts of vices — cannibalism, feather-eat-
ing, eating droppings, etc.

The practical way to prevent these things is to keep

WIRE COVERED FRAME TO KEEP LARGE FOWLS FROM FEED

OF SMALL CHICKS
Photograph from U. S. Bureau of Animal Industry.

the chicks interested in their proper feed. This is done,
almost automatically, by giving the grain so finely broken
that even when it is fed in troughs the chicks have to
spend a good deal of time to fill their crops with it. With
such finely cracked feed the advantage of alternating hard
grain and soft feeds is not as apparent as when the grain
is fed in coarser form; and if the fine feed contains seventy
to eighty per cent of one grain — as corn or wheat, with
the remainder a variety of grains, some cracked peas, and
a little granulated meat scrap, chicks may be fed exclusive-
ly on this mixture, and a light supply of sprouted oats,
for the first two or three weeks. This is probably as
nearly a "fool-proof" method of feeding brooder chicks
as can be devised.

As the chicks grow larger, and are able to forage for
quite a long distance — after spring opens, there is not as
great need of giving feed in form that will keep them
busy, and they are also more indisposed to pick up the
fine particles. Then they are given a coarser mixture of
grains, commonly described as an intermediate chick feed,
and later on are given the ordinary mixtures as used for
adult poultry. The ages at which these changes are made
vary somewhat with different feeders. The list of rations
to be given farther on will show the different practices.

When homemade mixtures are fed, the variety in the
grains is usually more limited, and the poultry keeper
needs to give more care to the supplying of extras that
give more variety to the ration. The advantages of giving
some soft feed will usually be more marked when there is
little variety in the mixture of broken grain fed. Dry

52

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

mashes used for adult birds may be given to chicks, if
reasonably free from coarse meat scrap and from oat
hulls. For novices handling brooder chicks it is generally
safest to use either all dry feeds or to have the soft feeds
well cooked. Dry feeds tend to correct looseness of the
bowels which often results from chickens becoming too
warm or too cold, and which is likely to be increased
rather than diminished by the feeding of moist mash as
commonly prepared by inexperienced poultry keepers.
Those who wish to use moist mashes for brooder chicks
ought first to make themselves proficient in making moist
mashes that laying hens will eat freely, with good results
in egg production, and keep in continuous good condition.
When one can do that, he is warranted in trying moist
mashes on his chicks to secure the greatest consumption
of feed and the best growth. Until he has demonstrated
his skill with hens it is safer to omit moist mashes and
take the best results that can be obtained without them.
If the moist mash is not made right and used right, the
dry mash gives the highest average and most uniform
results and the least loss.

Where chicks are confined to the brooder house, or
have access only to yards so small that they do no more
than afford outdoor air and a little more room for ex-
ercise, they should have feed before them practically all
the time. The number of times it is necessary to give the
feed depends on the size of the brood and the arrange-
ments for feeding. It is possible with small broods to
arrange so that feeding and watering need be 'done only
once a day. That plan is not advised except for those who
grow only a few chicks, and who must be away from
home much of the time, and so can not give them close
attention. It involves risks of either shortage of feed or
waste in feeding that people who have to make their poul-
try pay do not habitually take. However, where it is
necessary to do this — either regularly or occasionally —
any method that places a sufficient supply of feed where
the chicks can get it will answer.

The covered feeding pans for dry mash, with holes
around the edge of the cover through which the chicks
can eat the mash; or troughs (for either dry mash or
fine-cracked grain), from which the chicks can feed, but in
which their droppings do not fall to any considerable
extent; and fine grain scattered in litter on the floor of
the brooder house, will provide feed accessible at all
times. With a drinking fountain of the size required for
a day's supply of water, all that the chicks need for
nourishment can be put in the house at one time. This
of course could be done for a flock of any size, but it is
not commonly done because when there is someone about
to attend to the chicks at intervals through the day it
is more satisfactory to give feed at several different times.

Where the feed will not lie more than a few hours
before being eaten it is not so necessary to protect it from
the droppings, for the greater part of it will be eaten
within a short time after it is given, and what remains is
mostly consumed before it has lain long enough to be
much fouled by contact with droppings and chickens'
soiled feet. -The longer feed lies exposed to such contacts
and to the air, the less appetizing it is, and if the supply
is liberal (as it must be when the intervals between feed-
ings are long) the tendency is for the chicks to scatter
it if possible, and to pick it over for the bits of meat in
it, or — apparently — sometimes in search of something
their ration lacks; for the instinct of the chick seems to
prompt it to do this. Exposure and picking the feed over
result in more or less waste, with less actual consumption
of feed than when it is given fresh from three to five

times a day. Also in feeding in vessels that protect the
feed from fouling, and in keeping a littered floor in the
right condition to protect the feed and compel a reason-
able amount of exercise, the time required for one feed-
ing is as much as for two or three feedings in open
troughs or on a sanded floor, or in a light litter.

Then again, the feeding is but one thing for which a
poultry keeper makes frequent rounds of his brooders.
The heaters must have attention twice daily, and may
need it oftener. Ventilation of the house is likely to call
for attention later in the morning and earlier in the eve-
ning than the regular hours for attending to heaters. The
potential value of the chicks far exceeds their actual
value — though in the case of a large stock of chicks that
is considerable; and to get the chicks started right means
much to the poultry keeper who depends upon them for
his living. Therefore, while they are small he considers
it good policy to keep such close watch over them that
nothing can be wrong for more than a short time without
being seen and put to rights. Taking this attitude of
watchfulness over his chicks the careful poultry keeper
does not regard five or even six feedings a day merely
as routine of feeding not absolutely necessary, but con-
siders the advantages of frequent feedings in connection
with the advantage of frequent inspections to make sure
that all is well.

A poultry keeper who takes this position — and most
experienced and successful growers of poultry on a large
scale do — will not adopt a definite schedule of meals
evenly dividing the day; but considering all occasions for
making the rounds of the brooders each day, will ad-
just some of the feedings to other necessary routine, and
as far as possible combine the tasks that there is occa-
sion to do at nearly the same time. In general, the larger
the broods of chicks the more necessary it is to watch
them closely. More things can go wrong in a large
brood; there are more chicks to "start something" which
ought to be stopped before the whole lot engage in it.
All the evils of chicks massing and crowding when fright-
ened or chilled increase with the size of the flock. A
poultry keeper who has had some disasters that would
have been either avoided or greatly mitigated had he been
promptly on the spot, learns to keep close watch on every-
thing relating to the welfare of his young chickens, and
in following this policy he finds it convenient to feed at
frequent intervals.

Brooder Chicks With Good Range

The advantages of close oversight of chicks in brood-
ers during the first few weeks cause most poultry keepers
who grow large numbers of chicks to prefer to have the
brooder houses quite close together while the chicks re-
quire heat, rather than to attempt to give the benefit of
range at this stage, though a good range may be avail-
able. They consider the saving in time in making each
round of the brooders in these few weeks as of more im-
portance than the extra work in providing green feed.
There are, however, many places where the number of
thicks reared each season can be handled in a single
brooder using a coal burning heater, or in a few such
brooders. When this is the case it may be entirely prac-
tical with certain easy restrictions, to give brooder chicks
much the same advantage of range that would be given
chicks with hens on the same land.

Small chicks in brooders cannot be allowed full
freedom to wander at will as may safely be done with
chicks whose hen mothers are cooped; but after
they are four or five days old they certainly should
be allowed the run of small yards at the brooder

FEEDING CHICKS FROM HATCHING TO WEANING

53

house. These may be either permanent yards, or tem-
porary enclosures used only for these few days. If the
house is to be kept always in the same location it is as well
to have permanent yards. If it is to be moved" -every sea-
son a temporary yard of movable panels, or simply of
inch-mesh poultry netting eighteen to twenty-four inches
wide, attached to short stakes driven into the ground,
may be used for the purpose. All that is needed is to keep
the chicks close to the house, where they can easily be
driven in if there is occasion to do so, until they have
learned to go to it for warmth when they feel cold, or
for safety if anything disturbs them. Once they are
broken to this they may be given unlimited freedom of
any place that would be safe for chicks with hens.

^Brooder chicks at liberty will require a little closer
watching at first than chicks with hens, for without the
note of the mother hen to recall them when they get a
few rods away, some chicks may wander so far from the
brooder that they will not get back by themselves. For
the first few days after chicks are given full liberty the
attendant should keep an eye on such stragglers. Usually
they wander off in small groups, and when they get more
than eight or ten rods from the house he should drive
them part way back to it. When driven back a few
times they usually will make their own way from any

Grain 40$

Good

Range
Small
Flocks

Range
Large
Flocks

Linitea
Range
Small
Flocks

Limited
Range
Large
Flocks

Bare
Yards.

Forage :-

Cracked Cora 2 pte.
Wheat 1 pt.

Mash 20$ Meat 15Jb Vegetables

| Grass, weej ds, seeds, bugs, worms ,
grain and vegetable) wastes.

I Bran

Cracked corn fine Spts.i
Cracked wheat 3 pts. |
Granulated oat meal 3
pts. After 3d week use
whole wheat and hulled
oats.

Bran 3 j. .
Corn Meal 5' pts.
Meat or Fislh scraps' I
{ 5 pte.

Sane as above, but
add at first, broken j
rice, cracked peas,
millet, or a mixture
of these, 1 pt.

| Same as ( above.

I i I

Same as above in who jle ration, ol r any goo Id standard
commercial mixed gra,ins and dry rmashes ma|y be used.
Special care must be given to sup plying gr leen feed and
animal feed.

DIAGRAM SHOWING GRAPHICALLY WHAT PROPORTIONS OF THEIR

FEED REQUIREMENTS CHICKS MAY GET BY FORAGING UNDER

DIFFERENT CONDITIONS, AND A STATEMENT OF WHAT

MUST BE SUPPLIED IN EACH CASE TO MAKE

A COMPLETE RATION

Explanation — The five equal rectangular figures represent the total feed
requirements, which are the same for all cases. The perpendicular dotted
lines divide all figures alike, proportionately to the ordinary percentages of
the different forms of feed to the whole ration. The black portions indi-
cate the proportion of their requirements which the chicks may supply by
foraging under the conditions specified. In the appropriate columns in the
white portions of the figures are given simple model rations, which with
the feed obtained by foraging will make a well-balanced ration. Pt. and Pts.
in the diagram mean parts by weight. The diagonals separating the white
and black portions of the figure are determined by joining the highest point
of supply for a large flock under the same conditions, taken at the
bottom of the figure. Thus in the upper figure: a very small flock, on good
range, might not need any feed given at all. A large flock would get all
the green feed and animal feed it needed (otherwise the range would not be
good) but would have to have some grain, and perh'aps a little dry mash.
A large flock on limited range, does not get enough In foraging -to make any
practical difference in the ration fed.

distance, but if occasionally one fails to do so, and is
lost, that should be accounted only an ordinary risk of
giving the chicks freedom and range, and the few losses
are more than made up in the better condition and thrift
of the whole flock, and in the relief of the attendant from
some of the more troublesome details of feeding. Brooder
chicks in flocks of two or three hundred could be given
good range on many farms without placing the brooder
house so far from the residence that attendance would be
inconvenient. In many cases several such colonies — oc-
casionally perhaps five or six of them, could be placed in
a circuit at no point far from the dwelling, yet with the
chickens ranging mostly on the area beyond their houses,
and thus foraging over a large area, while the attendant
in feeding- and caring for them had to make a compara-
tively small circuit. The principal obstacle to this on the
ordinary farm is that the land and range most convenient
for young chickens handled this way are commonly monop-
olized by the old stock. That indeed is the great obsta-
cle to the development of the poultry carrying capacity
of most general farms. Whenever a farmer adopts a sys-
tem of poultry keeping that puts his old stock on outlying
land during the season it can be outdoors, and leaves the
inner ranges for the young chickens during the first half
of the growing season, transferring most of them also to
outlying fields after they are about
half grown, the poultry capacity of
his farm will be greatly increased,
and he will find poultry one of the
most profitable branches of farming.

Special Rations For Brooder Chides

As stated in the discussion of com-
mercial poultry feeds in Chapter II,
the standard brands of commercial
mixed feeds are increasingly used for
young chickens because their quality
is more reliable than that of ordinary
supplies, and because to a great ex-
tent the manufacturers of these feeds
forestall others in buying the miscel-
laneous seeds most available for giv-
ing variety to mixed-grain rations.
When these standard goods are fresh
and their original quality unimpaired
they are usually the safest feeds to
use for brooder chicks, and when
fiesh supplies of these goods can be
obtained, the majority of large grow-
ers prefer them at least while the
chicks are small and confined to lim-
ited areas.

There are, however, two points in
connection with the use of commer-
cial feeds which make it advisable
for a poultry keeper to be sufficiently
familiar with the composition of good
homemade rations to be able to pre-
pare such from any material that may
be at hand should .the occasion arise.
Supplies of a good brand sometimes
fall short, either from an extraordi-
nary demand, or from delays in trans-
portation. Then it happens quite often
that a local dealer carries a surplus
over from one season to the next,
and either from long holding or from
storage under improper conditions
this becomes stale and injurious to

I Rape,

, lettuce, cab-
1 bage, eprout-
| ed cats.

54

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

chickens. A poultiy grower who finds a standard com-
mercial feed not giving its usual good results often er-
roneously concludes that the manufacturer is putting out
an inferior article, when the only trouble is that the par-
ticular lot he has is stale.

It is not always possible in such cases to get fresh
supplies at once. In any case of shortage a poultry keeper
should be able to- provide without delay a suitable sub-
stitute to use until fresh stock of the commercial feed he
uses arrives. There are also many cases where local grown
feeds of superior quality are available for the whole or a
part of a ration. In addition to these cases of necessity,
there are many poultry keepers to whom the details of
feeding are a matter of such interest that they prefer to
make their own feed mixtures, and like to try out any
ration reported as having given satisfactory results. So
while the tendency of the time is to an increasing use of
commeicial feeds, the considerations stated and the fact
that actual proficiency in poultry keeping requires some
familiarity with a variety of rations, make formulas for
homemade rations of geneial interest. The following se-
lection includes rations used in all localities and prac-
tically all desirable combinations.

Ration No. 1 — Model Variety Ration Recommended By the
United States Department of Agriculture

SCRATCH MIXTURE:

Cracked corn 5 pounds

Cracked wheat 2 pounds

Pinhead oatmeal or hulled oats 2 pounds

Broken rice, cracked peas, millet, rape,

or a mixture of these 1 pound

Feed morning', noon and night, scattered in chaff litter.
Peed middle of forenoon and afternoon, johnnycake
No. 1, page 43.

Give any tender green stuff, and keep constantly sup-
plied with fresh water.

Ration No. 2 — Ontario Agricultural College Ration

SCRATCH MIXTURE:

Cracked wheat : 25 pounds

Granulated oatmeal 15 pounds

Millet 12 pounds

Small cracked corn 10 pounds

Small cracked peas 6 pounds

Broken rice 2 pounds

Rape seed 1 pound

Grit (chicken size) 10 pounds

Peed five times a day for the first three days. Then
give three feeds of this a day; and one feed of bread and
milk — the bread being squeezed dry and crumbled; and one
of whole wheat, or a mash made of equal parts of bran,
shorts, and corn meal, to which has been added 10% of
animal meal or blood meal.

Give for green feed lettuce, rape, cabbage, or sprouted
grain.

Ration No. 3 — Cornell Ration for Chicks — (Determined As a

Result of Numerous Experiments With Different

Rations)

The Ration

Mixture No. 1:

8 Ibs. rolled oats.

8 Ibs. bread
crumbs or crack-
er waste.

2 Ibs. sifted meat
scrap.

1 Ib. bone meal.

Mixture No. 2:

3 Ibs. cracked

wheat.

2 Ibs. cracked
corn — fine.

1 Ib. pinhead oat-
meal.

Mixture No. 3:

3 Ibs. wheat bran.
3 Ibs. corn meal.
3 Ibs. wheat mid-
dlings.

3 Ibs. meat scrap.

1 Ib. bone meal.

Mixture No. 4:
3 Ibs. whole wheat

2 Ibs. cracked
corn.

1 Ib. hulled oats.

Provide fine grit, charcoal, shell, and bone from the
start. Give grass range or plenty of green feed. Have
fresh, clean water always available.

The Method

One to five days — Mixture No. 1,
moistened with sour skimmed milk,
fed five times a day; Mixture No. 2 in
shallow tray containing a little of No.
3 (dry), always before chicks. Shredded
green feed and fine grit and charcoal
scattered over feed.

Five days to two weeks — No. 2 in
light litter twice a day; No. 3 moist-
ened with sour skimmed milk, fed
three times a day; No. 3 (dry) always
available.

Two to four weeks — As above except
that the moist mash is given twice a
day.

Four to six weeks (or until chicks
are on range). Reduce meals of moist
mash to one a day; Mixture No. 4 In
litter twice a day; dry mash always
available.

•st

Ration No. 4 — New Jersey Kxperiment Station Ration

SCRATCH MIXTURE:

Fine cracked corn 40 pounds

Fine cracked wheat 40 pounds

Rolled oats 20 pounds

For the first two weeks feed four times a day, and also
keep wheat bran always before the chicks in open pans or
small feed hoppers.

After the second week feed the scratch mixture three
times a day, and substitute for the wheat bran the follow-
ing dry mash, to be kept before the chicks all the time:

Wheat bran 50 pounds

Gluten feed 10 pounds

Corn meal 10 pounds

Ground oats 10 pounds

Meat scrap 10 pounds

Granulated bone 10 pounds

Fresh water should be kept before the chicks at all
times and an abundance of succulent feed given.

Ration No. 5 — Ohio Agricultural College Ration

SCRATCH MIXTURE:

Fine cracked corn 60 pounds

Cracked wheat 40 pounds

MASH:

Corn meal :. 40 pounds

Wheat middlings 20 pounds

Wheat bran 20 pounds

Meat scrap 15 pounds

Bone meal 5 pounds

Feed the scratch mixture morning, noon, and night. The
mash may be fed either wet or dry. If fed wet give it in
the middle of the morning and of the afternoon. If fed
dry keep it before the chicks all the time. Give also water,
sour milk, green feed, grit, oyster shell.

Ration No. 6 — Massachusetts Agricultural College Ration

SCRATCH MIXTURE:

Cracked corn 10 pounds

Cracked wheat 10 pounds

Hulled oats 5 pounds

Cracked rice 2 pounds

Millet :. 1 pound

Feed three times a day. Twice a day give — for the fir
two weeks — a mash made of raw, infertile eggs mixed with
rolled oats and a little bran. Three eggs to one quart of
meal and bran is about the right proportion. After two
weeks give a wet mash consisting of one part each by
measure of wheat bran, corn meal, and middlings, and one-
half part of meat scrap. For green feed give lettuce, green
clover, lawn clippings, alfalfa, dandelions.

Ration No. 7 — Maine Kxperiment Station Ration

Infertile eggs are boiled for half an hour and then
ground in an ordinary meat chopper, shells included, and
mixed with about six times their bulk of rolled oats by rub-
bing both together. This mixture is fed for two or three
days. It is given with chick grit on the brooder floor on
short cut chaff or clover. Beginning about the third day
the chicks are fed this scratch mixture:

Cracked wheat 15 pounds

Granulated oatmeal 10 pounds

Fine cracked corrj 15 pounds

Fine cracked peas 3 pounds

» Broken rice 2 pounds

Chick grit (limestone) 5 pounds

Fine charcoal 2 pounds

This is fed as soon as the chicks can see to eat in the
morning, care being taken to limit the quantity so that they
will be hungry when the egg mash is fed at 9 a. m. This
mash is fed in tin plates with low rims. After about five
or ten minutes the plates are removed. At 12:30 the hard
grain mixture is fed again; at 4:30 or 5 o'clock they are fed
all the egg and rolled oats mash they will eat in half an
hour. When the chicks are abo_ut three weeks old the oats
and egg mixture is gradually displaced with this mash:

Wheat bran 2 pounds

Corn meal 4 pounds

Liow grade flour — 2 pounds

Linseed meal 1 pound

Fine meat scrap 2 pounds

This mash is mixed with just enough water to moisten
it. For green feed give sprouted oats.

Ration No. 8 — Wisconsin Kxperiment Station Ration

Give chicks sour skim milk in an earthenware fountain
when they are twenty-four hours old, keeping this before
them until they are seventy-two hours old; then give chick
feed in a litter of chopped clover or alfalfa. Scatter chick
feed over the litter at least five times a day. On the follow-
ing day and the day after give a light feed of moist mash
made of equal parts of corn meal, rolled oats, bran, and mid-
dlings, moistened with sour milk. Remove any mash that
is not eaten after ten or fifteen minutes. Continue this
mash for about three weeks, then gradually drop the rolled
oats from the ration, and add medium-sized corn a little at
a time as the chicks learn to eat it.

When the chicks are two weeks old a small hopper is
filled with a dry mash of two parts of ground corn, two of
bran, and one of middlings. Another hopper is filled with a
fine grade of meat scrap and the chicks have access to these
at all times. Green feed, grit and water are always before
them.

Ration No. 9 — Minnesota Kxperiment Station Ration

. SCRATCH MIXTURES:

a — Wheat 20 pounds

Cracked corn 20 pounds

Millet 10 pounds

FEEDING CHICKS FROM HATCHING TO WEANING

55

b — Cracked wheat 30 pounds

Cracked corn 30 pounds

Granulated oat meal 20 pounds

Feed one of the above mixtures three times a day. Twice
a day give one of the following mashes:
a — Equal parts, by weight, of finely ground corn, bran and

shorts, mixed crumbly with sour milk,
b — Hard-boiled eggs, mixed shell and all with four times

their weight of dry bread crumbs,
c — Johnnycake — One pint corn meal, one-half pint bran, one
teaspoonful meat meal, one egg, one teaspoonful soda;
mix with one-half pint of water and bake two hours.
Crumble this when feeding.

Give for succulent feed, when they cannot run outside,
finely chopped lettuce, a piece 'of potato, turnip, or beet.

Ration No. 10 — Purdue Experiment Station Ration

SCRATCH MIXTURE:

Fine cracked corn 2 pounds

Cracked wheat 2 pounds

Steel cut oats 2 pounds

This is fed five times a day for the first week. After
that the following mash is given — at first twice a day, but
after the chicks become accustomed to it, it is kept before
them all the time:

Bran 2. pounds

Shorts 2. pounds

Corn meal 2. pounds

Ground bone 8 pound

Charcoal 15 pound

Green feed, grit, and skim milk in abundance. Either
sprouted oats or chunks of sod used as green feed. As the
chicks approach weaning age cracked corn and whole wheat
are gradually substituted for the fine mixture.

Ration No. 11 — Oklahoma Experiment Station Ration

For the first few days give five times a day a mash of
hard-boiled eggs mixed with a little bran and charcoal.
After the first few days give two or three times a day the
following:

SCRATCH MIXTURE:

Cracked wheat : 10 pounds

Fine cracked corn 10 pounds

Steel cut oats 10 pounds

As the chicks grow older substitute for the egg mash
this dry mash:

Bran 10 pounds

Shorts 10 pounds

Corn meal 5 pounds

Meat scrap 5 pounds

Charcoal 2% pounds

Feed sour milk if available, giving the chicks all they
ill consume.

For succulent feed give sprouted grain, steamed alfalfa,
cabbage, or mangels.

» Ration No. 12 — Missouri University Ration
MIXED FEED:
Rolled oats 16 pounds
Bread crumbs 16 pounds
Boiled egg 2 pounds

Bone meal 1 pound

Run these through a meat chopper, cut very fine and
feed five times daily on a feeding board. Continue this for
a week, giving sour milk or buttermilk in addition to water
to drink. For a scratch mixture give a good chick feed.
After a week or ten days substitute for the above mixture
this dry mash:

Bran 10 pounds

Middlings 10 pounds

Corn meal 10 pounds

Fine meat scrap 5 pounds

A handful of bone meal to a pail of feed.
After the first week green feed such as cabbage, let-
tuce, etc., should be fed. The dry mash is kept always be-
fore the chickens, and one feed of the same mash moistened
is given daily about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. When the
chicks are three or four weeks old coarser grains such as
wheat, cracked corn, and kafir corn may be substituted for
the chick feed.

Ration No. 13 — Manitoba Agricultural College Ration

First feed — Bread soaked in milk, pressed dry, mixed
with hard-boiled egg and a little finely cut onion tops. Give
chick feed, scattered in litter or on the ground five times a
day, or in place of this wheat screenings and finely cracked
corn. After two weeks give this dry mash:

Corn meal 10 pounds

Low grade flour 10 pounds

Bran 10 pounds

Meat scrap 3 pounds

A little bone meal and powdered charcoal.
Feed this dry in a pan or trough twice a day. If desired
this mash may be used from the time the chicks are put
in the hover. If milk is available give in a drinking fountain.

Ration No. 14 — Michigan Experiment Station Ration

SCRATCH MIXTURE:

Millet 1 pound

Kafir corn 1 pound

Cracked wheat 2 pounds

Cracked corn 2 pounds

Pinhead oatmeal 2 pounds

Feed this scratch feed several times a day, in thin litter
at first, gradually increasing the depth of the litter as the
chicks grow until it is four or five inches deep. With thig
give, either moist or dry, the following mash:

I

Granulated milk 1 pound

Corn meal 1 pound

Bran 2 pounds

If sweet skim milk is obtainable the bran and meal
may be fed dry, the milk given as drink.

Ration No. 15 — North Carolina Experiment Station Ration

SCRATCH MIXTURE:

Cracked wheat 2 pounds

Fine cracked corn 1 pound

Oat meal l pound

Millet 1 pound

Feed four times a day, supplementing with one feed
of Johnnycake, baked thoroughly and then crumbled with
boiled egg in the proportions of one part egg to four of
johnnycake. After two weeks substitute a dish of meat
scrap for the bread and egg. Continue the fine grain mix-
ture until the chicks will readily eat the larger grain as
fed to fowls. If the chicks have all the milk they will drink
the meat scrap may be omitted.

Ration No. 16 — Montana Experiment Station Ration

SCRATCH MIXTURE:

Cracked wheat 15 pounds

Fine cracked corn 15 pounds

Fine cracked peas 15 pounds

Cracked barley (bald) 10 pounds

Broken rice 2 pounds

Chick gilt 5 pounds

Oyster shell (fine) 5 pounds

Crushed bone (fine) 5 pounds

Fine charcoal 2 pounds

For the first two days the chicks are given only a little
dry bran, in shallow pans, five times a day. After the sec-
ond day two of the feeds of bran are replaced with the
above mixture. Beginning with the third week the amount
of this is much increased, and the chicks are also allowed
free access to the following dry mash kept in hoppers:

Bran 10 pounds

Corn meal 10 pounds

Barley meal 10 pounds

Ground oats 10 pounds

Shorts 10 pounds

Meat scraps 10 pounds

Salt 20 ounces

Until out on range the chicks should have sprouted oats.
Water, oyster shell, grit, and charcoal are kept before them
all the time.

Ration No. 17 — Oregon Agricultural College Ration

a — First feed — Rolled oats, or bread crumbs soaked in
milk, or finely cracked wheat and corn. For the first day
keep the rolled oats, or whatever is fed, before them all
the time, but after they have learned to eat, better results
will be obtained by feeding four or five times a day all they
will clean up in a short time. Cheaper feeds may be sub-
stituted after the first few days. Cracked corn or cracked
wheat, or both, should form the basis of the grain ration.
The chicks must also have animal feed, green feed, and grit.
Skim milk is hardly concentrated enough to furnish the
necessary animal feed. Milk is . better fed clabbered, or
made into cottage cheese. A daily feed of wet mash is ben-
eficial; good results, however, are obtained by the use of
dry feeds alone, if the chicks are well supplied with green
feed.

b — First day give milk to drink — preferably sour milk
unless it is certain that sweet milk will be regularly avail-
able. The morning of the second day start feeding a grain
mixture as follows:

Fine cracked corn 7 pounds

Steel cut oats 2 pounds

Cracked wheat 1 pound

If the other grains are not available corn alone may
be used, or to secure variety a good grade of commercial
chick feed. Feed the grain five times daily, keeping the
chicks a little hungry until the last feed at night, when
they should have all they can eat. If infertile eggs are
available they may be soft boiled and mixed with bran to a
crumbly mixture, and fed once or twice a day in place of
grain, preferably about noon, giving as much as they will
clean up in fifteen minutes. As soon as they have learned
to scratch for the grain, increase the depth of the litter in
which it is fed. Feed green feed once daily. Keep fine grit
and granulated bone always before them in hoppers. In
the second week gradually reduce the number of grain feeds
until they are getting only three a day; and substitute for
the bran a mash as follows:

Bran 3 pounds

Snorts or middlings '. 2 pounds

Keep this before them in hoppers. Moist ma--.h may be
substituted for the noon grain feed if desired. If milk, is
not available add 12 per cent of meat scrap to the mash.

Ration No. 18 — Washington Agricultural College Ration

SCRATCH MIXTURE:

Any standard chick feed, or the following home mixture:
Cracked corn, milo ihaize, or

Egyptian corn 4 pounds

Steel cut oats 4 pounds

Cracked wheat 1 pound

Cracked peas 1 pound

Feed every two hours altern." ling with the grain feed:

Oat flakes 1 pound

Boiled egg % pound

Chick grit or sand 4 tablespoons

Charcoal 4 tablespoons

56

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

On the second day supply a bran mash in shallow pans as
follows:

Wheat bran 8 pounds

Bone meal ' 4 pounds

Medium sand 4 pounds

Charcoal 1 pound

After eight or nine days discontinue the oatmeal mash and
substitute the following:

Wheat bran 12 pounds

Shorts 3 pounds

Ground oats 6 pounds

Alfalfa meal 3 pounds

Soy bean meal 1 pound

Bone meal 2 pounds

Meat or fish meal 1 pound

Charcoal 3 pounds

Feed sprouted oats, fine cut clover, or lawn
clipping's.

Ration Xo. 19 — California Experiment Station Ration

SCRATCH MIXTURE:

Wheat 20 pounds

Granulated oats 15 pounds

Millet 5 pounds

Rice 2 pounds

Cracked corn 6 pounds

Grit 10 pounds

Charcoal 5 pounds

Bone meal 5 pounds

The ingredients in this mixture are used at first very
fine. After about ten days coarser wheat and oats are given,
the amount being gradually increased until no small chick
feed is used. Then whole wheat and coarser cracked corn
are added and the amounts of these gradually increased un-
til at six or seven weeks they are the only grains fed.

After the eighth to tenth day a mash is used, which is
not always of the same composition, variations being made
to suit the availability and cost of feeds. The two follow-
ing are recommended as equally satisfactory:

a — Bran 3 pounds

Shorts ; 2 pounds

Coarse corn meal 1 pound

Oatmeal 1 pound

Meat meal -....1A pound

Bone meal • % pound

Charcoal % pound

b — Bran 4 pounds

Alfalfa meal 2 pounds

Corn meal 1 pound

Meat meal *4 pound

Bone meal 14 pound

Charcoal % pound

These mashes are fed either dry or moist.

Ration No. 20 — Kansas Experiment Station Ration

SCRATCH MIXTURE:

Corn chop (sifted) 2 pounds

Cracked kafir corn 2 pounds

Cracked wheat 2 pounds

Millet .'. 1 pound

This is fed in litter five times a day for the first few
days, after that three times a day. After a few weeks
whole wheat and larger cracked corn are substituted for
the small grains. The following dry mash is kept before
the chicks all the time:

Corn meal 2 pounds

Shorts 2 pounds

Bran 2 pounds

Meat scrap 2 pounds

Charcoal % pound

These foregoing rations have been taken mostly from
recent bulletins, though in a few cases where recent bul-
letins either do not give specifications as recommended for
a state, or give one or more of the rations for other
states as given above, the writer has gone to publications
of eight or ten years back for rations as recommended
especially for the locality. As a matter of fact, no import-
ant changes in chick feeding practice have occurred in the
past decade — except changes in individual practice. The
popularization of the use of dry mashes, which took place
in the early years of this century made the only consider-
able change in methods of chick feeding that has taken
place since the development of artificial hatchers and
brooders made it possible to handle chicks in large num-
bers. All rations — probably — that have been used at ex-
periment stations and 'colleges were first used by practi-
cal commercial poultrymen, but in general the statements
oi practical poultrymen of their methods of feeding are
not specific as to amounts, while the educator or investi-
gator ascertains either by measurements of ingredients in
commercial poultry keepers' rations, or by experimenting
with the ingredients he recommends in various propor-
tions, the ordinary average composition of the ration he

uses. The great value of formulas given by educational
and experimental workers is that they supply definite
standards as bases for feeding. A superficial comparison
of the twenty rations here given, however, will show any
person that no fine balancing of ingredients is necessary.
If that were so we would not find dissimilar rations used
in near-by states with the same climate and general con-
ditions, and similar rations used in widely separated
states with very different climatic conditions. Some states
not represented here were omitted because the rations
their experiment stations recommend are those that have
been popularized by institutions in the above list. Men
trained in an institution in one section and taking charge
of work in an institution in a different section" are apt to
take with them the methods they learned, and if they are
not themselves adaptable they may at first urge the meth-
ods they know best, though the practice of good local
poultrymen would indicate certain modifications of it as
desirable for that locality. The thing that most affects
the acceptance of particular formulas for feeding in many
localities remote from the institutions at which they have
been worked out is the completeness of detail in the de-
scription of a feeding method. In other words, the better
an educator does his peculiar part of giving the public in-
struction, the more widely his ideas will be accepted, re-
gardless of the fact that many other formulas, not so
well piesented may be just as good, and some may be bet-
ter for particular localities and conditions.

The reader will note that in some of the rations given
above, gradual changes to suit the age of chicks, or to
use more economical feeds are indicated, and that these
changes obviously are not made in accordance with care-
ful computations of the chemical values of the feeds used,
but are such changes as a practical feeder would make
on practical judgment of the commonly known properties
of feeds. Also in using any formula, the quality of arti-
cles in it — as they can be obtained — must be considered,
and if an article is of poor quality, the standard of the
ration as a whole must be kept up by increasing the quan-
tity of something of higher nutritive value. It is the in-
tention always to avoid the use of inferior articles, espe-
cially for brooder chicks, yet there are times when a
poultry keeper has to use them to a limited extent because
of inability to get sufficient supplies of the desired quality.

In general a poultry keeper may be sure that a ration
tljat gives satisfactory results at an agricultural college
or experiment station in his section is a good ration for
him to use. Comparison of the rations recommended by
various institutions also should show him that if for any
reason a ration recommended especially to poultry keep-
ers of his state is not as available, or as economical as
some other ration, he not only has a wide range of choice
in rations recommended by other institutions, but the
whole list of standard commercial mixtures is used suc-
cessfully in nearly every part of the country, their dis-
tribution being governed not by their peculiar adapt-
ability to certain localities, but by costs of transportation.

Some Chick Rations Used and Recommended by Prac-
tical Poultry Growers

Ration No. 21 — Henry D. Smith's Ration

Peed five or six times a day any good commercial chick
feed, alternated with feeds of dry mash or beef scrap. For
dry mash use a mixture of bran shorts and corn meal, equal
parts by measure. Feed beef scrap separately in troughs
once or twice a day, giving the chicks what they will clean
up in a few minutes. After the chicks are three or four
wee"ks old the chick feed is largely discontinued, and with
the dry mash and scraps still given as described, they are
fed a scratch mixture consisting of two parts cracked corn,
one part cracked wheat, and one part hulled oats. Water is
kept before them all the time in small pans, fed by auto-
matic faucets. For green feed, cut clover is used.

FEEDING CHICKS FROM HATCHING TO WEANING

57

Ration No. 22 — H. J. Blanehnrd's Ration

First few days feed granulated oatmeal four times a
day and give water — not too cold. Then begin gradually
working- them on a diet of cake alternated with cracked
wheat. The cake is made of ground oats (hulls -sifted out),
corn meal and bran, about equal parts by measure, with a
little high-grade beef scraps mixed in while dry. The mix-
ture is moistened with milk, salted as for the table, leavened
with soda, and baked. As the chicks grow older the amount
of beef scrap is gradually increased. Just as soon as we
can vet fresh grass or clover it is fed daily, cut in one-
eighth inch lengths. Chard, lettuce, and beet tops are also
used.

Ration No. 23 — James Rankin's Ration

Start with bread crumbs and hard boiled egg chopped
fine one part of egg to five parts of bread, with plenty of
fine grit mixed in. After three days give equal quantities
of wheat bran and corn meal with a little fine beef scraps,
and one feed each day of rolled oats and cracked corn. As
they grow older give clabbered milk, boiled potatoes and
green grass daily.

Mr. Rankin, who was one of the most skillful poultry-
men in America, once grew four hundred Brahmas to four
or five months age, in a yard only six rods square, using
this ration the greater part of the time, but toward the
last feeding whole corn and giving finely cut corn fodder
for green feed.

Ration No. 24 — W. D. Rudd's Ration

First two weeks — crumbled johnnycake and granulated
oats, dry; with green feed and powdered charcoal always
before them. After two weeks give also whole or broken
wheat and cracked corn. At three weeks begin to give
moist feed, stale bread soaked in sweet milk, thickened with
corn meal — meal about one-half of the whole. At four
weeks discontinue granulated oats, and keep cracked corn
always before the chicks.

Ration No. 25 — J. A. DeMar's Ration

First feed Spratt's chick meal, alternated with rolled
oats, cut oatmeal and fine cracked corn, with sweet milk
in one fountain and water in another. Feed in this way
about three weeks, then put them on a mash made of two
parts corn meal, and one part shorts, with a little beef scrap
and some grit. This is fed once a day, just what they will
eat up clean. They are fed the first two weeks about five
times a day, after that three or four times. After the chicks
are three w'eeks old cracked corn, wheat and barley are sub-
stituted for the oatmeal and Spratt's feed. From the time
the chicks are .a week old they are fed cabbage and mangels.

Ration No. 26 — P. R. Park's First Dry Feed Ration

Two bags of corn to one bag of the best wheat, well
mixed and ground to about the size of a pinhead, and fed
dry in a dish or hopper, also a dish of the best beef scrap,
kept constantly before the chicks from the time they are
hatched. These, with water or milk to drink — milk preferred,
form the entire diet on range which provides only limited
green feed.

This ration is of special interest because ,its use marked
the beginning of the dry feeding movement. It was first
used by Mr. Park in 1897, and first published by him in a
symposium on feeding in Farm-Poultry, April, 1901.

The six rations last given are typical of good prac-
tice among poultry keepers who worked out rations by
trying them out, and worked with rough measurements,
and varied rations from time to time according to their
judgment, before educational methods demanded more
exact specifications for feeding. Ration No. 24, taken from
a circular of 1897, was probably used as there given from
about 1872.

Observations on Some Features of Common Chick
Rations.

The reader studying the rations that have been given
will note here and there insistence by some authorities
upon points which others regard as immaterial, and also
that there are some recommendations of the author of this
book with which various authorities appear to disagree.
A case in point is the use of hard-boiled eggs. Probably
three-fourths of the instructions for feeding young chick-
ens strongly advise the use of hard-boiled eggs. Every one
knows that in cooking eggs for the table one egg may be
boiled hard yet be tender and easily digestible, and an-
other boiled in a different manner may be tough and in-
digestible. There is no doubt that eggs can be hard-boiled
so that they will be all right for young chickens; there is
equally no doubt that the greater part of the eggs cooked
as first feeds for young chickens, being stale to begin with,
and boiled with no attention to any point but thorough-
ness of boiling, are quite unsuitable for this purpose. The

writer early in his commercial poultry keeping experience
quit hard-boiling eggs for chicks because he preferred to
use them in johnnycake, and if he had any not used in
that way, it was much easier to make raw mashes with
them. He had no particular trouble attributable to hard-
boiled eggs. But after he engaged in journalism, and was
often called upon to advise poultry keepers who were
having trouble with their young chickens, he found that
the feeding of hard-boiled eggs was one of the most
common causes of indigestion in young chickens, and was
not generally suspected as the cause, for the simple rea-
son that nearly all authorities classed it as one of the
best feeds, and it was often fed without any bad results.
Whenever there is trouble with chicks that are given
hard-boiled eggs freely, and no other plain cause for it
can be found, it is reasonably safe to advise the poultry
keeper that if the hard-boiled egg is cut out the trouble
will promptly disappear.

Another case in point is the use of meat meals and
meat scraps,, bone meal, and charcoal in liberal propor-
tions in mash mixtures, especially in moist mashes. Many
of the formulas recommended contain more of these
things than chicks with normal appetites are likely to
relish as continuous diet. In dry feeding this may not
do much harm, or may do no harm, because the chicks
can pick the mash over and to some extent select their
diet. They can reject an excess of charcoal, and fine bone
meal, being heavier than other ingredients, works to the
bottom of the pan or hopper and much of it is eventually
thrown away. Much more meat can be eaten without bad
results in a dry mash than in a moist one. But even a dry
mash may be rendered unpalatable by an excess of bone
and charcoal, or dangerous by an excess of highly con-
centrated animal feed, and in the latter case the normal
appetite leads the chick to stop eating the mash when the
taste of meat in it is no longer agreeable, with the result
that it takes much less of the other things in the mash
than it was intended to take. So whenever in feeding one
of these dry mashes with heavy proportions of meat,
bone meal and charcoal, the chicks seem not to relish the
mash, the best thing to do is to cut out the bone and
charcoal entirely for a few days, and greatly reduce the
meat scrap. Then experiment a little with smaller propor-
tions of the bone meal and charcoal to determine what
the chicks want, or — better still — simply provide these ac-
cessories in separate receptacles so that the chicks can
eat them at will.

The reader examining the rations given will also note
conflicting instructions and opinions in regard to the use
of milk in different forms. It is apparent that some poul-
try keepers feed milk in any form without any bad effects,
and that others get better results from sour milk th in
from sweet, and that some can use either regularly, but
cannot change abruptly from one to the other. These dif-
ferences are due either to other things in the ration or to
the fact that milk in a particular form does not agree with
certain stock, or perhaps to a tendency to indigestion ac-
companying some weakness originating in wrong temper-
ature, or in the effect of contaminated land. No one can
say with certainty on a statement of the ration, what other
cause may affect results of feeding it, but most practical
poultry keepers of wide- experience know that thoroughly
rugged and hearty chicks are not upset by little things of
.this kind and that there is always, in such cases, some
condition which should be remedied for the general good
of the flock.

How Much to Feed Chicks
Instructions for feeding chicks generally advise the

58

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

novice to regulate the amount given by the appetites of
the chicks. This seems to the novice quite unsatisfactory.
He would like definite statements of quantities to feed a
given number of chicks. It should be definitely understood
that chicks cannot be fed by the scales; but, understanding
that, knowledge of what a particular lot of chicks re-
quired*, or of average requirements of a given number of
chicks will enable a beginner to judge whether his chicks
are eating about a normal ration. The Washington Ex-
periment Station has worked this out for 100 average
chicks fed the ration numbered 18 on page 55. The fol-
lowing statement is an abstract from their report.

Second Day — First Feed:

11:30 A. M. — 1 oz. oatmeal mixture.
2:30 P. M. — 1 oz. oatmeal mixture.
4:00 P. M. — 1% oz. oatmeal mixture.
At dusk — iy2 oz. oatmeal mixture.

Third Day:

Daylig-ht — 1 oz. oatmeal mixture.
10:00 A. M. — 1 oz. oatmeal mixture.
12:00 Noon — 1 oz. oatmeal mixture.
2:00 P. M. — l1/^ oz. oatmeal mixture.
4:00 P. M. — 1% oz. oatmeal mixture.
Dusk — 2 oz. chick feed.

Fourth Day:

8:00 A. M. — 2 oz. oatmeal mixture.
10:00 A. M. — 2 oz. chick feed.
12:00 Noon — 2 oz. oatmeal mixture.
2:00 P. M. — 2 oz. chick feed.
4:00 P. M. — 2 oz. oatmeal mixture.
Dusk — 3 oz. chick feed.
Night — 2 oz. chick feed for first feed next morning.

Fifth Day:

8:00 A. M. — 2 oz. oatmeal mixture.
10:00 A. M. — 3 oz. chick feed.
12:00 Noon — 3 oz. oatmeal mixture.
2:00 P. M. — 3 oz. chick feed.
4:00 P. M. — 2 oz. oatmeal mixture.

Dusk — Observe crops of chicks and give chick feed

if needed.
Night — 2 oz. chick feed.

Sixth Day:

8:00 A. M. — 3 oz. oatmeal mixture.
10:00 A. M. — 3 oz. chick feed.
12:00 Noon — 3 oz. oatmeal mixture.
2:00 P. M. — 3 oz. chick feed.
4:00 P. M. — 4 oz. oatmeal mixture.

DUSk — 4 Oz. chick feed — more if needed for fair-
ly full crops.
Night — 4 oz. chick feed.

Seventh and Eighth Days:

8:00 A. M. — 3 oz. chick feed.
10:00 A. M. — 4 oz. oatmeal mixture.
12:00 Noon — 4-oz. mash.
2:00 P. M. — 4 oz. chick feed.
4:00 P. M. — 4 oz. mash.

Dusk — 5 oz. chick feed.

Ninth Day:

8:00 A. M. — 4 oz. chick feed.

10:00 A. M. — 4 oz. chick feed.

12:00 Noon — 5 oz. mash.

2:00 P. M. — 5 oz. chick feed.

4:00 P. M. — 6 oz. chick feed.

Night— 4 oz. chick feed.

It should be noted that in addition to these definite
amounts given at definite times the chicks have a bran mash
always accessible, hence the amount they eat is probably
always a little in excess of the above quantities.

The amount of feed consumed at first is so small that
inexperienced feeders are apt to make the .mistake of in-
creasing the amount given too slowly, leaving the chicks
somewhat underfed. For this reason as well as to insure
that chicks can always have something when hungry it
i? good policy, no matter whether a particular ration that
may have been selected calls for it or not, to keep a light
dry mash always before the chicks. If this is consumed
Quickly, and the chicks seem quite hungry for it, the
quantity given at each regular feed should be increased
until the chicks will only take an occasional nibble at the
permanent dry mash.

Relation of Ration to Purpose in Feeding

Up to weaning age the same ration will serve for al
chicks regardless of the particular use to which they are
to be put. There is no perceptible advantage in making
adjustments of rations with a view to the special object
for which the chicks are grown, because the practical way
to handle chicks is to give all the ration suited for normal
development up to this age, and in the next stage separate
them according to quality and apparent capacity for de-
velopment and then apply the rations and treatment suited
to different purposes. This will be taken up in detail in
the next chapter. The period considered in this chapter,
from hatching to weaning, should be considered a general
preparatory period in which each individual chick shows
its capacity to respond to and profit by good feeding and
management.

It is commonly said that the first three weeks are the
most critical period in the life of a chick, and that chicks
that survive after the third week can usually be raised.
While it is true that losses are ordinarily most numerous
in the first two or three weeks, it is a mistake to suppose
that the necessity for careful management is diminished
after the chicks reach that age. Relaxation of care in the
latter half of the brooding period probably stunts as
many chickens, that up to that time were normal, as are
lost outright in the first few weeks. Many poultry keepers
discontinue heat in brooders too soon, thinking it econo-
my to save coal even at the risk of chilling the chicks. It
is always wiser to have heat that the chicks can get to if
they feel the need of it, than to take chances of their be-
coming chilled. Until settled warm weather comes, chicks
need some heat until well covered with feathers. Failure
to supply it has much to do with apparent inefficiency of
rations. Also after the chick is eating coarse feed freely
it should still have more meals than old birds get. The
poultry keeper who wants to grow really good chicks
should make it a point to feed them all they will eat, and
to reduce the number of feedings only as the chicks be-
come indifferent to the extra feeds.

I

f

CHA PTE R VI

Feeding Chicks From Weaning to Maturity

Relation of Conditions to Development For Different Purposes — Model Rations For Growing Chickens — Cultivation

of Good Habits in Feeding — Use of Green Feeds and Milk in Hot Weather — Average Normal

Weights of Various Breeds at Different Ages — Amount and Cost of Feed

Required to Produce a Pound of Poultry Meat

WHEN chicks have been reared to weaning age
with hens, each hen having from ten or twelve
to perhaps eighteen or twenty chicks, it is
usual to combine broods when the hens are taken away,
and to put the chicks in lots of a few dozen in roosting
coops three or four feet wide by six to eight feet long, —
coops that can be easily moved about by two men. When
the chicks are started in small brooders the same course
may be followed, but a brooder lot of chicks will per-
haps be enough for a single roosting coop, or the chicks
from a brooder of medium capacity, — divided according to
sex — may make two lots for two roosting coops. Nearly
always when hens or small brooders are used, operations
are on a scale or a system that uses roosting coops of
relatively mall size and capacity for the growing chicks.

When chicks are brooded in lots of two or three
hundred and upward, they usually are divided at this age
into much smaller flocks, especially if there is land
available to give them good range, and it is desired to
make the best possible use of this advantage. It must be
kept in mind that the nature of chickens is to range only
within a comparatively short radius from their coops, and
that while hunger will naturally make them forage a lit-
tle farther when in such large flocks that the feed on the
range they would normally use is soon exhausted, they
will not as a rule go enough farther to make it practical
to get the same benefit from range for flocks of a hun-
dred or more with the houses at long distances that would
be obtained for flocks of from fifty to seventy-five or
eighty at much shorter distances.

Practically the only poultry growers who give large
stocks of chickens range enough to get all the advantages
of range are the large breeders of exhibition poultry.
Not all of these fully realize that purpose, but all get a
great deal of the advantage of range, and many get all
of it. Those who can give less range
than they wish are invariably careful
to feed so as to make up what the
range lacks, and some with the best of
range conditions make doubly sure
that the growing chicks will lack noth-
ing, by giving them additional vege-
table and animal feed. Most small
breeders of choice exhibition stock
give their growing chicks good range,
limiting the numbers reared as neces-
sary in order to do so, but there are
still many who grow some exhibition
stock of good quality in limited quar-
ters and on land that produces no
vegetation to speak of for them. The
greatest difficulty in growing chickens
for exhibition purposes under such
conditions is to secure intensity of
color in sections that tend to be weak,
and a luster and finish in the plumage
that make much of the difference be-

tween the top-notcher and the second-rate specimen

In all daik-colored birds grown under intensive
conditions, it is difficult to get wing flights free from
white, or to prevent white from appearing in small
amounts where it is not wanted. Even in birds that have
a great deal of white in the plumage, as the "ermine"
type of color of the Light Brahmas and other varieties
with the same markings, birds that are not grown on
good range or liberally supplied with everything needed
for their highest development will be likely to show
much more white than is desirable in black sections and
the black in them generally will be dull and lusterless.
White varieties are better suited than any others for
growing under such conditions, yet the breeder who fan-
cies a variety especially subject to the development of
plumage faults when grown under conditions that make
such faults hard to avoid, will usually find that, by avoid-
ing overcrowding and giving his stock the best of atten-
tion, he produces birds fully equal to those grown by the
majority of small breeders who have fairly good range
and other favorable conditions for their growing chicks,
and — relying upon these — are careless about providing at
all times the things necessary for the best development
of their chicks.

While it is always gratifying to a poultry keeper to
produce stock of the highest possible excellence, failure
fully to reach the best development is not an unbearable
hardship to those who enjoy producing fine birds, and
must indulge this taste under conditions that are more
or less adverse to it; nor is it in any way particularly
disadvantageous except to those who exhibit in the
strongest competition and breed to sell to the most cri-
tical buyers. Most of the stock to be used for ordinary
breeding purposes, whether for standard stock, for eggs,
or for the table at maturity, can be grown in good quality

COOPS FOR GROWING CHICKS ON RECENTLY CLEARED LAND AT THE
GOVERNMENT POULTRY FARM, BELTSVILLE, MD.

60

KOW TO FRED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

on a range that affords exercise, and the sun and shade
as desirable, though it affords little feed. Even with the
lack of feed from the land, freedom to move about, the
absence of restrictions, the opportunity to seek out the
most comfortable places at different times, and the better
sanitary condition of the land make for the growth of
much better stock on poor range than in small yards.

In growing chickens for breeding purposes the aim
should always be to get approximately standard size and
weight at the age at which the breed should mature. In
growing chickens for market or for egg production only,
it does not, as a rule, make so much difference about
getting full development, and it may be fore profitable,
through the economy in labor and equipment, to use
methods by which a greater number of birds are grown
to the development that suits their
use as layers or for the table at less
cost than when they are handled to
secure the best individual develop-
ment. In general, to secure the highest
individual development it is necessary
to keep chickens in quite small flocks.
One of the principal reasons why so
few who try them are able to grow
Asiatic fowls to full standard size is
that to do this at all uniformly they
must be kept in small flocks, not more
than twenty-five or thirty together.
When they are grown on a large scale
for market and kept in flocks of from
fifty to a hundred or more under the
conditions, as to range, which usually
exist on somewhat intensive commer-
cial poultry plants, they do not make
full development, but they make as
large chickens as the market requires,
and they are grown more economically,
— that is, more pounds of meat are
produced at less cost, than when
grown to get the best individual de-
velopment possible.

Similarly, in growing pullets for egg
production only, pullets that are from
standard-weight stock and are them- NEAR VIEW OP
selves a pound or so under weight,
may lay as many eggs and as large eggs as their sisters of
full weight or over. And a hundred of the pullets slightly
undersize might be grown in the same quarters and with
no more attention than would be required to bring froin
half to two-thirds of that number to full development.
That means that 1000 pullets for laying only can be grown
from weaning age at the same cost for everything but
feed, as about 600 pullets for breeding purposes.

So when the chickens are weaned it is policy, espe-
cially for those who are limited as to land, room, and
equipment, to separate them according to the purpose
for which they are to be used. Those that are to produce
future generations should be given the care that will make
for the best individual development, and the others, — ac-
cording to the use to which they are to be put — should
have conditions, care, and feed that will make them most
profitable. This assortment of chicks ought to be made
wherever the number grown is large enough to use more
than one roosting coop for chicks weaned at about the
same time. Many poultry keepers with comparatively
small flocks neglect to do it, thinking that it is just as
well -to let all grow together and separate at maturity

those that are desirable as breeders. The objection to
this practice, where chicks are at all crowded or restricted
tor range, is that the most promising chicks for breeders
are not given the best chance to develop, but are only
allowed to show the best they can do under conditions
less favorable than could have been provided for them
with a little effort on the part of the keeper.

While, as has been said, good work with chicks often
gives good chickens under rather unfavorable conditions,
the poultry keeper ought not to take the chances of that
any farther than is necessary or plainly profitable — as
when birds that are not the best in actual quality are
yet good enough for a particular purpose. And above all
he should make every effort to give birds he wishes to
breed from, the best conditions that his circumstances

ONE OF THE COOPS IN SCENE ON THE OPPOSITE PAGE

permit. Failure to do this hastens the deterioration of
stock which commonly takes place whenever the meth-
ods or the conditions are against full development of in-
dividual specimens. At best it is hard to grow breeding
stock year after year without good range, and continue
to keep up the size and stamina. The first generation of
chicks grown in confinement from stock that was pre-
viously range grown, is often as good or better than the
parent stock. With good feeding in confinement, and
plenty of room in the house, the birds so raised may be
larger than their parents, and the hens probably will be
as good or better layers.

But when this stock is bred from, it will nearly al-
ways appear that it lacks something of the vitality of its
ancestors, and if it is bred year after year without bring-
ing in the blood of stock grown under more natural and
favorable conditions it soon becomes greatly deteriorated.
Because this deterioration is not much in evidence until
the second generation grown under conditions not favor-
able to full individual development, many novices grow-
ing stock under such conditions are misled. They sup-
pose that the fact that they grew the stock apparently as

FEEDING CHICKS FROM WEANING TO MATURITY

61

well as it could possibly be grown under certain condi-
tions one year is positive proof that the conditions are in
no way unfavorable, and believing that the conditions are
all right, and that the stock — as shown by its develop-
ment in the first season — is all right, they take it for
granted that if the chickens do not thrive, and fall far
short of the expected development, the trouble must be
with the feed. If they have been mixing the feeds them-
selves they suppose that one or more ingredients are of
inferior quality, and perhaps detrimental. Usually they
blame the meat scrap. If they have been buying a pre-
pared feed they become positive that the manufacturer is
putting out an inferior article. They begin to try other
feeds in a search for one that will do the impossible. Na-
turally they do not find one.

Thousands of poultry keepers are never able to
establish a satisfactory stock because they do not take
the trouble to pick out the best of their chicks at wean-
ing age and either give them conditions under which they
will make their best possible development on the same
ration that the rest of the chicks get, or give them the
special care and feeding that will give the best develop-
ment under the conditions under which all chicks are kept.
It cannot be expected that the stock birds, as they are
grown on plants which have to grow them under some-
what intensive conditions, can be kept to a development
and vitality that is so good that there is no occasion for
frequent introductions of stock grown under more favor-
able conditions; but, by growing as many birds as he
needs for breeding purposes under the best conditions
he can give them, a poultry keeper who is limited for
room keeps his breeding stock where a little new blood
occasionally will prevent any marked deterioration.

We have then to consider the following classifications
of chickens at weaning time in their relation to subse-
quent feeding practice: —

A — Chickens that are to be used for exhibition or
for sale in exhibition quality, and which must be as free
from every fault, and as superior in every quality as
it is possible to make them.

B — Chickens that are to be used for minor exhibi-
tions or breeding ordinary standard specimens, and
which must be well developed and vigorous, but not
necessarily free from the superficial faults which may re-
sult from failure to apply the highest skill in feeding or
to supply the environment most favorable to development.

C — Chickens that are to be grown for layers, and
which may without prejudice to their value for that pur-
pose be somewhat below the standard size and weight
for their breed.

D — Chickens that are to be used for the table, either
as broilers, fryers, or roasters, and in the growing of
which the development of constitution and stamina need
not be considered at all, farther than that they must have
constitution and digestive power enough to keep them
growing well with heavy feeding for the period required
in any particular case.

E — Chickens that at weaning age are plainly not
profitable feeders for any of the above purposes.

It is not necessary in practice to make all these divi-
sions at this stage. Class A may be considered as a
special class which ordinarily would not be divided ex-
cept perhaps by sex, for being from stock carefully select-
ed for quality for many generations only a small per-

centage— the marked culls — will be birds that ought not
to have the best possible conditions of growth. These
the wise breeder simply shuts in a small pen and kills
for the table at squab broiler size.

In the ordinary conditions where upwards of a few
hundred chicks are grown, chickens as classified above in
B and C, and also those as of Class D which are intended
for large roasters may be carried along together for a
while if it is more convenient. This may be the case
where chickens are to range on grass land after a first
crop of hay is cut, or in corn after it is well started, or
on any piece of land not available for them at the time
they are weaned. The capacity of any house or coop for
them at this age is of course much greater than when they
are a month to six weeks older — to say nothing of when
they approach maturity. Hence, if provision is made for
the removal of a part of the stock to other quarters be-
fore the coops become overcrowded, there is no objec-
tion to carrying chicks for stock birds, for layers, and for
roasters all together as long as is convenient.

The feeding can be the same for all. The risk in it is
that if hot weather comes sooner than expected, or if
anything delays the division of the flock before it begins
actually to crowd the capacity of the coop, overheating
and crowding for even a single night may make quite a .
severe check on the growth of the entire number. It is
always best, when it can be done, to put chicks at wean-
ing age into colony coops in the numbers that the coops
will accommodate until full grown. Then if the coops
are of suitable construction and properly ventilated, there
is no occasion to worry about possible overcrowding. At
the same time, with due care to provide for such emerg-
encies if they arise, and to make the division anyway
comparatively early in this period, a poultry keeper can
often save a good deal of work with his chicks and han-
dle some other work on his plant to better advantage, by
using the full capacity of his most convenient coops and
range for chicks for a month or more after they go into
the colony roosting coops.

Chickens that are to be used for broilers or fryers
can be kept in coops with small yards or in open sheds.
Some may be ready for small broilers, and any should be
able to make broiler weights with heavy feeding before it
affects their digestive organs. They need no more exer-
c'se than a little scratching for grain in litter to keep
them contented. Those that are to be kept longest, as
for fryers, can either be given a little more room and
range, or fed more liberally with green feed until the
time comes to finish them off.

Rations For Chickens From Weaning to Maturity

The following rations are principally rations corres-
ponding to and following those given for younger chick-
ens in the preceding chapter. Fully to identify each it is
not only given the same title, but the same number — with
the addition of the letter A.

Ration No. la — Model Variety Ration Recommended By the
United States Department of Agriculture

SCRATCH MIXTURE

Two parts, by weight, of cracked corn and one of wheat;
or, equal parts cracked com, wheat, and oats. This may be
fed at intervals by hand, or if the chicks have good range
it may be kept before them in a hopper.

DRY MASH

Bran 2 pounds

Middlings 2 pounds

Corn meal 1 pound

Red dog, or low grade flour 1 pound

Meat scrap % pound

This should be kept before the chicks in hoppers. If
preferred the meat scrap may be left out of the mash and

62

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

given in a separate hopper. Where milk is available the
chickens should have all they will drink. Keep charcoal,
grit, and shell before the chicks at all times, and when they
are confined to small yards, or have limited range, feed lib-
erally of green feed,

Ration No. 2a — Ontario Agricultural College Ration

Chicks are taken from the brooders at from six to eight
weeks according to the weather. From about eight weeks
they are fed usually three times a day, a mash as previously
given in the morning, and whole wheat and cracked corn
at noon and night. If it is desired to force growth, two
feeds of mash are given daily, and the amount of animal
meal in the mash is increased.

Ration No. 3a — Cornell Ration for Chicks

Feed in hoppers the mash mixture No. 3 given for small
chicks, and equal parts of wheat and cracked corn. If it is
desired to hasten development, give one meal a day of moist
mash. Provide grit, charcoal, shell, and bone. Give grass
range or plenty of green feed.

Ration No. 4a — New Jersey Experiment Station Ration

Keep the dry mash before the chicks all the time, and
twice a day scatter over their range a grain feed of equal
parts of whole wheat and cracked corn.

Ration No. 5a — Ohio Agricultural Col-
lege Ration

Omit the noon feed of grain pre-
viously given, and put in a hopper of
the mash mixture. Keep this open for
an hour at noon. After the tenth
week omit the morning feed of grain
and keep the hopper open until noon.
From -this time give chicks only one
feed of grain a day — late in the after-
noon.

Ration No. 6a — Massachusetts Agricult-
ural College Ration

Keep the dry mash always before the
chicks in hoppers, and feed night and
morning what wheat and cracked corn
the birds will eat readily. Do not feed
so much that they will not forage.

Ration No. "a — Maine Experiment Sta-
tion Ration

Keep the dry mash before the chicks
in hoppers, and feed in litter, twice a
day, equal parts of good cracked corn
and whole wheat.

Or, keep in separate slatted troughs
cracked corn, wheat, meat scrap,
cracked bone, oyster shell, and grit,
and let the chicks eat at will.

Ration No. 8a — Wisconsin Experi-
ment Station Ration

Ration No. 17a — Oregon Agricultural College Ration

Continue the ration given for small chicks in the latter
part of the brooding period.

Ration No. 18a — Washington Agricultural College Ration

Feed the grain mixture with coarser grains substituted
for the fine, three times a day. Keep dry mash in hop-
pers. Give unstinted supply of succulent green feed.

Ration No. 19a — California Experiment Station Ration

Same as during latter part of brooding period.

Ration No. 20a — Kansas Experiment Station Ration

Same as during the latter part of the brooding period.

Ration No. 21a — Henry D. Smith's Ration

Cracked corn and meat scrap in separate hoppers, cab-
bage, mangels, or green rye. It should be said that this
ration was used for winter chickens, that is chickens
hatched in the late summer and early fall, and making their
growth from weaning to maturity in winter, not in summer.

Ration No. 22a to 26a

Same as during the latter part of the brooding period.

Give to chicks on range, in hoppers,
a mash of two parts each of bran and
corn meal, and one part of middlings.

For grain feed cracked corn, or when barley is low enough
in price feed some of it. Feed grain either broadcast or
in hoppers, according to circumstances. Where sparrows
are numerous there is less loss by feeding in hoppers.

Ration No. 9a — Minnesota Experiment Station Ration

Put chicks on free range and feed from hoppers large
enough to hold a week's supply, a hopper of cracked corn
and small grains, and one of the dry mash for each colony
of chicks.

Ration No. lOa — Purdue Experiment Station Ration

Put the chicks on grass range and feed in outdoor hop-
pers large enough to contain two or three weeks' supply;
one hopper of mash, and one of whole wheat and cracked
corn to each house.

Ration No. lla — Oklahoma Experiment Station Ration

With the dry mash supplied in hoppers give twice a day
equal parts of wheat, cracked corn, and kaflr corn; or, two
parts cracked corn, two parts wheat, one part oats.

Ration No. 12a — Missouri University Ration

The same as followed from the time the chicks are
three or four weeks old.

Ration No. 13a — Manitoba Agricultural College Ration

After the chicks are six weeks old put their dry mash
and grain in a two compartment outdoor hopper, and give
them free range.

Ration No. I la — Michigan Experiment Station Ration

Continue the dry mash in hoppers, and feed wheat and
cracked corn, either in hoppers or scattered on the range.

Ration No. 15a — North Carolina Experiment Station Ration

Feed chicks on range the same as old stock — mash of
wheat bran, corn meal, and ground oats; grain feed, cracked
corn, wheat, and oats.

Ration No. 16a — Montana Experiment Station Ration

With the dry mash used for chicks when younger feed
a grain mixture of equal parts of wheat, oats, and cracked
peas, by measure.

COOPS FOR GROWING CHICKS AT EDGE OF APPLE ORCHARD ON A
NEW ENGLAND FARM

It will be noted that there is even more apparent
similarity in rations as used and recommended by differ-
ent institutions and practical experts for chicks during
this period, than during the earlier brooding period. There
is, in fact, a sameness and a simplicity of statement that
tends to be misleading, giving the impression that the
chickens may be left much to themselves after they have
passed the weaning age. It is true that when the matter
of keeping them warm no longer requires special attention,
the routine work of caring for them is much reduced,
and that the task is still further lightened when circum-
stances admit of hopper feeding of both the mash and
the grain. Yet it is rarely practical to put feeding wholly
on a system that is entirely automatic, — feeding the grain
products in bulk, letting the chicks eat of them at will,
and leaving them to get all the feed accessories from the
range. That can be done only where the range is un-
usually good, where the temperature is constantly moder-
ate, where there are no enemies of any kind to molest the
chicks, and where the utilization of waste feeds not on the
range used by the chicks does not have to be considered.

Usually one or more of the considerations mentioned
make it necessary to modify more or less the plan of
hopper feeding, and notwithstanding the advantages of
that practice, and the economy of using it, the fact re-
mains that a certain amount of personal attention to
feeding, and the existence in a flock of poultry of a sense
of dependence upon and confidence in the person who
feeds them, make for better results than when the rela-

63

tion between the feeder and the fed is one that the latter
•do not recognize. A poultry keeper has to keep close
watch over all his stock to KNOW whether things are
going right or not, and that being the case", it is no hard-
ship, and is in various ways an advantage, to supplement
the hopper feeding with some light regular feeds, and also
with occasional special feeds as conditions may make
that advisable. The two points in feeding that call for
special attention in summer are assurance of supplies of
green feed and animal feed, and special feeding to main-
tain growth as well as possible in extreme hot weather.

Whatever the object in growing chickens, the best
results are secured only when they grow steadily from
start to finish. In the cool weather of winter and spring
we have to keep young chickens warm that their vital
processes may proceed legularly and as economically of
feed as possible. In the warm weather of spring, and the
moderate weather of summer, the temperature conditions
^re most favorable to rapid and continuous growth. With
an average atmospheiic temperature of sixty to seventy,
-and the heat-producing elements in the feed called upon
to keep the body temperature of the bird about thirty-five
to forty-five degrees higher, and the same elements also
providing the energy for an active life, the bird can utilize
a lot of carbonaceous material. But when the atmospheric
temperature goes to ninety, or a hundred or more, and re-
mains there for days at a time, the carbonaceous material
in the ordinary daily ration is far in excess of the needs of
the system, and if the bird eats the usual amount it over-
heats the body.

'If growing chickens are left to themselves to eat
what they choose of the grain and mash before them, and
to supplement this with such green feed as their range
affords, they usually — unless the range affords an extra-
ordinary amount of highly palatable green feed — either
injure themselves by overeating of the heavy grain ration,
or by declining to eat much of it, consume so little feed
that they may stop growing, and even lose weight. Hearty
chickens are apt to overeat until the excess of heating
feed makes them uncomfortable and they lose appetite,
and perhaps develop mild symptoms of digestive trouble.
Chicks that are daintier feeders are more likely to cut

)N A GRASSY RANGE

their ration to what green feed and insects and worms
they can get without much effort in the coolest parts of
the day, with an occasional nibble at the grain and mash
accessible as they forage.

It is at such times that the value of milk and the ad-
vantage of liberal supplies of succulent green feed that the
chicks will eat freely are most fully demonstrated. In
continued extreme hot spells we cannot by any system of
feeding keep up the growth that is obtained under nor-

ceptible check of growth, and for longer periods we can —
by the same methods — keep up a constant growth at less
than the normal rate, and at the same time keep the birds
in such good appetite and physical condition, that as soon
as relief from the extreme temperature comes they eat
full rations — not requiring several days, or a week or
more to recover from the effects of the hot weather.

Where chicks on range are fed in hoppers, they
should get out with the beginning of daylight, even
though it may have been customary for the attendant —
for his own convenience — and their safety — to keep them
shut in the coop until a later hour. That is not really
good poultry practice at any time, though in normal
weather when the chicks are eating heartily it may not
make such a great deal of difference if they don't get out
as early as they would like to in the morning. But in
extreme hot weather they should be out at daylight, and
if the danger from their enemies that prowl at that time
is such that they should be watched, someone should
watch them as long as necessary.

If the range is good, the chicks released in the earliest
morning probably will pay little attention to the feed in
the hoppers, but will begin at once to forage for the
worms which are likely to be at the surface of the ground,
and for whatever green feed takes their fancy. They will
keep busy in this way until the sun becomes uncomfort-
ably warm, or until with crops fairly well filled with light
feed they feel like filling up with grain. If the grain is
usually fed by hand it is a good plan, when the chicks are
let out, to scatter a feed of it about — a lighter feed than
usual. The amount they will eat before and after foraging
will depend on circumstances. An expert feeder can tell
by the way they go at it about how much to throw out
and have it eaten quite early in the morning. It is a good
plan to broadcast this feed over the range; then the
chickens eat a little grain with the other things as they go.
About nine o'clock give the chickens all they will eat
up clean of a light mash, — that is a mash containing little
corn meal or concentrated feed. After eating this they
will usually prefer to keep quiet in the shade until the
heat of the day has passed. About noon they will relish
something quite light and cooling, as clabber milk, lettuce,
rape, or cabbage, and— in the latter
part of the season — waste tomatoes,
cucumbers, fruit and melons of all
kinds. If it is desired, the sour milk
may be thickened with bran and mid-
lings, or soft fruits and vegetables
may be used the same way. When
fresh lettuce or rape is given rare
should be taken to put it in the shade,
not only because the chickens are
reluctant to go into the hot sun, but
because if these things are not eaten
up at once they will wilt badly in the
heat and then the chickens will not
eat them at all, and they are wasted.

If the chickens are indifferent to green feed offered them
at noon it is as well to feed it early in the morning or
later in the evening. Often they will eat it greedily when
the heat of the day has passed and they begin to feel
hungry and like moving about.

As the sun declines and the heat is less intense, the
chickens will begin to feed and forage, and are likely to
stay out much longer than when they feed freely at all
hours of the day. They should be allowed to stay out as

mal temperate weather conditions on a normal consump- late as they like, and if they do not seem to care for their
tion of ordinary concentrated rations. But for short peri- ordinary rations, light mashes should be offered them,
ods of extreme heat we can feed so that there is no per- and they should have all the milk, either separate or

64

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

thickened with bran, that they will eat. They may not
eat as much in all as they ordinarily do, but they do not
need quite as much, and if they eat fairly well of light
fe*ds and take about half the usual amount of grain in
one way or another, they will keep growing.

The question of providing a plentiful supply of suc-
culent feed, not only for hot spells but for possible
periods of drouth, is one that the wise poultry keeper con-
siders at planting time in the spring. It rarely is safe to
rely entirely upon the green feed on a range to supply
the needs of a large stock of chicks for this class of feedrf.
The modification of rations for hot spells ought atso to
be a matter of forethought with the poultry keeper, and
especially so when his ration generally carries a minimum
of the feeds most necessary in hot
weather. Chickens that always have
plenty of milk and green feed before
them will balance their own rations,
but comparatively few chickens ex-
cept moderate-sized flocks on general
farms are so supplied. Most growing
chickens elsewhere get only enough
of green feed or of milk, or of both
together to keep them in fair condi-
tion with a heavy grain ration in tem-
perate weather.

A large proportion of flocks of
growing chickens are in places where,
both in their coops or houses, and in
the yard or on the ground near and
around it, the air simply stagnates in
a hot spell. The circulation of air is
none too good in ordinary still
weather, but when the atmosphere
generally is almost motionless and
very warm there is no circulation in
these places at all. Coops and houses

should be designed to afford the best possible ventilation
in extreme hot weather, even though there may not be
occasion to use it fully except at long intervals. With this
provision to make the chickens as comfortable as possible
when the weather is hot, the poultry keeper ought to
keep an eye constantly on the weather and try to antici-
pate weather changes which make modifications of rations
expedient. On the occasional hot days in spring and early
summer he should feed light and give as much vegetables
and milk as possible at the hottest parts of the day. He
should learn to know what the chickens relish best under
different conditions, and to judge at once by the appetite
they show whether a feed offered them is one that they
want and will eat freely, and to judge also how far a
manifest lack of inclination to eat at a regular time is due
to want of relish for what is offered, and how far it may
reasonably be attributed to lack of appetite for any feed —
as a result of continuous hearty feeding.

It is this habit of observation — the cultivation of
sound judgment as to 'the attitudes of poultry toward
feed under different conditions and the development of
skill in catering to the appetites of the birds, at the same
time keeping them keen for their meals and ready to take
square meals of almost anything in the feed line that is
at all appropriate to conditions at the time of giving it,
that make the skillful, practical feeder. That part of his
craft cannot be learned from books,- or from the instruc-
tion of others, but comes only with careful, interested ob-
servation and experience in discovering and correcting his
mistakes in feeding.

How Stock Becomes Adapted to Certain Rations and
Conditions

In judging the effects of any particular feed or sys-
tem of feeding upon any lot of chicks, it is important to
take into consideration the constitutional attitude of the
flock or of different members of it toward that feed or
system of feeding. In the statements about rations given
out by various authorities, the importance of making
gradual changes in rations often is emphasized. Poultry
often refuse to eat much of a feed to which they have not
been accustomed, and often those that eat freely of a new
feed immediately develop some form of trouble in the di-
gestive tract. But individual birds differ greatly in this
respect, and where a stock is fed year after year in just

THE LAST BITE BEFORE GOING TO ROOST IN THE EVENING

the same way, the flock, by a process of natural selection,
eventually is made up of individuals that the method of
feeding suits. The others do not thrive and are gradually
eliminated from the flock.

Beginners in poultry keeping usually have a great
deal more trouble in feeding than those with longer ex-
perience, not merely because of the beginner's lack of
experience and knowledge of feeding, but because the
stock is being adjusted and adapted to a new diet — one that
perhaps suits a part of it better than that to which its
race has been accustomed, but is likely to be more or
less unsuited to another part of it. If — as is usually the
case — a beginner's stock is from a number of different
flocks, he is likely to get uneven results the first year.
The next year the results will be more uniform because
that part of the stock to which the ration was ill adapted
will have been culled out, and those to which it was at
first not particularly well adapted will generally have be-
come accustomed to it.

A poultry keeper can adapt his stock to almost any
ration or system of feeding that supplies the necessary
nutritive elements with reasonable regularity, or he can
develop a stock that takes kindly only to rations similar
to those to which they have been accustomed and that,
to give best results either in growth or in egg production,
has to be humored a good deal in the matter of eating;
or he can develop a stock that will eat at any time any-
thing suitable for poultry that is offered it. The use of
rations with a few ingredients and rigid adherence to the
same schedule of feeding day after day tends to make
chickens "fussy" about what they eat. Chickens may be

FEEDING CHICKS FROM WEANING TO MATURITY

65

got so into the habit of eating certain things at certain
times that until starved into it they will eat at any par-
ticular feeding time only the feed they have been ac-
customed to get at that time. Cases of this kind are much
more rare since the practice of keeping feed before the
chicks in hoppers came into general use, but there are
still far too many flocks of growing chicks that are never
broken to take good feed as offered to them.

By giving from the first enough variety in feeds for
the chicks to learn that what the feeder puts before them
will satisfy their appetites and that nothing else is to be
expected until it is gone, chicks are soon taught to eat
readily of any feed offered that is not actually unpalatable
or objectionable. Also by changing the order of feeds
given at different times through the day they are trained
;o eat anything at any time. Chickens that are so trained
are not as a rule subject to digestive disorders when
changes in their ration are made; and though the writer
cannot positively affirm that it is so, it is his opinion that
by varying the order of the feeds quite frequently, and
avoiding the monotony of feeding on rigid schedules, feed-
ing practice is adapted to a much larger proportion of
chickens generally. In other words, it appears to him that
it is the monotony of most poultry -rations, rather than the
nature of any of their ingredients that is the true cause
of the lack of what may be called energy in digestion
which causes temporary trouble when chickens are given
an unaccustomed feed.

There is no inconsistency between .training chicks to
eat what (proper) feed is set before them, and catering to
their appetites with the most appropriate feed at certain
times. On the contrary, the two policies are complemen-
tary. We train the chicks to take their ordinary rations
freely under all ordinary circumstances; and on the other
hand we give particular attention to furnishing the diet
that will at the same time best promote growth and keep
the chicken hearty under extraordinary and unfavorable
conditions for development.

Culling and Separating Chicks in the Growing Period

While as previously stated it is desirable to put in
one coop or house at weaning time only as many chickens
as can be carried to maturity in it, this ideal condition is
found so seldom, .that further separation and culling of
flocks of growing chickens is almost always necessary. In
the more precocious breeds, of which the Leghorn is
the most popular representative, it is best to separate
the pullets and cockerels at weaning time, but in the
medium-sized breeds 'they may be kept together much
longer, — until three, four, or five months of age, without
the cockerels annoying the pullets.

In the Asiatic breeds, and the larger and slower
maturing strains of the general-purpose type, the sexes
may be kept together until nearly or quite full grown
without the young males annoying the females at all.
Different strains vary in this respect, but nearly always
Asiatic males of stocks that grow to good standard size
are altogether indifferent to the females until they ap-
proach their full size and physical development.

Where the males are to be used for roasters, and
fattened and sold for that purpose just before they begin
to show sexual proclivities and their meat would become
hard and staggy, it is often a great convenience to keep
cockerels and pullets together up to the time that the
foimer should be taken out for fattening. In the case of
early chickens, this may allow running the sexes together
until about July 1st, in the North, and then, with the
cockerels removed, the number of pullets left in each

lot will have plenty of room both indoors and out during
the remainder of the growing season.

Similarly where pullets and cockerels for stock birds
have been kept for a while after weaning with pullets in-
tended for layers, as the season advances and the growing
chickens begin to crowd the house, those of one class can
be taken from it to other quarters, leaving the other class
to occupy it the remainder of the season; — the best condi-
tions being given to the stock intended for breeding pur-
poses. Where only the few cockerels a poultry keeper re-
serves for his own breeding are kept, it is often a good plan
to give them a fair-sized yard and special feeding, that the
pullets — both for breeding and laying — may have all the
available range undisturbed. Where there is room to do
so, the best way to handle the cockerels reserved for
breeding is in colonies so far away from all other stock
that they do not come in contact with either hens or
pullets where they range.

For a generation past, so much of our poultry has
been grown close about groups of farm buildings, or on
the limited ranges of rather intensive poultry farms, that
it is not generally known that when they have the op-
portunity to do so cockerels and pullets which return to
the same coops or roosting places at night will volun-
tarily separate and go to different ranges during the day,
showing the instinct in this which seems to be common
to polygamous birds at other times than in the breeding
season, and which is often noted in turkeys. This point is
of interest because it shows that the tendency of young
cockerels to annoy hens and pullets is due to the ab-
normal life they lead, and that if they are given the op-
portunity to range where there is an abundance of the
things chickens like, to be secured by foraging, they will
take little interest in anything but the business of eating
and keeping as comfortable as possible. This applies to
cockerels of the precocious breeds as well as to others.
The writer has seen the cockerels and pullets in a flock
of nearly a hundred growing Leghorns that had the
range of some six or seven acres of land, and that were
fed together night and morning, go to different trees to
roost, and in separate bands appropriate each its part of
the range and never trespass on that of the other through-
out the whole season.

As most chickens are housed during the period of
growth in rather larger numbers than is consistent with
their best development, culling out the inferior speci-
mens as fast as they are noted as distinctly inferior, or
as undesirable to carry to maturity, is one of the most
effective ways of improving conditions for those that re-
main, and thus getting the greatest possible returns on
the feed that they consume and the labor expended upon
them. There is no greater fallacy in regard to the feeding
of growing chickens than the idea that the way to avoid
loss on unthrifty chickens is to carry them along with the
rest until maturity, and try tojmake as much as possible of
them. The common impression is that unthrifty and
undersized chickens are light feeders, and that if they
have not grown as much in a given time as their more
thrifty companions, neither have they cost as much. The
fact is that the unthrifty chickens consume far more feed
to make a pound of weight than the others. They are
unthrifty because they have not strong vitality and good
digestion, and a large part of what they consume passes
through them undigested.

It does not pay to keep an unthrifty chicken after
that characteristic is noted. It should be eaten or sold
for whatever it will bring. It simply cannot convert feed
into poultry meat at a profit, and the longer the owner

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

THE SAME DATA IN DIFFERENT FORM — EASIER
TO APPLY

Transposing1 the results in the above table, stating the
age in weeks, and the weights which chickens of the sev-
eral kinds should make at that age.

keeps it the more he loses on it. The general tendency
in poultry growing is to do the culling at stated periods.
Most poultry growers will throw out the cripples and
a few conspicuously feeble chickens when taking them

, .- . White Plymouth Rocks Should Weigh

from the nest or incubator; cull out the unthrifty speci- BOTH SEXES:

metis at weaning age (and try to fatten them for broil- At 8 weeks 1 pound

r r ,, ,, At 11 weeks 2 pounds

ers); and take out a few more of the worst when the At 14 weeks 3 pounds

At 17 weeks 4 pounds

flocks go into winter quarters. Whenever a poultry At 20 weeks 5 pounds

grower, noticing a chicken, thinks — " It doesn't look very COCKERELS:

At 7 weeks 1 pound

promising, but with good care it may amount to some- At 10 weeks 2 pounds

At 13 weeks - 3 pounds

thing," the best thing he can do is to make meat of it At 15 weeks 4 pounds

At 18 weeks 5 pounds

with the least possible delay. The more closely be ad- At 20 weeks 6 pounds

,. , , . . ... , At 24 weeks 7 pounds

heres to this policy, the more good chickens he will have PULLETS-

at 'the end of the season, and the less they will have At 8 weeks 1 pound

, • /-\ * i r rr j i_ j r At 12 weeks . ....2 pounds

cost him. Only where a farm range affords abundance of At 15 weeks 3 pounds

feed can unthrifty chickens be grown without loss. At 19 weeks ..

Weights That Represent Good Growth at Various Ages Whitfe Wyandotte, Should weigh

A novice in poultry keeping is often doubtful of the BOTH SEXES:

, . , . . . At 8 weeks 1 pound

value of his own opinion as to whether his chickens At 12 weeks 2 pounds

generally, or any particular ones among them, are making At ]% week! ": '.'."I pounds

satisfactory growth. The reliable test of this point is At 24 weeks —.5 pounds

the known weight of the chicks at known ages. The COCKERELS:

TT . , ^ ~ .. . At 8 weeks 1 pound

United Mates Department of Agriculture, from records At 12 weeks 2 pounds

of weights of chicks grown at its poultry farm at Belts- £t l| weeks ... ....3 Pounds

ville, Md., issued in 1918 a tabulation of weights of White At 22 weeks ...

-r-., ,, T-, . iiri-' iir i At 24 weeks 6 pounds

Plymouth Rock, White Wyandotte, Rhode Island Red, PULLETS-

Buff Orpington, and White Leghorn chickens up to 28 * At 8 weeks 1 pound

weeks of age which gives growers an excellent standard At 12 weeks ... ....2 P^nds

for testing the results of their work. Several of the At 20 weeks 4 pounds

c, y, . *.&..• i i i- i j r At 25 weeks 5 pounds

State Experiment Stations have published reports of ex-
periments which show both the weights of chickens at Rho<le lsland Reds should Weigh

, .. ,. , BOTH SEXES:

various ages, and the amounts of feed consumed to make At 9 weeks l pound

these weights. Some of these results are given in the At 13 weeks ....2 pounds

t .. . ,, At 17 weeks 3 pounds

rollowing tables: At 22 weeks 4 pounds

COCKERELS:

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE DATA ON WEIGHTS OF At 8 weeks 1 pound

At 12 weeks. 2 pounds

CHICKENS AT VARIOUS AGES 5 weeks 3 pounds

Table showing the age in weeks and tenths of weeks at which chickens of

the breeds named reached the weights indicated in pounds at the top of each Vi || ,

column, and average weight for the 'period of growth observed. „„, ^ l^x. w

Av. Age ULLETb:

Males lib. 2 Ib. 3 Ib. 4 Ib. 5 Ib. 6 Ib. 7 Ib. 8 Ib. 9 Ib. Wt. Wks. At 9 week? 1 pound

At 14 weeks 2 pounds

White Rock 6.7 9.6 12.3 14.7 17.2 20.1 24.3 26.3 7.73 28. At 19 weeks 3 pounds

White Wyandotte 7.3 11.6 14.6 17.3 22.1 24 5.43 24.7 ' At 25 weeks 4 pounds

R. I. Red 7.8 11.6 14.7 18.5 23. 24.5 5.4 25.8

Buff Orpington 7.5 11. 14. 16.2 18.5 21. 23 24. 27. 7.2 25. Bllff Orpingtons Should Weigh

White Leghorn 8. 11.8 16.6 22.5 4.26 28. BOTH SEXES:

At 8 weeks 1 pound

Females At 12 weeks 2 pounds

White Rock 7.6 11.3 14.4 18.5 22.6 25.8 6.07 28.

White Wyandotte 7.3 12. 15.7 20.7 25. 5.17 26. At 21 weeks

R. I. Red 8.6 13.3 14.8 24.3 4.48 27.4 PULLETS'

Buff Orpington 7.6 11.6 14.S 18.6 23.3 4.9 24. - At 8 ' weeks 1 pound

White Leghorn 9. 15. 24.5 3.14 26.5 At 12 weeks 2 pounds

Both Sexes At 15 weeks 3 pounds

White Rock 7.1510.5 13.3 16.6 19.9 22.9 -.4. pounds

White Wyandotte 7.3 11.8 15.1 19. 23.5 ^^l^lt^a S pounds

R. I. Red 8.2 12.4 16.5 21.4 COCKERELS

Buff Orpington 7.55 11.3 14.4 17.4 20.9 ~~\ poUl

White Leghorn 8.5 13.4 20.5 At 11 weeks.... .....J pounds

At 16 weeks 4 pounds

The memorandum published with this table says: "The recorded weights At 19 weeks 5 pounds

from which the above figures were computed were for lots of chicks selected At 21 weeks 6 pounds

at random from each breed at hatching to give a fair sample of the stock. At 23 weeks 7 pounds

Weighings were made at hatching and at intervals of one week up to 24 to White Leghorns Should Weigh

28 weeks, as seemed necessary. The White Plymouth Rock cockerels made on BOTH SEXES:

the average nearly full standard weight of 8 pounds in less than 28 weeks. The At 9 weeks 1 pound

White Rock pullets made on the average over standard weight of 6 pounds in At 14 weeks 2 pounds

the same time. The White Wyandotte stock is standard weight, but the cock- At 17 weeks 21/2 poun

erels run under standard weight, of seven and one-half pounds. In fact the COCKEREI^6

standard weights for the sexes in this and some other breeds are dispropor- ^ g weeks \ pound

tionate, and the same mating will not produce both sexes to make standard At 12 weeks...... 2 pounds

weight in a given period as regularly as in the case of the White Rock stock At 14 weeks 2% pounds

on this farm. The Rhode Island Red stock observed is rather under standard At 17 weeks 3 pounds

weights. The Buff Orpington records were for only one season, and the obser- At 23 weeks 4 pounds

vations were not continued for all the birds through the full period of growth. At q weeks l nound

The figures given, however, fairly indicate what may be expected of average £t 15 weeks" 2 pounds

gx>bd growing Orpingtons in the period designated. The White Leghorns are of At 20 weeks.........!.— 2% pounds

ordinary average size, with some specimens well above the average." At 25 weeks 3 pounds

FEEDING CHICKS FROM WEANING TO MATURITY

67

[Purdue Experiment Station Report on Feed Consumed by
White Plymouth Rocks in Growing Period

At the Purdue University Agr. Experiment Station
La Fayette, Ind., in 1916 and 1917, records of the consump-
tion of feed and of the weights of White Plymouth Rock
chickens at intervals during the entire growing period
were kept for two large lots 'of chickens, nearly 200 being
in the first experiment, and about 250 in the second. The
chickens in each case were kept all together while the}'
required brooding. When they no longer needed heat,
the pullets were placed in one lot and the cockerels it.
another, about one-third of the cockerels having been
caponized. The records for the cockerels were kept for
24 weeks. At the end of that time those m the first ex-
periment averaged 6.4 pounds each; those in the second
experiment 6.46 pounds each. The capons were kept until
41 weeks old, and averaged to weigh when sold — in the
first experiment, 9.91 pounds; in the second, 9.37 pounds.
The records for the pullets were kept for 28 weeks, at
which age about half of them were laying and the average
weight was: — in the first experiment, 5.56 pounds; in the
second, 5.73 pounds.

Considering the numbers of birds involved the re-
sults in these two experiments are remarkably uniform
and the weights show good work on the part of the
grower. Both in these figures and in those in the pre-
ceding report, it should be noted that, with the averages
as given, a great many individual birds are considerably
above the average, and — of course — about an equal num-
ber considerably below it.

CON)*rMPTION OP DIFFERENT FEEDS IX POUNDS
PER BIRD

Cock'ls Capons

8.44

t Experiment No. 1 — 1916

Feed Chicks Pullets

Cracked corn ........................ 1.44

Cracked wheat ...................... 0.19

Whole wheat .......................... 1.25

Steel cut oats ...................... 0.19

Ground oats .......................... 0.24

Shorts ...................................... 0.24

Bran ......................................... 0.24

Corn meal .............................. 0.24

Meat scraps ........... 1 ................ 0.24

Milk .......................................... 7.6

Charcoal .................................. 0.08

Grit ............................................ 0.1

Ground bone .......................... 0.08

Corn ..

1.1
1.5

15
1.5
0.8

17.0
0.1
0.1
0.1

10.2

7.75

!L~35
1.46
1.46
1.46
1.14
15.87
0.10
008
0.06
7.77

10.5

o'.'i'i

2.38
1.61
3.10
0.91

31.70
0.09
0.19
0.19

12.00

The full amount of feed consumed by each pullet in
28 weeks is found by adding the figures in the columns
for chicks and for pullets; the full amount for the cockerels
for 24 weeks, by adding the figures in the columns for
chicks and for cockerels; and the full amount for the
capons for 41 weeks by adding to the figures for cock-
erels those in the column for capons. The figures in the
column for pullets show the average consumption for
each pullet from the time of weaning at 9 weeks, to the
age of 28 weeks, the time they were on the range. The
figures in the column for cockerels show the average con-
sumption of each cockerel, and of each capon, from 9 to
24 weeks. The figures in the column for capons show the
average consumption of each capon from 24 to 41 weeks.
None of the figures include green feed of which the birds
consumed large quantities on range.

Experiment No. 2 — 1917

Feed Chicks Pullets Cock'ls Capons

Cracked corn 2.3 4.7

Cracked \vheat 0.1

Whole wheat 0.92 3.4 2.6 2 8

Steel cut oats 0.1

Ground oats 1.32

Shorts 0.4J> 1.6 1.8 2.74

Bran 0.49 1.6 1.8 1.42

Corn meal 3.97

Meat scraps 0.24 1.0 1 1 0.8

Milk 6.54 30.6 15.4 50.5

Charcoal 0.01 0.02 0.01 0.02

Grit 0.06 0.08 0 04 0.18

Ground bone 0.05 0.2 0.1 0.22

Corn 5.2 6.45

Prepared feed 7.45 7.0 2.8

Whole oats .. 1.89 14.76

These two experiments are especially interesting and
valuable because of the remarkable uniformity of results
secured with quite different rations. As will be noted, the
second experiment was made in the year 1917 when war
conditions were sending prices of feeds up and making
it difficult to get feeds. The ordinary rations used for
chicks at Purdue are given in Nos. 10 and lOa in the
lists of rations for chicks in this book. As to feeding in
the latter part of the 1917 season the report says: —
"During the summer months the grain rations were
changed to meet the feed-cost conditions. When the prices
of corn and wheat became so high, a prepared scratch
feed was purchased in large quantities; later, oats were
used as the only grain. When new corn became available,
soft corn on the cob was purchased at a reasonable price,
and used as grain. During the last three weeks of both
experiments the capons were fed a wet mash to insure
a good finish."

Ontario Experiment Station Report of Feed Consumed by
Growing Chicks

"We were able in 1909 to keep an exact record of the
birds grown in a pasture field and of those grown in an
orchard. The chicks in the pasture field were hatched
during the first two weeks in May. Three hundred and
forty-five birds were grown to maturity or to a size
suitable for fattening. We began to remove the cock-
eiels from the fields to the fattening pens on August 25th;
The pullets and cockerels held for breeders were all taken
from the field by the 22nd of October. The breeds were
Orpingtons, Wyandottes, Plymouth Rocks, Leghorns, etc.
They consumed 4,304 pounds of grain; of this about one-
third would be dry mash, nearly 300 pounds chick feed,
and the balance wheat, corn, and hulled oats in the pro-
portion of two and a half, two, and one. There was five
per cent of beef scrap added to the dry mash. The birds
were weighed when taken from the field, weighing 1,341
pounds, or one pound of chicken representing 3.2 pounds
of grain. Some of the breeding cockerels weighed over
seven pounds, and the Leghorn pullets did not average
three pounds in weight. We removed most of the cock-
erels at about three and one-half pounds weight, or when
they would fatten most economically.

"The chickens reared in the orchard varied more in
age. The first were hatched on the 25th of April and the.
last on July 6th. Most of the birds were hatched in May.
We sold 218 as broilers from this lot during July. The
later cockerels were removed to the fattening crates as
was done with those grown in the pasture field. Most of
the pullets were taken out about the first of October, and
by the first of November practically all had been re-
moved with the exception of about 100; these were cock-
erels held as breeders, and the July chicks. We raised
in this field 733 chickens at a cost of 8,649 pounds of
grain. A pound of chicken equaled 3.34 pounds of grain,
or nearly the same as. the pasture-field chickens. The
figures mean that a farmer can in his field raise a four-
pound cockerel for thirteen or fourteen pounds of grain."

What the Average Farm Flock of Chicks Can Get From
Farm Range

In both of the above instances the flocks of chickens
were larger, and also more limited for range — in one sense
— than the average farm flock which roams where it
pleases. These experimental flocks had good range, as far
as vegetable and animal feed supplies were concerned, but
got little or no grain from their range. At the Ontario
Station the chickens are given new land each year, land

68

that is hygienically clean and supplies them with the feed
accessoiies. They are an animal crop in a rotation of prin-
cipally vegetable crops. On the ordinary grain, grass, and
stock growing farm, where the number of chickens is
rarely more than 200 to 300 and the chicks can have the
range of many fields, it is often possible, by distributing
the chickens as widely as is practical, and by moving the
coops several times in the course of the season, to have
them eat a large amount of grain that would otherwise be
wasted. When it is considered that the ordinary waste
of small grains in handling in the field at harvest is
about five per cent of the yield, and that in ordinary
threshing as much more is left in the straw, and that the
wastes often greatly exceed this, it is easy to see that
a farm with from sixty to a hundred acres or more in
grains of various kinds and grass has waste grain enough
to grow quite a large stock of poultry — provided the
birds are distributed where they can get the grain, and
shifted on the land to cover it all during the season.

Reports are frequently made of farm flocks of chick-
ens up to 200 or more that are fed little grain from the
ciibs. Knowing the amount of grain that it takes to make
a certain weight of chicken under the conditions in the
experiments that have been cited, we can make close est<-
mates of the amount of waste feed salvaged by a flock
that gets practically all its grain from the land. One hun-
dred chickens raised to an average weight of three pounds
will each have consumed about ten pounds of grain — a
thousand pounds in all. One hundred six-pound chickens
will have consumed a ton of grain. Of grains as they are
found on the farm fields and in the yards there would be
from forty to fifty bushels, according to the relative pro-
portions of oats and of heavier grains.

On the farm that grows considerable quantities -~>I-
grain, the question of feeding poultry is one of using the
waste grain to best advantage. It will not in every case
be most profitable to plan to have poultry use all the waste
grain, but there will always be a great deal of it that poui-
try can glean to better advantage than anything else, and
the farm plans for poultry keeping should be designed to
get the most out of this. While for the purpose of illus-
tration we have discussed the possibility of a considerable
flock of chickens getting all their grain from the farm,
that may not always be the best plan. In many cases it
will be more profitable, on the whole, to plan the poultrv
keeping with a view to having stock enough to consume
the large wastes of grain within a comparatively short
time after they are available. This may mean feeding
more or less salable grain at other times.

Another point which the farmer who has much waste
giain available for poultry at some seasons should con-
sider is that, except when such wastes are abundant and
easily obtained, leaving poultry to find all feed for them-
selves compels them to work too hard for what they get,
— to use up in energy much nutriment that could more pro-
fitably go to growth, and makes chickens too hard-meated
to be really first-class table poultry. Many farmers have
so much other work to do that the most profitable method
for them to follow with poultry is to keep just enough to
stock the range that they can use for poultry, and leave
the birds generally to themselves. But wherever it seems
advantageous to give special attention to poultry on the
farm, it will be found profitable to carry stocks of chick-
ens much larger than the range will supply with the grain
needed, adopting to some extent the policy of growers of
first-class market poultry, who go on the principle of giv-
ing chicks free range, but feeding them so well that they

will take only exercise enough to keep them in good con-
dition until fit for market.

A course about midway between this practice of mar-
ket poultry growers and that of the farmer who makes his.
chickens hunt for most of their feed, will give full growth
and vigor without making young birds noticeably hard-
meated. A farmer who distributes his chickens so that
the grain they get from the land will equal about half of
the usual grain ration, and finds that he gets a normal rate
of growth by feeding about half the quantities of grain
consumed by chickens on a range that affords no sub-
stantial amount of grain, may conclude that he is growing-
chickens about as they should be grown for laying and
stock purposes, still keeping them so soft-meated that
when properly finished for market they will be quite a.A
tender as those which the market poultry specialist keeps
soft-meated by feeding so that they take the least amount
of exercise that will keep them from indigestion until they
are fattened for market.

Observations on Various Relations of Feed and Condi-
tions of Feeding to Growth and Development

Chickens from the same stock may be grown in about
the same time to the same weight, and yet develop on
such different lines that they appear to be of quite dis-
stinctly different types. This is most noticeable in standard
exhibition stock from the same breeder, grown by various
purchasers of eggs under different conditions, but it may
easily be observed by comparing stock of the same breed
as grown by different breeders for different purposes. A
ration with a large proportion of soft feed will grow a
different type of chickens from one with a large propor-
tion of hard feed. A ration in which corn is the principal
ingredient will grow a different type of chicken from one
which contains mostly wheat or barley. A ration con-
taining a large amount of meat will have a different effect
on the development of the comb and wattles from one
containing no meat. Feeds will modify development
just as conditions may.

Soft feed, and feed of which chickens are very fond
and of which they eat freely, tend to make coarse-boned,
ioose-jointed birds which, because of these characteristics,
develop quite a different carriage from what they would
have had on a harder diet of which they ate more sparing-
ly. If with the feed that makes for bulk, looseness of
frame, and coarse bone, we have conditions of life that
also tend to these results, the effects are aggravated. On
the contrary, if we give conditions having an opposite ten-
dency to that of the ration, we can neutralize effects if
they are undesirable. Whether they are undesirable will
depend upon the purpose for which the birds are to be
used.

Many growers of standard exhibition stock give little
or no meat to growing chicks, because of the tendency of
meat to make the comb and wattles large and coarse. Ob-
viously the objection to the feeding of meat in such cases
will be most in evidence in stocks where the tendency is
to a larger comb than is desired; and in stocks with rather
small combs it will be possible to feed meat quite freely
without getting objectionable coarseness in comb and wat-
tles. Where meat is withheld for the purpose named, it 's
necessary and customary to give the birds every other
possible advantages to make good growth.

The feeding of yellow corn and corn meal to poultry
increases the yellow color in fat and in the skin, the scales
of the legs, and the beak. It also commonly increases the
creaminess of white plumage, though it does not in-
variably do this, for there are some birds and some stocks
in which the yellow color does not appear in white plum-
age no matter how much yellow corn is fed. In this matter

FEEDING CHICKS FROM WEANING TO MATURITY

69

the poultry keeper must act according to the circum-
stances. Breeders of white varieties generally try to de-
velop in their stock the absolute white plumage. This is
difficult, and also is a slow process. Meantime it is good
policy for one who finds that yellow corn affects the plum-
age of his white poultry to an undesirable extent, to re-
frain from using it. In England and on the continent of
Europe where there is more or less prejudice against yel-
low color of the skin and yellow fat in poultry, the market
poultry growers avoid feeding yellow corn and meal. In
the United States the yellower the poultry the better it
pleases the consuming public, so the grower of market
poultry feeds all of both that his poultry will stand.

Feeding Chickens in the Fall

With the coming of decidedly cool nights in the fall,
vigorous, healthy chickens usually develop tremendous
appetites. With due attention to the modification of heavy

WELL-GROWN PULLETS IN GRASSY YARDS WITH AUTOMATIC
GRAIN FEEDER

rations in the occasional hot spells that still come during
September in the North and may be looked for even a
month later in the South, the chickens should be fed ail
that they will eat of good, substantial rations. Those thai
are being fed at this season are mostly pullets for layers
stock birds, and cockerels that were not ready to market
when prices were good in the early summer, or that were
not sold then simply because the grower (as is the case
on many farms) follows the custom of letting all chickens,
except what are consumed at home through the season,
grow until late in the fall, and then make a general clean-
up of the stock that is not to be carried over, reserving

what pullets and hens are wanted, and a few cockerels, and
selling all the remainder.

It is usually the best policy in poultry keeping to have
the stock at this season down as clo>se as possible to what
is to be carried through the winter. Breeders who sell
breeding stock, of course, have to carry a considerable part
of it well into the winter, and perhaps some of it until
spring, but in nearly all other cases the poultry keeper
who sells all cockerels that are not to be used for breed-
ing, or that have not been caponized in the summer, an 1
works off as table poultry his cull pullets and all hens that
are not regarded as promising layers for another year,
doing this as early in the fall as possible, is in a much
better position to handle the stock on hand to the best
advantage.

The common difficulties in feeding — and in getting the
results that should be obtained — at this season, are the
the overcrowding of stock, and short-
feeding, either as a result of short-
age of feed on ranges that were good
through the earlier part of the sea-
son, or because the cost of feeding
a large stock at a time when returns
from it are small is such a burden that
the owner adopts the mistaken policy
of feeding a little light, in order to
make the feed (and his money) go as
far as possible. In all management of
live stock, the only sound policy is
to keep only those that are worth
feeding for the purpose for which
they are kept, to keep only as many
as the land or the resources in feed
and money will carry, and to feed
at all times all that the creatures can
use to good advantage. Any other
course defeats its own ends. Ad-
justment to get the right conditions
is simply a matter of culling rigidly
and culling early. When this is done,
the unprofitable and least profitable
individuals are weeded out, reducing
the number to be fed, while the re-
ceipts for those sold become avail-
able to buy feed for the others.

The poultry keeper can more fully
appreciate the occasion for heavier
feeding at this time if he will con-
sider that the chickens are mostly
now not more than three-fourths
grown, that even at summer tem-
peratures their requirements for
growth are steadily increasing, and
that with every decline in the aver-
age daily temperature the chickens,
to keep up their normal rate of
growth, must have more heat-pro-
ducing feed. These two things call for large increases
in the feed consumed, and in addition, it is the natural
tendency of poultry to put on fat at this time in antici-
pation of coming cold weather when the demands for
heat will at all times be beyond the heating capacity of
the ration that they can -digest. Thus coming altogether,
we have practically a trebling of the rate of increase in
feed requirements that obtained through the summer.

To keep chickens growing right it is necessary to
provide fully for these increased requirements, giving
the birds all that they can eat and digest. Where whole
corn is available it may be fed freely at least once a day.

70

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

preferably the last thing at night. Where cracked corn
and meal only can be had, it is a good plan to increase
the proportions of both in the ration and also to in-
crease the amount of animal feed as long as the chickens
will eat increased amounts in their mash with relish, or
— when it is fed separately — give them all they want.
With these increases in the more concentrated feeds, veg-
etable feeds and milk should be supplied as freely as pos-
sible. Waste windfall apples in quantity will go a long
way toward feeding poultry, and they are widely avail-
able. Frequently large quantities of cabbage that have
come on a little too fast for winter storage and have
split heads are available for poultry feeding, or may be
bought in quantity at prices that make them economical
feeds. Anything on his place, or in his vicinity, that
poultry will eat, and that it appears will otherwise go to
loss, a poultry keeper should secure for his poultry.

Where such supplies are abundant and the stock of
poultry not large, they may make so much of the feed
that the grain requirements are reduced, but in general,
the birds will consume as much grain as ever, or per-
haps more; the advantage and the saving are not in act-
ual reduction of the amounts of grain used, but in keep-
ing the chickens growing at the best possible rate and
getting them to full growth and maturity as soon as pos-
sible. Many people are afraid to feed pullets heavily as
they approach maturity, for fear of getting them too fat
to lay. There is not the least danger of that except
where they are grown in very restricted quarters and
with much less green feed than is necessary to keep
them in good condition. The question of the relation of
fat to egg production will be considered in detail in con-
nection with that subject in the next chapter. Here it is
only necessary to say that when pullets are grown un-
der such conditions and on such rations as will produce
pullets with the development and the constitution re-
quired to make them profitable layers, there is not only
no danger of preventing their laying by heavy feeding
at this period, but the heaviest feeding they can stand
and keep good appetites is what they need to bring them
to laying as soon as they are full grown.

Relation of Poultry Parasites to Feeding and Feeding

Results

Whatever diminishe's the comfort and vitality of a
creature unfavorably affects digestion and production.
We can see this most plainly in milch cows which are
fed and yield their product under conditions that bring
out clearly the influence of excitement or discomfort
upon appetite, digestion, and the flow of milk. The in-
dividual peculiarities of cows are noted because cows
have to have individual treatment in feeding and milking.
Similar peculiarities in hens are not so likely to be noted,
because the unit in poultry work is a flock, not an in-
dividual. The variations in the quantity of milk given
by a cow are conspicuous because she is milked at reg-
ular intervals and the amount of milk is expected to be
the same from day to day. Anything disturbing to the
cow is so certain to be followed by a reduction in the
quantity of milk at the next milking that the person in
charge of the cow has to be very obtuse not to see the
relation between the cause and the effect.

In the care of laying hens fluctuations in the egg
yield on account of disturbances are not as plain as the

I

corresponding developments in connection with milk pro-
duction, but still are often apparent to ordinary observa-
tion. In growing chicks, even at the most rapid rate of
growth, the daily increase is not so noticeable that the
effects of things that check growth will be immediately
noticed. It is often only after a check has been operat-
ing for several days or a week or more that its cumula-
tive effects attract attention." Because of this it is nec-
essary for a poultry grower, and especially for a novice,
to guard against the development of conditions that may
unfavorably affect growth. In earlier sections in this
chapter instructions were given in regard to anticipating
the effects of extreme heat upon appetite and growth, by
suitable adjustments of the diet. Equally important is
the matter of the relation of parasites to the consump-
tion and digestion and assimililation of feed.

The presence in small numbers of lice and mites o
adult poultry, or poultry that is nearly grown, does not
appear to be particularly detrimental to them. It is not
unreasonable to suppose, as some do, that the body lice
in moderate numbers may be beneficial, the irritation
they cause stimulating the bird to wallow in the dust,
which process, results in cleaning the plumage as well as
destroying most of the parasites. The parasites that con-
sume dead skin are of some use, and it is not at all im-
possible that the blood sucking mites do some service by
taking blood from birds that have too much blood pres-
sure. But the increase of parasites from harmless to
harmful numbers may be made so quickly, and with such
serious effects .upon growing chickens, that the poultry
grower needs always to keep this situation well in hand,
taking whatever measures are necessary to keep lice and
mites in subjection.

Head and body lice of poultry are most troublesome
while the chicks are small. Red mites do most of the
damage during the summer. The effective way to keep
them down is by thoroughly spraying with a good liquid
insecticide and disinfectant all coops and houses occu-
pied by growing chickens. They should be sprayed be-
fore chickens are put into them, watched closely for the
appearance of mites, and sprayed as often as signs of
these are seen. Spraying at regular intervals is fre-
quently recommended, but in the writer's opinion it is
generally better to keep a sharp lookout and spray when
necessary. In hot, damp weather mites sometimes mul-
tiply with amazing rapidity, and those who rely upon
regular sprayings and do not watch closely for mites
often overlook an inroad of them that may start soon
after a spraying, until it has done a great deal of damage.

Either lice or mites in sufficient numbers can com-
pletely neutralize the effects of the best of rations, and
the best of conditions in other respects. They sap the
vitality of the birds, diminish their appetites, impair their
powers of digestion, and take the profit out of the poultry
growing. Nor are the effects of lice and mites seen only
in these general respects. In the growing of exhibition
poultry, the diminished vitality of the birds due to the
presence of lice or mites, or both, affects the develop-
ment of the feathers, making faults that would not other-
wise be present; and may also .notably affect the car-
riage and type of the bird. Poultry may live while in-
fested with lice, but they will not thrive if lice cause them
any serious discomfort or annoyance.

CHAPTER VII

Feeding For Egg Production

Feeding and Management of Hens of All Types and Breeds to Secure Heavy Egg Production — Laying Rations Used
and Recommended By Federal and State Demonstration and Experiment Farms, and By Commer-
cial Egg Farmers — Amounts of Feed Consumed By Laying Hens — Modifying Rations

to Suit Weather Conditions

O

NE of the easiest things in poultry keeping is to
get good egg production. It can be done quite
easily under conditions in which it is difficult
to grow good chickens and in which good results from
breeding stock are rarely obtained. Why is it, then,
that so many people strive unsuccessfully to get even
ordinary egg yields and so few report extraordinary
yields? It is simply because so many people are look-
ing for some way of getting good egg yields by some
other process than that which regularly gives them.
The way to get good egg production, while in itself easy,
is not equally attractive to all who engage in poultry
keeping. It is close attention to the wants of the hens,
regular feeding of rations furnishing a good variety of
feeds, care of the birds and the premises they occupy to
keep them comfortable under changing weather condi-
tions, and to keep the place they live in reasonably clean.
The routine of attention to these details may sometimes
be simplified by the use of appliances and a system of
management that reduce the number of times that atten-
tion is given to the birds daily, but in general when good
egg yields are obtained, some interested and responsible
person is looking after their wants not less than twice,
and oftener three times, a day.

It is best to recognize this fact at the beginning of a
discussion of feeding for egg production. The cases
where good results are obtained with less attention are
exceptions in which an unusually favorable combination
of other things affecting egg production has made it pos-
sible for a poultry keeper to get good to extra-good pro-
duction with a minimum of attention. The consideration
of these exceptional cases will be taken up after discus-
sion of feeding for egg production under the usual con-
ditions which give ordinary good results. In discussing
this general line of feeding for egg production we will
begin with the pullets in the fall, and consider the man-
agement of a flock from the time they are first put into
the laying houses, through the winter, spring and sum-
mer, and the first annual molt, bringing them up to the
beginning of their second laying year. Before going into
the details of handling and feeding under ordinary con-
ditions, it will be worth while to consider the conditions
under which pullets lay according to expectation prompt-
ly upon reaching the age of maturity.

The Ideal Way to Manage Pullets for Egg Production

The surest way to have pullets begin to lay about
the time they make their growth, and continue to lay
regularly, is to grow them in the house that they are to
occupy as layers. This is not commonly practiced be-
cause, after maturity, layers do not need as good range
as they had while growing, and because, as a rule, the
houses for the laying stock are occupied by the preced-
ing generation of layers throughout the greater part of
the period when the pullets are grown. The reason pul-
lets handled in this way are normal in regard to the time
of beginning laying, while apparently as well grown
pullets that have been shifted several times during the

growing period, with the last shift (to permanent laying
houses) coming just about the time they are expected to
begin to lay, will be weeks and possibly months in get-
ting into regular laying, is — that unless such shifts are
made with the jgreatest care to keep the birds quiet, com-
fortable, and contented, every move checks development
and retards egg production.

This effect of change is found in nearly every func-
tion of poultry that has to be considered in connection
with growth and reproduction. Mention was made in
the last chapter of the effects of change of diet on some
birds, and of the importance of using systems of feeding
that reduced the susceptibility of birds to such changes.
When breeding poultry are moved to new locations, even
in the vicinity of their old home, they often do not breed
right for some time, but give an extraordinary propor-
tion of infertile eggs and weak germs. Everyone who
has moved hens that were laying when moved knows that
it usually stops egg production for some time. When
these things are considered, it is easy to see how moving
pullets about retards laying. The fact that it does is rec-
ognized in the practice often adopted of moving pullets
that are coming to laying a little too early to suit their
owner, and perhaps moving them several times, to hold
them back as long as possible. But for every such case
there are scores of instances of retarded laying plainly
attributable to frequent shifts or to other incidents un-
favorable to development during the growing period, and
poultry keepers almost invariably either overlook the in-
fluence of these things upon development or greatly un-
derestimate their effects.

When to Move Pullets to Winter Quarters

While a change at any time seems to have some re-
tarding effect upon the development of chickens — unless
made with such care that they are not in the least dis-
turbed by it — pullets seem to be most suspectible to the
influence of change and the excitement that often ac-
company their establishment in new quarters, in the three
or four weeks before they begin to lay. If moved after
they have been laying for a little while, with some care
to make the change as little disturbing as possible, they
will often hardly stop laying at all; but it is quite the
common thing for pullets moved just as they were about
to begin to lay to produce no eggs for several weeks or
months. So whenever it can be done, the pullets should
be put in their permanent laying quarters a full month
before they are expected to begin laying. The arrange-
ments for moving them should be made with a view to
disturbing them as little as possible, and they should
be handled gently, even if that does take considerably
more time than the average rough-and-ready poultry
keeper gives to such jobs.

Rations for Pullets for Egg Production

The feeding of pullets for egg production generally
continues, with some modification, the ration- they had
been receiving while in the growing coops. To keep the

71

72

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

different rations recommended by different institutions
and authorities in series that readily connect those from
the same place, the following rations have been given
the numbers which correspond with the chick rations from
the same sources, but with the letter b added:

Ration No. Ib— Rations Recommended By the United States
Department of Agriculture

I — Scratch Mixture — Equal parts by weight of wheat, oats
and cracked corn. Mash mixture — Equal parts by weight
of corn meal, wheat bran, wheat middling, and meat
scrap.

Feed the grain twice a day in a litter of straw or
other material to compel exercise. A good way is to
feed rather light in the morning and heavier at night.
The mash may be fed either wet or dry. If fed wet we
prefer to give it at noon with the grain feeds morning
and evening, but there is no objection to giving the
mash either morning or evening, and one of the grain
feeds at noon. If the mash is fed dry it should be given
in a hopper from which the hens can help themselves at
will. If the hens are on good range they will need no
other green feed. For hens that have no range in sum-
mer, and for all hens in winter some form of succulent
green feed should* be provided. Oyster shell should be
supplied, also grit and gravel if these are not to be ob-
tained from the land.

II — Scratch Mixture — Two parts of cracked corn and one of
oats. Mash — Table scraps, run through a meat chopper,
and mixed with corn meal, bran, or other ground grain.
Feed the scratch mixture twice a day, the mash
once. It is also a good plan with this ration to keep a
hopper of the dry mash described in the preceding ra-
tion before the hens. Green feed should be furnished
as liberally as possible, and the usual feed accessories.

Ration No. 2fo — Ontario Agricultural College Ration

I — Method of Feeding Winter Laying Stock.

Scratch Mixture — Equal parts of wheat, cracked corn
and buckwheat; this is fed morning and evening. The
morning feed is given in litter late the previous even-
ing. The evening feed is given in troughs, and what
the birds do not eat is taken up.

Mash — Rolled oats kept constantly before the hens in
hoppers.

At noon mangels, cabbage, or clover hay is fed. But-
termilk only is given to drink.

II — Feeding When Wet Mashes Are Used.

Early in the morning scratch mixture as in the above,
in litter, at the rate of about half a handful to a fowl.
At noon a lighter feed of the grain — about two handfuls
to a dozen fowls, and all the roots they will eat. Cab-
bage is also sometimes given at noon.

(It ie obvious that in this case the HANDFULS are
large handfuls, what can be scooped in the hand to
scatter near the feeder, rather than what could be held
in the hand to carry or to throw widely broadcast).

About four o'clock in the afternoon a mash is given.
This mash is composed of about equal parts of bran,
shorts, oat chop, and corn meal (during cold weather)
and to this is added about ten per cent of beef scrap
or animal meal — unless cut bone, or cooked meat is
available. These feeds are thoroughly mixed dry, and
then mixed with steeped clover, prepared by getting a
bucket of clover leaves, or cut clover hay, and scalding
it with boiling water. This is done early in the morn-
ing and the bucket is kept covered with a thick sack
throughout the day. The aim is to have about one-
third of the ration in bulk cut clover. After the mash
a small amount of grain is fed in litter. Water is kept
before the birds all the time.

Ration No. 3b — Cornell Ration for Laying Pullets

I — Grain Mixtures. Parts by Weight.

July to about middle of September — 1 cracked corn,
1 wheat, 1 oats. September to December — 3 cracked
corn, 4 wheat, 1 oats. December to latter part of
January— 4 cracked corn, 3 wheat, 1 oats. Last of
January to about March 1st — 3 cracked corn, 3
wheat, 1 oats, 1 buckwheat. March to last of July —
4 cracked corn, 3 wheat, 1 oats.
Mash —

Corn meal 2 parts

Wheat middlings 2 parts

Wheat bran 1 part

Meat scrap 2 parts

Alfalfa meal —.1 part

Grain fed morning and evening in litter — mash fed wet
at noon. Grit, oyster shell, and water always before the
birds. Mangels and green cut bones given occasionally when
they are confined to the house.

II- — Same as I, except mash fed dry in hoppers.

Ration No. 41) — New Jersey Experiment Station Ration

I — New Jersey Station Ration.
Scratch Mixture No. 1:

Wheat 100 pounds

Oats 100 pounds

Scratch Mixture No. 2:

Cracked corn 200 pounds

Wheat 1 00 pounds

Oats 100 pounds

Buckwheat 100 pounds

Dry Mash No. 1:

Wheat bran 200 pounds

Wheat middlings 200 pounds

Ground oats 100 pounds

Corn meal 100 pounds

Gluten feed 100 pounds

Alfalfa » .....100 pounds

Meat scrap .. ....200 pounds

Dry Mash No. 2:

Wheat bran 200 pounds

Wheat middlings 100 pounds

Ground oats 100 pounds

Gluten feed 50 pounds

Meat scrap 25 pounds

Scratch mixture No. 1 is fed about 9 o'clock in the

morning about 5 quarts to 100 birds the year round.

Scratch mixture No. 2 is fed at 4 to 5 o'clock in the

afternoon, according to the season, about 10 pounds to

100 birds.

Mash No. 1 is kept before the birds all the time in

hoppers in winter. In summer Mash No. 2 is used.

These mashes are compounded for Leghorns. If fed to

heavier fowls the hoppers should be kept closed a part

of the day — as much as necessary to insure that the

birds will not eat so much mash that they will become

too fat.
II- — New Jersey Laying Contest Ration.

Scratch Mixture:

Winter — 2 parts cracked corn, 1 part wheat, 1 part
oats. Summer — 1 part cracked corn, 1 part wheat.
1 part oats.

Dry Mash:

Wheat bran 100 pounds

Wheat middlings or low

grade flour 100 pounds

Ground oats 100 pounds

Corn meal 100 pounds

Meat scrap 100 pounds

Grain fed in litter morning and evening. Mash

in hoppers before the birds all the time. In general the

A TEAR'S RATIONS FOR A HEAVY-LAYING LEGHORN HEN

FEEDIXG FOR EGG PRODUCTION

73

amount of grain consumed is slightly in excess of the
mash, but in periods of very heavy laying- more mash
is consumed.

Kilt ion No. 5b— Ohio Agricultural College Ration

I Regular ration for layers at Ohio University Poultry

Plant.
Scratch Mixture:

Cracked corn 3 parts, wheat 2 parts, oats
1 part.

"Dry Mash:

Corn meal 4 pounds

Wheat middlings 6 pounds

Wheat bran 4 pounds

Mt at scrap 4 pounds

Oil meal 1 pound

Alfalfa meal 1 pound

Charcoal % pound

Salt 1 tablespoon

The grain is fed in litter, a light feed in the morn-
ing a full feed in the evening. The mash is fed in
hoppers which are open all the time or closed a part
of the time as necessary to have the birds eat about
one-half as much mash as grain. Green feed is given
freely, and grit and shell supplied in hoppers.

II — Ohio Experiment Station Ration.
Scratch Mixture:

Cracked corn 4 parts, wheat 2 parts, oats
1 part.

Dry Mash:

Corn meal 3 pounds

Wheat bran 2 pounds

Wheat middlings 1 pound

Meat scrap 2 pounds

This is fed in the same manner as the preceding.

Ration No. «b— Massachusetts Experiment Station Ration

Scratch Mixtures:

I — Cracked corn 2 parts, wheat 1 part.
II — Cracked corn 3 parts, wheat 2 parts.
Ill — Cracked corn 2 parts, wheat 1 part, oats 1 part.

Mashes:

I — Wheat bran - 200 pounds

Wheat middlings 100 pounds

Corn meal 100 pounds

Ground alfalfa 100 pounds

Meat scrap 50 pounds

Linseed meal 50 pounds

Gluten meal 50 pounds

II — Wheat bran .-. 100 pounds

Wheat middlings 100 pounds

Corn meal 100 pounds

Fine ground oats 100 pounds

Ground alfalfa 100 pounds

Meat scrap 100 pounds

HI — Wheat bran 100 pounds

Wheat middlings 100 pounds

Corn meal 100 pounds

Ground oats 100 pounds

Gluten feed 100 pounds

Linseed meal 100 pounds

Meat scrap 100 pounds

Any desired combination of the different scratch
mixtures and mashes may be made. The method of
feeding is to keep dry mash before the hens all the
time, and give a light wet mash of the same ingredi-
ents about 2 p. m. In the morning, sometime between
6 and 9 o'clock, according to convenience, a light feed
of the scratch mixture is given in litter. From 3:30 to
5 o'clock in the afternoon, according to the time of
year, a full feed of the scratch mixture is given. Man-
gels and cabbage are fed freely, and shell and grit kept
before the hens.

Ration No. 7b— Maine Experiment Station Ration for Pullets

Grain:

Morning — 4 quarts cracked corn in litter 6 to 8 inches
deep to 100 hens; 10 o'clock, 2 quarts wheat, and 2
quarts oats to each 100 hens.
Dry Mash:

First month in the laying house (September).

Bran 300 pounds

Corn meal 100 pounds

Low grade flour 100 pounds

Meat scrap '. 100 pounds

Second month in laying house.

Bran 200 pounds

Corn meal 100 pounds

Low grade flour 100 pounds

Gluten meal 100 pounds

Meat scrap 100 pounds

Third month — same as the second with the addition of
50 pounds of linseed meal.

Fourth month — same as the second month given above.

Fifth moitth — same as third month as given above.

From this time on 50 pounds of linseed meal is put

into the mash each alternate month. The advantages

believed to result from this method of varying the

mash are, better vitality and more even egg production.

When the birds are not on range sprouted oats are

used freely for green feed. Grit and oyster shell are

always provided.

Ration No. Sb — Wisconsin Experiment Station Ration

I — Feed in deep litter, a mixture of grains in the propor-
tion of 4 pounds cracked corn to 1 pound each of oats
and barley. Give this twice a day — a light feed in the
morning feed in the morning and a full feed at night.

Feed in hopper (all the time) a mash mixture at the
rate of 100 pounds each of bran, middlings, ground
<;orn. and gluten feed, 50 pounds of meat scrap, and 2
pounds of salt.

Feed in trough (three times a week) same mixture
of ground feed moistened with milk.

For green feed give .'prouted oats and mangels.
Give grit, oyster shell, charcoal, and water.
II— Feed in deep litter, scratch mixture in the proportions
of 4 pounds of cracked corn to 1 pound of barley. Feed
light in the morning and heavy at night.

Feed in hopper (all the time) mash of equal parts
bran, middlings, and corn meal, salted slightly. Green
feed and accessories as above.

Ration No. 9b— Minnesota Experiment Station Ration

I — Scratch Mixture:

Cracked corn 2 parts, wheat 2 parts, oats 1 part.
Mash:

Bran 100 pounds

Middlings 100 pounds

Corn meal 100 pounds

Green cut bone 100 pounds

Pea meal : 50 pounds

Give all the scratch feed they will eat the first thing in
the morning. About 11 o'clock give the mash, moist but not
sloppy. After eating this they should have all the green
feed they will eat. About two hours before dark, feed
grain, same as in the morning. Keep water, grit, and ground
oyster shell always before them.

II — Scratch Mixture:

Equal parts by weight, of cracked corn, wheat, and
oats. (When corn is difficult to obtain barley is
substituted for it). -
Mash:

Equal parts by weight, of finely ground corn, oats,

bran, and shorts. Meat feed is supplied either by

adding about 10 per cent meat scrap to the mash or

by giving the hens all the milk they will drink.

The grain mixture is given twice a day, in litter, at the

rate of about 7 pounds to each 100 hens in the morning, and

about 8 pounds in the evening. The mash may be given

either dry or moist. When fed dry it is kept before the

birds in hoppers. When fed moist it is given about noon,

wet with either water or milk, and sometimes with steeped

clover leaves added. For green' feed when the birds are

confined to the houses about ten pounds of mangels a day

are allowed to each 100 hens, or a bunch of clover hay tied

and suspended by a string is furnished from which the hens

eat as they wish. Water, grit, and shell are provided.

Ration No. lOb — Purdue Experiment Station Ration

I — Scratch Mixture: Cracked corn 2 parts, wheat 2

parts, oats 1 part.
Mash:

Bran 5 pounds

Shorts 5 pounds

Meat scrap 3% pounds

Grain scattered in deep straw litter in the morning and
evening, about one-third as much in the morning as in the
afternoon. Dry mash in hopper always open. Water, grit,
and shell were always accessible.

II — Instead of the meat scraps in the above ration give
all the milk the birds will drink. In winter in-
crease the corn by 1 part, and reduce the wheat the
same amount.

Ill — Instead of meat scraps in ration use about the
same proportion — more rather than less — of fish
scraps.

Ration No. lib— Oklahoma Experiment Station Ration

1 — Scratch Mixture: Cracked corn 3 parts, .wheat 3
parts, oats 1 part.

Mash:

Mill run (bran and middlings) 7 pounds

Corn meal 7 pounds

Meat scrap 3 pounds

Alfalfa leaves 2 pounds

Charcoal % pound

Give the scratch mixture in litter twice daily, and keep

the dry mash always before the birds in hoppers. Feed

sprouted oats, cabbage, mangels or steamed alfalfa for

green feed, and keep the birds supplied with shell, grit,

• and water.

II — Same as above but scratch mixture equal parts

cracked corn and kafir corn.
Ill — Scratch Mixture: Equal parts of wheat and kafir

corn.

Mash:

Mill run .-. 7 pounds

Corn chop 10 pounds

Meat scrap 2 pounds

Bone meal 1 pound

IV — Same as III, but

Mash:

Mill run 8 pounds

Corn chop 7 pounds

Cottonseed meal 3 pounds

Bone meal 1 pound

74

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

Ration Xo. 12b — Missouri University Ration

I — Scratch Mixture: In winter, 2 parts cracked corn, 1

part wheat; in summer, 1 part cracked corn, 2

parts wheat.
Mash — Equal parts by weight, of bran, middlings, corn

meal, and meat scrap.
II — Scratch Mixture: In winter, wheat 6 parts, cracked

corn 3 parts, oats 3 parts, buckwheat 3 parts.

Mash:

Corn meal 6 parts

Middlings 6 parts

Bran 3 parts

Alfalfa meal 1 part

Oil meal 1 part

Meat scrap 5 parts

III — Scratch feed — Early morning and night, cracked
corn; at noon, equal parts of wheat and oats.

Mash — Bran 3 parts, middlings 1 part, corn meal 1 part,
meat scrap 1 part, occasionally add 1 part oil meal.

IV — Scratch mixture same as in I.

Mash — Ground oats, with buttermilk or sour milk as
a drink.

V — Scratch Mixture:

Cracked corn 6 parts

Wheat 6 part

Oats .'....4 parts

Barley 2 parts

Kafir corn 1 part

Buckwheat 1 part

Mash:

Bran - 2 parts

Corn meal 1 part

Gluten meal 1 part

Ground oats 1 part

Ground oats 1 part

Middlings 1 part

Meat scrap : '. 1 part

The method of feeding all these rations is the same —
a light feed of the grain in the morning; the mash fed
either in hoppers, or in troughs, at noon; a heavy feed of
grain in the evening — green feed given frequently, and
water, grit, and shell kept before the birds all the time.

Ration No. 13b— Manitoba Agricultural College Ration

Scratch mixture — wheat 2 parts, cracked corn 1 part.

Mash — crushed oats fed dry.

Give cabbage or mangels once a day, all the buttermilk
the birds will drink, and keep water, shell, and grit always
before them.

Ration No. 14b— Michigan Experiment Station Ration

Scratch mixture — Cracked corn, wheat, and oats, in pro-
portions to suit the season, and the condition and
appetite of the hens.

Mash:

Bran 100 pounds

Middlings 75 pounds

Corn meal 100 pounds

Beef scrap 100 pounds

Oil meal 25 pounds

If the mash is fed dry in hoppers, give a light feed of
grain in the morning in litter; at noon open the hoppers and
let the hens have mash at will until about 4 o'clock; then
close the hoppers and give a good feed of grain in litter.
Give plenty of green feed, shell, and grit, and keep water
before the birds. If the mash is fed moist, give it at noon.

Ration Xo. lob — Xorth Carolina Experiment Station Ration

I — Scratch mixture — cracked corn 2 parts, wheat 1 part.
Mash:

Corn meal 4 parts

b, an 4 parts

Meat meal 2 parts

Bone meal 2 parts

II — Sciatch mixture as in I.
Mash:

Corn meal 4 parts

Bran 4 parts

Cottonseed meal 4 parts

Bone meal 2 parts

In both rations the grain is fed twice a day in litter,
and the mash is kept before the birds in hoppers. The hens
have the run of yards in Bermuda grass throughout the
winitr, and occasionally a run on plots of oats and clover.
Thv.y aie kept supplied with water, shell, and grit.

Ration Xo. 16b — Montana Experiment Station Ration

Scratch mixture — Equal parts by measure, of wheat,
oats, barley and peas.

Mash:

Wheat bran 10 pounds

Shorts 10 pounds

Ground oat - 10 pounds

Ground barley 20 pounds

Meat scrap 10 pounds

Flax seed 10 pounds

Salt 26 ounces

The flax seed is given in alternate months only.

Ration Xo. 17b— Washington Agricultural College Ration

I — Scratch mixture — Equal parts by measure, of cracked

corn, wheat and oats.

Mash — Equal parts by weight, of coarse bran, wheat
middlings, ground oats, corn meal, and 10 per cent
of meat scrap.

Give a fairly liberal feed of grain in litter in the morn-
ing, and a heavier feed toward evening; keep the mash be-
fore the fowls in hoppers. Give grass, kale, cabbage, etc.,
for green feed. Give both milk and water in separate ves-
sels. Keep shell and grit before them.
II — Scratch Mixture:

Wheat , 250 pounds

Clipped barley .'. 100 pounds

Sunflower seed 35 pounds

Mash:

Bran 125 pounds

Middlings -90 pounds

Ground oats 100 pounds

Oil meal : 25 pounds

Pish meal 50 pounds

Charcoal — flaked 1 bucket

The scratch mixture is fed in litter twice a day; the
mash kept before the hens in hoppers. Green feed and ac-
ces. ories as in I. When corn is reasonable in price it is
used in the scratch feed in preference to barley. (The rather
unusual proportions in the mash in this case result from
the fact that mill stuffs in the vicinity are not always put
up in standard 100-pound bags).

Ration Xo. ISb— Oregon Agricultural College Ration

Scratch mixture — Oats 25 pounds, barley 10 pounds.

Mash:

Mill feed (bran and shorts) 5 pounds

Ground oats or barley 5 pounds

Ground corn 5 pounds

Linseed meal 5 pounds or

THREE SMALL. POULTRY RANCHES INSIDE THE CITY LIMITS OF PETALUMA, CALIF.

Each one keeps 300 to 500 layers.

FEEDING FOR EGG PRODUCTION

75

Cocoanut meal 7 pounds

Meat or fish scrap 7 pounds

The grain should be fed in litter. The mash may be
given either dry or moist. If fed moist the amount of ani-
mal matter in it should be reduced and some meat or fish
scrap fed in a hopper.

Ration No. 19b— California Experiment Station Ration

Scratch mixture — Whole or rolled barley 2 parts, Egyp-
tian corn or milo maize 1 part, cracked corn 1 part.
• Mash:

Wheat bran 50 pounds

Middlings 50 pounds

Ground barley or oats 50 pounds

Soy bean or linseed meal 10 pounds

Cocoanut or soy bean, or linseed
or cottonseed meal, or ground

beans 10 pounds

Meat scrap or fish scrap 30 pounds

Pine granulated charcoal 5 pounds

Pine salt 1 pound

The mash may be fed either dry or moist. Wheat may
be used in the scratch mixture in moderate quantity to re-
place all or a part of any one of the other grains. If sour
milk or buttermilk can be kept constantly before the hens,
no meat scrap need be fed. Fresh raw ground bone may
also be substituted for meat scrap if fed at the rate of a
half an ounce a day.

Ration No. 20b— Kansas Experiment Station Ration

Scratch mixture — Wheat 2 parts, cracked corn 2 parts,

oats 1 part.
Mash:

Shorts 6 pounds

Bran 3 pounds

Corn meal 6 pounds

Meat scrap 5 pounds

Alfalfa meal 1 pound

Give green feed liberally, and substitute milk for meat
scrap whenever a supply of it is available.

Kafir corn and buckwheat may be included in the grain
mixture, or substituted for some of the other ingredients.
Other meals, such as linseed meal, pea meal, soy bean meal,
and cottonseed meal may be added to the mash in small
quantities.

Ration No. 27I>— >1:ir\ land Experiment Station Ration

Scratch mixture — Equal parts of cracked corn, wheat,

and oats.
Mash:

Bran 100 pounds

Middlings 50 pounds

Corn meal 50 pounds

Linseed meal 50 pounds

Meat scrap 50 pounds

Charcoal 2 pounds

Salt 2 pounds

To a pen of 40 hens two quarts of the grain mixture is
riven early in the morning. Between 8 and 9 o'clock from
t to 5 pounds of cabbage. At noon the same amount of
jrain as in the morning. The dry mash is accessible to the
}irds at all times. Fresh water, shell, and grit are kept
by them.

Ration No. 28b— Kentucky Agricultural College Ration

Grain Mixtures:

Pounds

I — Cracked corn 50

Heavy oats 20

Barley 20

Wheat 10

II — Cracked corn .70

Heavy oats 30

III — Cracked corn.
Dry Mashes:

I — Ship stuff

Corn meal

Ground oats.
Meat scraps .

II— Ship stuff

Corn meal ...
Meat scrap ...

Ill — Corn meal

Meat scrap ...
Ground oats

or
or
or
or
or
or

Quarts

30
20

13J4
5%
42
30

.40
.20
.20
.20
.50
.30
.20
.40
.25
.20

or 60%

or 18

or 46%

or 11

or 75%

or 27

or 11

or 36

or 13%

or 46%

Alfalfa meal 15 or 27

Any one of the grain mixtures may be fed with any
of the mashes. The grain should be scattered in litter,
about one-third of the total amount fed in the morning and
two-thirds in the evening. The dry mash should be kept
before the birds all the time. Green feed should be fed to
all hens during the winter, and in the summer to birds in
confinement. Water, shell, grit, and charcoal should be kept
before the birds all the time.

Ration No. 29b — West Virginia Experiment Station Ration

Scratch Feed:

Cracked corn 60 pounds

Wheat 60 pounds

Oats 40 pounds

Barley 20 pounds

Buckwheat . 10 pounds

Mash:

Wheat bran 200 pounds

Corn meal 100 pounds

Ground oats 100 pounds

Gluten feed 100 pounds

Wheat middlings 100 pounds

Meat scrap 100 pounds

The grain is fed in litter twice a day. The mash may
be fed either wet or dry. Cabbage, mangels, sprouted oats,
cut alfalfa, and beet pulp 'may be used for succulent feed.
Grit and shell are provided.

Ration No. 3Ob— Louisiana Agricultural College Ration

Scratch grain- Summer — Morning, oats: night, oats 3
parts, cracked corn 1 part. Winter — Morning,
cracked corn 1 part, oats 2 parts; night, corn.

Mash:

Corn meal 30 pounds

Wheat bran 30 pounds

Cottonseed meal 15 pounds

Keep the mash before the birds at all times Give other
grains occasionally as available to add variety. Give suc-
culent green feed and provide grit and shell.

Ration No. 31 1> — Texas Experiment Station Ration

Scratch mixture — A variety of grains, principally
cracked corn, supplemented' with milo, wheat, oats,
etc. Or, milo may be uted as the sole or principal
grain. The mash given is especially for use with
milo.

Mash:

I — Wheat bran 70 pounds

Wheat shorts 50 pounds

Cottonseed meal 60 pounds

Milo meal 20 pounds

II — Wheat bran 50 pounds

Wheat shorts 60 pounds

Cottonseed meal 30 pounds

Meat scrap 22.5 pounds

Milo meal .-.20 pounds

The grains are fed as a scratch feed in litter, a light
feed in the morning and a full feed in the evening. The
mash is fed in hoppers which are opened at noon and left
open until the grain is fed in the evening. Green feed is
supplied plentifully, and water and some kind of shell-
forming material are kept before the birds all the time.

Ration No. 32b — New Hampshire Agricultural College Ration

Scratch Mixture:

Cracked corn 6 parts

Oats 6 parts

Buckwheat 4 parts

Rye 5 parts

Mash:

Corn meal 100 pounds

Bran 100 pounds

White middlings .-.100 pounds

Ground oats 100 pounds

Cut clover 100 pounds

Meat scrap 50 pounds

The grain is fed three times a day in deep litter. In
the coldest winter months the quantity of corn is doubled.
If rye and buckwheat are not available, wheat screenings
are used in their place. The dry mash is kept always be-
fore the hens. It is varied occasionally by the addition of
one part of pea meal, barley meal, or rye meal. Cabbage,
mangels, turnips, and sprouted oats are used for succulence.

Ration No. 33b— Macdonald Agricultural College Ration

Scratch mixture — In winter, 2 parts cracked corn, 2
parts wheat, 1 part oats or buckwheat. In summer
use less corn.
Mash:

Wheat bran 200 pounds

Crushed oats 120 pounds

Corn meal 100 pounds

Middlings 100 pounds

Meat scraps 60 pounds

Charcoal r 20 pounds

The grain is fed in litter morning and evening. The
mash is fed at noon in troughs, having been moistened with
milk or water. The mash may be fed dry in hoppers, if
desired. Cabbage, mangels, turnips, and sprouted oats are
used for green feed. Water, grit, and shell are kept before
the hens all the time. Milk is given when available.

Ration No. :: lit — Storrs, Connecticut, Laying Contest Ration

I — Ration Used in Earlier Contests.

Scratch Mixture:

Cracked corn 60 pounds

Wheat 60 pounds

Heavy white oats 40 pounds

Barley 20 pounds

Kafir corn 10 pounds

Buckwheat 10 pounds

Dry Mash:

Coarse wheat bran 200 pounds

Corn meal 100 pounds

Gluten feed 100 pounds

Ground oats 100 pounds

Standard middlings 75 pounds

Pish scrap 45 pounds

Meat scrap 45 pounds

Low grade flour 25 pounds

II — Ration Used in Recent Contests:

Scratch mixture — Equal parts of wheat and cracked
corn.

76

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

Mash:

Wheat bran 100 pounds

Corn meal 100 pounds

Ground oats 100 pounds

Flour middlings 100 pounds

Fish scrap 50 pounds

Meat scrap v 50 pounds

The grain is fed two or more times a day in litter, as
seems necessary to keep the hens busy. The mash is fed
dry, the hens having' access to it at all times. The prin-
cipal succulent feed in winter is mangels. In summer the
yards furnish green feed. Grit, shell, charcoal, and water
are always accessible.

Ration No. Sob^Delaware Agricultural College Contest
Ration

Same as No. 34b-I, except that 15 pounds less each of
fish scrap and meat scrap are put in the dry mash, and 10
pounds of coarse meat scrap is added to the scratch feed
formula.

Ration No. 36b— Missouri State Experiment Station Contest
Ration

Scratch mixture — In spring and fall, equal parts of corn
and wheat; in winter, 2 parts cracked corn and 1 part wheat;
in summer, 1 part cracked corn, and 2 parts wheat.

Dry mash — Ground oats, to which has been added 10%
of meat scrap, and a little charcoal and salt. When ground
oats are not available, the mash is of equal parts bran,
middlings, and corn meal, with the other ingredients added
as to the oats.

The mash is kept before the hens all the time. The
grain is fed as follows: Each morning 1 pint to ten hens,
and at night a pint and a half to ten hens. Green feed is
provided, also grit and shell, and fresh water are always
accessible.

Ration 37b— British Columbia Laying Contest Ration

Scratch mixture — Winter, equal parts wheat and cracked
corn; summer, wheat 3 parts, cracked corn 1 part.

Mash:

Ground oats 42 pounds

Shorts 22 pounds

White middlings 20 pounds

Meat scrap 15 pounds

Charcoal 1 pound

The dry mash is kept before the hens all the time; on
three mornings a week a wet mash of the same ingredients
is fed. the birds being given only what they will clean up
quickly. On the other four mornings grain is fed in litter.
At noon green feed is given. In the evening grain in litter.

Ration No. 38b — Cornell Heavy Laying Ration

Scratch Mixture:

Winter Weight

Wheat 60 pounds

Cracked corn 60 pounds

Oats 30 pounds

Buckwheat 30 pounds

Summer:

Wheat 60 pounds

Cracked corn 60 pounds

Oats 30 pounds

Mash:

Corn meal 60 pounds

Wheat middlings 60 pounds

Wheat bran 30 pounds

Alfalfa meal 10 pounds

Oil meal 10 pounds

Meat scrap 50 pounds

Salt 1 pound

Measure
32 quarts
36 quarts
30 quarts
20 quarts

32 quarts
36 quarts
30 quarts

57 quarts

71 quarts

57 quarts

20 quarts

8 quarts

43 quarts

% quart

The hens should eat about half as much mash, by
weight, as grain. Regulate the proportion by giving a light
feed of grain in the morning, and at the afternoon feeding
all they will consume before dark. The grain is supple-
mented with green feed, grit, and shell, and the birds always
supplied with fresh water.

SELECTED RATIONS REPORTED BY POULTRYMEN IN
THE NINETIES, TAKEN FROM POULTRY-
CRAFT (1899)

Ration No. 31) h— E. C. Wyckoff's Ration « Morning — Mash
compounded as follows: 1 bu. corn, 2 bu. oats, ground fine;
to each 200 pounds of this mixture add 100 Ibs. of bran and
5 or 6 Ibs. of beef scraps; moisten with milk; feed in troughs,
returning after ten or fifteen minutes to take up any feed
that may be left, and give more when needed. At noon —
green feed, mangels, cabbage in winter; clover or kale in
summer; sometimes a light feed of mixed grain in litter.
Night feed — mixed grain. In winter, 2 bu. each wheat, oats,
buckwheat, and corn; in summer, the corn in the mixture
reduced one-half.

Ration No. 4Ob — F. H. Dawley's Ration: Morning — mash,
clover hay or crimson clover steamed overnight; in the
morning- stirred up with a mixed feed of 100 Ibs. coarse
wheat bran, 75 Ibs. yellow corn meal, 100 Ibs. ground oats,
50 to 75 Ibs. linseed meal, a little charcoal and salt. Feed
all they will eat clean. Noon — green bone and vegetables.
Night — whole wheat, and a little corn.

Ration No. 41 b— J. H. Robinson's Ration: Morning —
mash — by measure, 2 parts finely cut alfalfa, 2 parts heavy
bran (bran and middlings), 1 part corn meal, made into a
stiff, almost crumbly dough by scalding with water or sweet
skim milk. Feed either hot or cold, all the hens will eat

in ten or fifteen minutes. If other green feed is abundant
the hay may be omitted. Noon — a light feed of oats or mil-
let, either dry or steamed, or of wheat — about one-half pint
to ten hens. Evening — wheat, about one pint to ten hens,
in litter, followed just at dusk with whole corn to fowls
that are waiting for it. Two or three times a week, green
cut bone at mid-afternoon, and on these days the evening
feed slightly reduced.

These three rations are typical rations of the period be-
fore educational institutions began to develop exact for-
mulas for mashes and the mixtures or combinations of
grains used by practical poultrymen.

As has been stated, the number of poultry keepers
who could give accurate statements of their method
of feeding was small, but there were always a few who
could do so. Most practical poultrymen, who are con-
cerned only to get results from their feeding, and have
really no interest in describing their method for others,
have always been reluctant to state either exact propor-
tions in the feeds, or exact amounts fed, because of the
extent to which, in their practice, they vary from their
general standard to suit conditions. Educators also ap-
pieciate the difficulties of making definite statements for
changing and variable conditions, but nevertheless have
to be as definite as possible, giving the best standard
they can, and trusting to the common sense of the novice
to make desirable modifications in rations as experience
demonstrates the occasions for doing so.

Some Practical Points About Methods of Feeding
To a great extent the rations used and recommended
by government departments and institutions dealing with
poultry production, represent the practice of poultry
keepers in the localities of the various institutions and
departments. Those engaged in educational work gen-
erally take the practice of the best poultry keepers they
know as the basis of their own methods. They frequent-
ly are able, as the result of more accurate observations
than can be made in common practice, to make and sug-
gest modifications which increase the efficiency of ra-
tions. Their recommendations lead to the more extensive
use of rations that are giving good results, and tend to
standardize feeding practice among their constituents.
Equally with regard to rations used and recommended by
poultry departments in the public service, and rations
used and recommended by successful poultry keepers, —
whether those are of their own compounding or are com-
mercial mixtures — it may be assumed that the rations are
efficient rations, when properly used.

The list that has been given, while very comprehen-
sive, is by no means an exhaustive one. As it is, how-
ever, it shows plainly that the exact proportions of dif-
ferent feed elements in rations are not the prime factors
in determining their feeding value, and that within tol-
erably wide limits differences in proportions of ingredi-
ents have no particular bearing on the efficiency of the
ration. The essential thing is to supply the fowls with
liberal rations, containing the general proportions appro-
priate to the climatic and other conditions affecting ap-
petite and results, and to do this under conditions that
promote regularity in eating, a reasonable amount of
exercise, and normal habits. This being done, further
balancing of the ration given to a flock is a matter of
each individual taking feed according to its taste and
appetite. The fact is that, given a sufficient supply of
giains in simple variety — partly hard, and partly in the
form of meal, with animal feed in sufficient amount to
furnish protein that may be required over and above what
the grains supply, the real regulator in the ration is the
supply of green feed.

Many poultry keepers who use commercial mixtures
and find them very satisfactory are anxious to get the
formulas for them, either that they may make near sub-

FEEDING FOR EGG PRODUCTION

77

stitutes when unable to secure a supply, or in the ex-
pectation that they may be able to duplicate the mixture
at less cost by buying the ingredients separately and
mixing them themselves. Many manufacturers of feeds
now publish in their literature, in their advertisements,
and sometimes on packages containing their products
statements of the kinds of ingredients in them, and of the
percentages of fat, protein, and fiber which they guar-
antee. They do not give proportions of the different in-
gredients, for the simple reason that secrecy as to such
details of trade formulas and processes is the man-
ufacturer's protection for the reputation he may be able
to build up for a particular line or brand of goods. Re-
gardless of whether the article is equal, or superior, or
inferior, to some other of its class, or whether the man-
ufacturer's claims for it are moderate or extravagant,
when goods of this character make a reputation under a
certain name or brand, the proprietor acquires an ex-
clusive right to the use of that name or brand, as well
as to a trade-mark, and exclusive knowledge of his for-
ula is on the same principle as the
right of an inventor, or the copy-
right of an author.

The real merits of commercial mix-
tures and brands of live stock and
poultry feeds are not in the peculiar
individual properties of certain arti-
cles or lines of goods, but in the
good features common to all lines
put out by reputable houses seeking
to build up a large demand for their
goods. The manufacturer of poultry
feeds has superior advantages in buy-
ing the ingredients for them. Operat-
ing on the scale that he does he can
make all tests necessary to determine
the exact values of ingredients as
used, and so he can, whenever there
is occasion to do so, make the varia-
tions in his mixtures necessary to
maintain h i s nutritive standards.
Without disparagement of any line
of products it may be said that the
well-known popular lines are equally
good, and looking over the formulas

as recommended by many experiment stations the reader
can easily judge for himself that many brands are equal-
ly well adapted to supply the grain ration for poultry
anywhere. The ordinary variations in other than com-
mercial rations are made as a rule to utilize the most
available and the cheapest feeds. Costs of feeds vary
much more with locality than do the feed requirements
of poultry.

When a certain feed or ration is giving good results,
it is good policy to continue its use unless one is cer-
tain that better production or lower cost will follow a
change; but no poultry keeper ought ever to allow him-
self to harbor the idea that any formula — whether used at
a laying contest or recommended by an uncommonly suc-
cessful breeder, or by an experiment station — is so
superior to others that equally good results cannot be
obtained from some other ration. When a familiar and
favorite feed, whether a commercial or a home mix-
ture, cannot be obtained, the only sensible thing to do
is to take whatever commercial feed is available, or io
make as good a combination as possible of available in-
gredients. The last thing that should be considered
(which, however, is the first thing that a great many peo-

ple do) is to feed short on the favorite usual ration with
the idea of making the supply last as long as possible
when it is running low and the prospect of replenishing
it at an early date is doubtful, or to feed light of a new
ration or feed — on the theory that if the ration is not
as good as that commonly used, the less fed of.it the
better. Novices are especially prone to take this atti-
tude when the feeding of a different ration from that
which has been used starts mild digestive trouble and
perhaps leads to more serious results in a few cases.
They suppose that the new feed, or something in it, is
in itself harmful, when the fact is simply that the birds
have been so managed that they are easily affected by
changes of diet.

There is nothing in itself harmful in any article com-
monly used for poultry feed. Some things are dangerous
when fed to excess, but poultry do not usually take such
things in excessive amounts unless practically forced to
do so in order to get an amount of feed that will barely
satisfy their hunger. With the exception of those who

COLONY HOUSES IN SMALL YARDS ON A NEW ENGLAND DAIRY AND

POULTRY AND GARDEN FARM

The land in use for poultry at any time is stocked to its intensive capacity,
but the poultry goes on fresh land each year. There is a road between the two
rows of houses and the yards extend from it on either side.

have had wide experience in the use of feeds, and with
different classes and types of fowls, nearly all poultry
keepers have more or less trouble when they make any
radical change in a ration, but when the change is a nec-
essary one, the only sound policy is to make whatever
other adjustments of the ration the primary change makes
necessary, and then feed well, culling out as soon as
possible any individuals that it appears will not thrive
on the new diet.

One of the most important points in feeding for
egg production is to have already established good habits
of feeding in the pullets, and to preserve these through-
out the productive life of the hens. A common caution
in regard to the use of mashes, both moist and dry —
but moist mashes in particular — is to avoid overfeeding
the fowls, because overeating of mash (it is alleged)
makes fowls sluggish and inactive, so that after eating
heartily of mash they become almost torpid for hours,
standing listlessly about when they ought to be scratch-
ing for grain. While this is a common case, it is not a
necessary and inevitable consequence of full feeding of
any mash; but rather is the result of feeding poorly
made and somewhat indigestible mashes, or mashes too

78

rich in concentrated materials, or may be simply
because the birds have been allowed to get into bad eat-
ing habits. If birds after eating liberally of a moist
mash act as described, the keeper should either find out
how to feed moist mash without causing the fowls to do
this, or change to a dry mash.

It is entirely possible to give hens, as soon as they
will eat in the morning, a liberal feed of moist mash —
all they will eat at once — and then have them go directly
to scratching for grain in litter, although there is more
mash still in the troughs uneaten. In fact it is the
nature of the normal healthy bird to do it — to take a
variety of things at one meal, just as a normal human
being does. In feeding thrifty young chickens to make
the best possible growth it is found that after giving them
all they will eat of either soft or hard feed, they can be
given the other form and will eat a substantial quantity
of it, on top of what appeared to be a full meal. As they
complete their growth they are less inclined to do this,
lot their feed requirements are less and their appetites not
so keen; but if they have always been accustomed to find
grain by looking or scratching for it, and if the mash
when taken into the crop does not distress them, they
will very soon, and often immediately after eating what
mash they want at one time, begin to forage or scratch
for grain. If the birds know that there is no grain to
be had until the feeder gives a new supply some hours
later, it is not to be expected that they will look for
grain after filling up pretty well on other feed. If they
have learned by experience that what they eat while the
mash is before them is all they will get until the next
feeding time, it is not to be expected that they will be
prevented from taking mash to the limit of their capacity
by anything but shortage of the supply or positive dis-
tress from having eaten too much of it. Fowls are not
of a high order of intelligence, but all animals instinctive-
ly try to secure their full share of supplies of feed in
sight when there is nothing else immediately in prospect.

In good practice, with the dry-mash method of feed-
ing, the mash is usually accessible to the birds either all
the time or for long periods daily, and when the mash is
not accessible the scratch feed is. It can hardly be re-
peated too often, or emphasized too strongly, that the
greatest value in the dry-feeding method, is in keeping
feed of some kind always before the birds. If this rule
is adopted with a moist-mash system, it will be found
that unless the mash made and fed is very bad indeed, or
the birds have indigestion to start with, the common bad
effects accompanying moist-mash feeding will be con-
spicuously absent. A poultry keeper who wishes to use
moist mashes regularly and freely, and to be sure that
the mash made is a thoroughly good one — right in con-
sistency and bulk- — can best get at the heart of the matter
by feeding the mash in the morning, experimenting intelli-
gently both with composition and mixing of the mash
and with the quantity to be given, until he can make a
mash that the birds will eat freely, but not gluttonously,
and still show some interest in any other kind of food that
may be available.

Feeding in the morning is the best test of the mash
itself, because when it is fed at noon the birds usually
have in their crops some grain or other feed which helps
relieve any bad effects of an unsuitable mash, and also
tends greatly to reduce the amount of an unsuitable and
perhaps unappetizing mash consumed. Feeding mash at
night gives no opportunity at all to judge of its possible
tendency to make the biids inactive because they go to
roost then anyway. The old theory of the morning mash

was that the birds having had a long fast, especially in
the long winter night, should have soft feed first because
it would be more quickly digested an'd assimilated. On
the same line of reasoning the night feed was of hard
grain — with whole corn much favored — with the idea that
it took longer to digest and that the birds were more
comfortable — were really being nourished — while the feed
was in the digestive tract. These ideas seemed convinc-
ingly reasonable to the majority 'of poultry keepers in
those days, but no data were ever obtained that would
support any theory of the kind.

In general, the feeding of a soft mash to adult birds
more than once a day is not good practice, nor is it wise
to force heavy consumption of dry mash by giving the
hens less grain than they will eat if allowed to select
for themselves, unless the idea is to force egg produc-
tion as long as the hens will stand that kind of feeding,
and kill them for the table as soon as they show symp-
toms of being unfavorably affected by it. Too much
feeding of soft mash, with a corresponding reduction in
the amount of hard grain given, not only weakens the
digestive organs, but causes more or less relaxation of
the whole muscular system. When this is accompanied,
as it often is, by increased egg production as the result
of forcing feeds, many hens are unable to retain their
eggs in the oviduct until complete, and lay soft-shelled
eggs although liberally supplied with shell-forming ma-
terial. The best way to correct such conditions- is to
give a diet of all hard grain and vegetable feeds, letting
the bird balance its own ration of these, and feeding no
meat or other especially stimulating feed until it is again
in normal condition.

It will be observed that nearly all the directions for
feeding given say that the grain is fed in litter. Obvious-
ly this is done in the houses in most cases, both winter
and summer. Wherever layers can be kept on range in
summer, it is much better to broadcast the grain on the
range, thus giving the hens every inducement to forage
widely. It is especially desirable to do this with the
heavier breeds, and hens of any breed that have a ten-
dency to put on fat. Some judgment must of course be
exercised in the matter of feeding grain outdoors in wet
weather. It should not be fed outside in protracted heavy
rains when the birds will not stay out long enough to
get a feed. A little experience will enable the poultry
keeper to judge how much rain it takes to discourage his
hens from foraging for their feed. Also in putting out
grain in wet weather he should be careful not to put out
more cracked corn than will be eaten before the next
feeding time, for cracked corn lying out in the wet or in
alternate wet and heat deteriorates very quickly. With
whole grains there is no loss, for wetting soaks and
sprouts them, so that there" will be no waste and no
harm done if oats, barley, wheat, and rye are thrown
out more freely than usual in damp weather. The birds
can get what they want more quickly, and will soon
clean up any excess after the wet weather is over.

For some years the most common practice has been
to feed the hard grain in a mixture, giving the different
kinds in the same proportion at every feed. This prac-
tice has come in largely as the result of the necessity for
using commercial mixtures to get the desired variety in
grains, and because so large a proportion of poultry
keepers, buying feed in small quantities, preferred to buy
mixtures rather than various and sometimes small
amounts of different kinds of grains. While grains were
easily obtained in fair variety the common practice of
good poultry keepers was to feed the grains separately.

FEEDING FOR EGG PRODUCTION

79

and many poultry keepers still follow it. It is the method
that is best adapted to feeding when the stock consists
of more than one breed, the different breeds requiring
somewhat different rations, and when the stock contains
lots of birds that are being fed for different purposes, or
when the stock is divided into flocks of the same variety
requiring somewhat different treatment. It tends to pre-
vent hens from picking a favorite grain first, as they are
inclined to do when mixed grains are fed. While a hen
that perhaps is averse to eating oats, and especially fond
of corn, might eat rather sparingly of a feed of oats at
rcon, and eat greedily of the feed of cracked corn in the
evening, she cannot take the coin and leave the oats to
the extent that she would if they were always given at
the same time.

When the grains are fed separately it is a simple
matter to give hens that need a larger proportion of oats
a heavy feed of oats, and when the corn is fed give them
a light feed of corn. Or, whatever grain is fed, those
hens which should have more than average proportions
of it can be given them at the time it is fed, and fed
lighter of some other meal — either mash or hard grain,
or both, as circumstances require. While it is usual to
feed the mixed grains rather lightly at morning or noon,
and heavier at the evening feeds, in deep litter feeding
there ought always to be some grain in the litter, and it
does not make much difference what time of day it is
put there.

Varying the amount of grain as just described, and
providing conditions especially suited to them are the
practical ways of getting good egg yields, from hens of
the breeds and types that do not lay well under ordinary
conditions and handling. Large fowls, and all fowls with
a tendency to fatten easily should have either good range
or deep litter that does not pack too quickly, and is light
and easily worked. The specification for deep litter :n
the laying houses is often "more honored in the breach
than in the observance", not because the poultry keeper
does not intend to keep the litter in the condition that it
should be. but because many things may interfere with
renewing it at the appropriate time, and not infrequently

supplies of litter are hard to obtain. With small active
fowls it does not make so much difference. In fact, if
they go into winter quarters in good condition and start
laying seasonably they may lay as well for three or four
months fed in troughs or on bare floors" and taking com-
paratively little exercise, as when fed in litter, but
they will not keep in as good physical condition, and to-
ward spring will develop a much larger proportion of
cases of liver trouble than flocks that have had a reason-
able amount of exercise in getting their daily ration.

With large hens and those having a strong tendency
to fatten, good egg production through a long period
calls for careful management to keep the hen always in
laying condition. There is a common impression that
pullets often fail to lay at maturity because they are
allowed to become too fat. This idea is responsible for
a great deal of short feeding of pullets at the very time
when they should be fed most liberally, for while a pul-
let may not be increasing in size and weight in the few
weeks between the first indications of laying and the be-
ginning of egg production when development is regu-
lar and normal, she is growing a coat of feathers and the
reproductive organs are developing, and for these things
she can usually use to advantage all the feeds she can
digest and assimilate.

It is doubtful whether becoming too fat as she ap-
proached maturity was ever the first and true cause of a
pullet's failure to lay. When pullets are handled under
conditions that give the keeper opportunities to observe
them closely, and to give attention to feeding them to
put them in ideal condition for egg production, it will
often develop that the pullet either will not lay at all,
or will lay little and irregularly and probably lay ab-
normal eggs. This furnishes reasonable grounds for sup-
posing that the real reason she puts on fat is because
the reproductive system does not function properly and,
the digestive organs being good and the pullet eating
well, the feed that would go to eggs if the reproductive
organs were normal naturally goes to fa*. This may
also be the case when moving a pullet about to begin lay-
ing checks egg production. The ovary, sensitive to the

ILLUSTRATION SHOWING QUANTITY OP PEED CONSUMED BY A HEN IN A YEAR

This display was arranged by Prof. James Dryden for a part of the space allotted to poultry in an agricultural "Demonstra-
tion Train" traveling in the State of Oregon.

80

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

change, becomes dormant — the more readily because fall
laying is in a measure abnormal — the pullet becomes fat,
and it is supposed that she does not lay because she is
too fat. Removing the fat, however, is not at all sure lo
start the pullet laying before the approach of the nat-
ural spring laying season, while when that comes — unless
there is something wrong with the ovary, she will begin
laying even though very fat.

Where the seat of trouble is concealed, and the
causes are more or less obscure, as in most cases when
eggs are not produced according to expectation, the best
course is to try to adjust the feed and the conditions of
feeding to keep the bird in good flesh, a little fat, but
not overfat, and keep it active and lively, and await de-
velopments. While we may say that the accumulation of
fat does not act as a direct preventive of egg produc-
tion, there is no doubt that the accumulation of fat be-
yond the moderate reserve that is advantageous to the
bird impairs its vitality and weakens every function. It is
continued and progressive general physical deterioration,
and not the mechanical interference of fat, that unfits
overfat hens for egg production, and is likely to limit
their laying period to a short term in the spring.

When we come to consider the details of fattening
poultry, it will be shown that feeding to fatten quickly
spoils the digestion. When stock fattens on laying ra-
tions, under the conditions appropriate for laying stock,
the same thing takes place, but. at a much slower rate.
The effect of impaired digestion, and the general physi-
cal deterioration that goes with it, is not to make a non-
layer, but to make the reproductive processes as slow as
all the other processes of the life of the bird. It is cus-
tomary to speak of extra-good layers as high producers
and of poor layers as low producers. The terms, fast
producers and slow producers, would be more significant
of the relation of the hen to her product. The high pro-
ducer lays eggs continuously and in quick succession; the
low producer lays more or less intermittently — that is,
she skips more days while laying most regularly, and she
is apt to take frequent rests to recuperate from a strain
of egg production which a more vigorous bird does not
feel.

Amount of Feed Consumed- By Laying Hens

As the amount of feed consumed by any flock varies
more or less with conditions and according to the size
and type of the fowls, hens cannot be fed "by the scales."
Knowledge of what has been eaten by definite numbers
of hens of a given breed and weight is, however, of con-
siderable service to poultry keepers. It enables "them to
determine whether they are getting the results they should
from the feeds they use, and when they cannot keep ac-
count of feed as used it helps them to make very accu-
rate estimates. A number of the experiment stations
have published valuable data of this kind. The figures
that follow have been abstracted from their reports:

At the Ohio Experiment Station in 1911, in four
flocks, each of about 50 White Leghorns, the average
weight of the hens being 3.46 pounds, the average con-
sumption of grain and mash was 69.3 pounds, of which
47.2 pounds was grain, and 22.1 pounds mash. Each pul-
let also consumed about 5 pounds of green feed, about
5. pounds of clover chaff, % pound of grit, 1^4 pounds of
shell, and l/2 pound of bone.

In the following year records for four flocks of White
Ueghorrts, with 75 to 80 in each, with an average weight
little over 3 pounds, the average consumption of grain
and mash was 65 pounds; while in a flock of Barred Ply-

mouth Rocks, numbering about 150 and averaging to
weigh 5.3 pounds, the average consumption of grain and
mash was 80.64 pounds.

In 1913, records were kept for two flocks of about
100 each, the number varying slightly as a result of loss-
es. They were kept, one in confinment, the other on a
grass lange containing about two acres. These were
somewhat larger Leghorns than in the former experi-
menjs, weighing about 3^4 pounds each. The average
consumption of grain and mash by the hens in confinement
was 59.98 pounds, by the hens on range 61,24 pounds. The
report of this experiment does not mention the feeding of
green feed of any kind to the flock in confinement. The
lack of green feed would account for the lessened con-
sumption of grain. It would appear by comparison with
the first case cited above, that the flock of 103 hens rang-
ing through the summer on a two-acre pasture secured
from it the equivalent of about 8 pounds of grain per
bird, besides green feed.

Experiments at this station in subsequent years show
very nearly the same consumption, 3-pound hens taking
about 60 pounds of grain and mash a year, from 2 to 3
pounds of shell, and exceedingly variable amounts of
grit, sometimes as low as 2 ounces, sometimes nearly a
pound.

At Purdue Experiment Station the average consump-
tion of White Plymouth Rock hens fed Ration No. lOb — I
was 85.75 pounds of grain and mash, 8.53 pounds of meat
scraps, .66 pound of grit, 2.09 pounds of shell, and .6
pound of bone — a total of 97.63 pounds. A similar pen
fed Ration No. lOb — II consumed 81.25 pounds of grain
and mash, 1.28 pounds of grit, 2.33 pounds of shell, 1.22
pounds of bone, and 115.74 pounds of milk per hen.

In a similar experiment with White Leghorns the
consumption of grains ranged from 56 to 66 pounds per
year, with meat consumed 4 to 5 pounds, and milk fro
80 to 90 pounds a year. These reports do not show t
weight of the birds.

The reports of the Storrs Laying Contest give the
consumption of feed by all pens in these contests. From
the report of the third contest, which has this data in the
most convenient form, it appears that Plymouth Rocks,
Wyandottes, and Rhode Island Reds, weighing 5l/2 to 6
pounds, consumed an average of a fraction over 88
pounds of grain and mash a year, with a few pens con-
suming over 100 pounds; and that Leghorns averaging
about 3y2 pounds consumed not quite 77 pounds of grain
and mash a year.

In some early experiments with White Leghorns
with rations of different kinds, at Cornell, the consump-
tion of mash and grain ranged from 77.2 to 88.5 pounds
per hen. The hens in these experiments were above the
average size of Leghorns, many of them weighing over 4
pounds, which accounts for the larger consumption of
feed than in the other cases of Leghorns mentioned.

The New Jersey Experiment Station, basing esti-
ira*es on its feeding tests, concludes that highest egg
production can be secured by limiting the amount of
grain fed to 12 pounds per day per 100 hens from Novem-
ber to April inclusive, 10 pounds in May and June, 8
pounds in July, 6 pounds in August, 5 pounds in Septem-
ber and October; and compelling the hens to make the
rest of their grain ration of dry mash. Those who under-
take to apply this formula should be guided to some ex-
tent by the disposition of the hens toward eating as large
a proportion of the mash as is indicated for the closing
months of the laying year.

B

FEEDING FOR EGG PRODUCTION

81

Difficulties of Feeding for Eggs in Short Winter Days

In the summer, when a pullet is doing her growing,
the first and last feeds each day may be twelve to four-
teen hours apart, and even when the days are not at the
longest she can be feeding at some time in more
than h#lf of the twenty-four hours. But in the short
winter days it becomes difficult sometimes to get m
three meals a day, giving the hen feed enough for main-
tenance and egg production, and at the same time giving
her a fair amount of exercise and keeping her in good
appetite for every feed. There are often not more than
eight hours that the hen can see to eat. If the weather
is generally fair and bright, so that the birds get all the
light there is, it is not so bad; but when there is much
stormy and dull weather it is pretty hard for the poultry
keeper to keep pullets laying, and harder to start those
that have not begun to lay, or that began and then stopped.

Any method that will either lengthen the day, so that
the hens can eat and digest a larger amount of feed; or
that will conserve the heat of the body or the energies of
the hen that what feed she takes will go farther — or that
will supply an extraordinary amount of nourishment, will
help to increase egg production at this* season. Lighting
poultry houses was tried long ago, though not on the
same scal-e, nor with the provision for as thorough light-
ing as in recent years. Heating poultry houses — keeping
the hens warm, both by the use of stoves and by pro-
viding roosting closets in which the heat of their own
bodies keeps the temperature comfortable, has often been
tried and sometimes with remarkably good results for
the time being. Keeping the hens confined close enough
to keep them nice and warm however, has a tendency to
make them soft and especially susceptible to colds and
roup, and if they lay well enough to justify the cost and
trouble of keeping them warm and adjusting ventilation
day by day with the greatest of care, they are likely to
lose a good deal of vitality, and to be such indifferent
layers in the latter part of the season that nothing was
gained by forcing them at first

Birds that are to be bred from the following season
ought not to be forced for egg* production early in the
winter. If they lay well without any unusual measures
the best policy is for the poultry keeper to feed them
well, and when the breeding season approaches go over
them carefully and take for the breeding pens only those
birds that seem vigorous and thrifty, and are in good con-
dition after having laid well in the early winter. Birds
that are not to be used for breeding may be forced as
much as desired and as they will stand, and it may pay
the poultry keeper to do so if when he does it he will
recognize that in all ordinary stocks, hens that are forced
in eaily and midwinter are not apt to be profitable layers
toward the end of the laying season.

Where a poultry keeper has a large stock and wants
to have his supply of market eggs as constant as possi-
ble throughout the year, it is a good plan 'to take the
pullets that he regards as second grade for layers, and
not desirable for breeders and, taking any means that will
give the results, force them for laying throughout the
winter, and as soon as they begin to slack up or to go
off their feed, sell them for poultry. A further advantage
of this plan is that it provides for using both the stock
and the equipment to the best possible advantage. Every
poultry house and plant can carry more adult fowls
through the winter than it can properly accommodate m
warm weather. A breeder-fancier goes into the winter
with his houses crowded, and by spring his sales of stock
will have taken out the excess over the proper capacity

of the houses in warm weather. Most commercial egg
farmers try to stock to full capacity at the beginning of
winter, and dispose of the poorer looking hens in each
house as warm weather approaches, all having been
handled the same through the winter. To separate those
that are to be sold at the beginning of warm weather,
and feed them to get the most eggs in winter, is to apply
the same principle in feeding pullets for a short period
of laying that we apply in finishing market poultry.

What can be done to secure good egg production in
short winter days, by special feeding methods, depends
upon how closely the hens can be looked after, and upon
the skill of the poultry keeper. A person who can carry
out fully and regularly a program of feeding that gives
a fairly good meal early in the morning, never lets them
get really hungry at any time through the day, sees that
they get a fair amount of succulent feed at least several
times a week, and sends them to roost every night with
all crops full AND WHO ALWAYS DOES THIS, will
get eggs in the short days from hens that are in the right
condition for laying. But to do it he will feed in a man-
ner that after a few months begins to break the hens
down.

The writer has known poultry keepers who always
got good egg yields through the winter — were never
known to fail. They all went on the principle that the
way to get eggs was to feed the hens all they could
eat of good, substantial rations. Most of them had a
good deal of trouble trying to raise cjiickens from their
laying stock, and depended on eggs from other flocks to
produce most of their pullets each year; but give them
pullets at or near matuiity at the beginning of winter,
and they would get eggs right along, and they would
do it simply by regular care and heavy feeding. The
poultry keeper who was most successful through the long-
est period (in nearly thirty years he was not known to
miss) fed a warm mash in the morning. If the mash
would not freeze he put enough in the troughs to give
the hens all they would eat until noon. Then about the
middle of the afternoon he put their grain ration in the
same troughs, giving all he thought they would eat be-
fore dark, and if the grain was cleaned up earlier, more
was given. In the mornings when mash would freeze in
the troughs he fed what would be cleaned up before it
could freeze, and then fed again toward noon. He gave
steamed clover in the mash, or fed cabbage or mangels
shortly after noon.

His neighbors who were less successful used to say
that he spent more time beside the fire at the grocery
store a mile away than any other farmer in the vicinity,
yet his hens laid when others did not. The writer re-
peated this to him once, and asked him how he accounted
for it. He — apparently — did not at first relish the refer-
ence to his loafing habit, but after a moment laughed
good-naturedly and replied: "Well, maybe I do put in
more time at the store than some of the others; but I can
say one thing for myself that can't be said for any of
them. No one ever saw me at the store when there was
work that ought to be done for the hens at home. My
hens never missed a meal because I had something else
on my mind. And I never tried to find out how little a
hen could live on. You can't get something from noth-
ing. If you want a hen to lay, you got to feed her: same
as with getting milk from a cow."

This man was not a good all-round poultryman, — he
had his limitations — but he could get eggs in the short
days of winter, and he did it by feeding well and never
allowing anything to interfere with feeding at the reg-

82

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

ular times. His experience and his method fit the topic
under discussion, but should not be applied to all phases
of poultry keeping.

The Water Supply in Winter

To keep hens properly supplied with drinking water
in hard freezing weather, is one of the poultry keeper's
most troublesome problems. If birds with long wattles
get them wet while drinking when the temperature is well
below the freezing point, they are in that condition much
more suspectible to frostbite than when dry. In most
of the popular breeds the hens' wattles are not long
enough to make much trouble on this score, but those of
the males are. So where hens are kept for egg produc-
tion only, there need be no trouble, for it is not neces-

not,

7;

FEED ROOM, OFFICE, AND DORMITORY BUILDING AT THE GOVERNMENT
POULTRY FARM, BET/TSVILLE, MARYLAND

In the rear is a long laying house used for experimental pens.
U. S. Bureau of Animal Industry.

sary to keep males with them. Where the stock is to be
used also for breeding, it is desirable to have the males
with the females, living a normal life and keeping in

dition when he is needed for breeding. The males can
stand- a short supply of water at this time better than the
laying hens can, and — though it is not recommended to
make a practice of keeping the males short of water at
any time — in emergencies it may be the least of several
evils to coop them where they cannot get to tli£ water
pail.

In many cases snow is preferred to water by hens
that have access to it. Many poultry keepers do not
water the hens at all when they can get snow, and there
are many cases where the hens apparently lay as well
with only snow to quench their thirst as when supplied
with water. There are, also, many instances in which
snow either does not appear fully to substitute for water,
or is supposed to have some injurious effect on the hens.
Eating snow is often alleged to stop
laying. Whether it does so or not
the writer is not prepared to s
He has never personally known
instance where, with other conditions
as they should be, vigorous, hearty
fowls were in any way unfavorably
affected by eating all the snow they
wanted. It is probably natural for
all land birds in regions where the
streams and ponds are frozen ov
for long periods to eat snow
quench their thirst. When snow

••r ^A available it is often easier to keep

|djbg|S the fowls supplied with it than with
water, and in freezing weather it is
much safer for birds with easily
frosted wattles. The dry snow will
not adhere to them, and when the
snow is wet the temperature is above
freezing.

Modifying Rations As the Weather
Moderates

Nearly all stock of poultry, that are
Photo from

fed heavy rations in winter tend t»

deveiop some cases of liver trouble

toward spring. This tendency will be much reduced if
the poultry keeper is careful to lighten the ration when-
ever the weather is unseasonably warm. No radical

:

good condition, though the eggs may not be used for changes need be made, but a little less corn than is used

hatching for some time. The tendency among poultry
keepers who have males likely to get wattles frosted is
to withhold water from the flock until the atmosphere
warms up a little, and to empty out the drinking vessels
early in the evening — the idea being that the birds can
get all the water they really need in the few hours they
have access to it, and that it is no great hardship to them
to be without it for sixteen to eighteen hours occasion-
ally. No doubt it is possible to find instances where hens
have laid well when watered that way, and were able to
get no snow or ice, but such cases are exceptional.

Hens normally require a great deal of water when
fed much dry grain. They usually want a drink before
they eat in the morning, and are likely to take a drink

for normal winter weather, more oats — either dry, soaked
or sprouted, and more generous feeding of green feed
will go far to check troubles of this kind. It is particu-
larly necessary to look out for the hens that, while hearty
feeders, are rather indifferent layers and more inclined
to put their feed into fat than into eggs. A hen that is
in good condition and laying well seems to benefit by
the warm spells in winter. Any excess of feed over
maintenance requirements increases her rate of egg pro-
duction— as long as her digestion and other functions are
strong and sound.

A poultry keeper who trap-nests hens can watch
their condition very closely. If one does not use trap
nests, he should make a practice of handling his hens on

the last thing before going to roost — if they can get it. the roost at night to see what condition they are in. If
They want water with their feed, and to limit them in this is not done a novice often fails to increase rations
any way on water will result in a smaller consumption of all the hens will stand as they come into heavier laying
feed. To insure that hens will eat as much as possible in in the latter part of the winter, and the result is that
the short days, they should have water at will, and if the the hens producing eggs rapidly first use up what sur-
males need special attention to prevent frosting of the plus fat they may have, and then turn some nutriment
wattles, it is much better to give it than to have the hens that should go to the maintenance of the body to the pro-
stinted for drink, or to have the trouble of treating the duction of eggs. It is a mistake to suppose that the
male's frosted wattles, and perhaps have him out of con- amount of eggs produced is determined by the supply of

FEEDING FOR EGG PRODUCTION

83

material available for eggs after all requirements of main-
tenance have been met.

While the general condition of the hen has much to
do with the rate and the - regularity or irregulari'.y of
production, no function operates automatically or other-
wise, on the simple basis of taking the excess of nourish-
ment for its purposes — unless the deposit of fat is re-
garded as so operating, and that is hardly reasonable, be-
cause the accumulation of fat beyond a limited amount is
detrimental to an organism. Yet considering the deposit
of fat as a function we see this: While the chicken i?
growing it does not readily take on fat. As it approaches
maturity, particularly if this happens to be at the be-
ginning of cold weather, it has a pronounced tendency to
fatten if feed and conditions are at all favorable. Though
the tendency to produce eggs at maturity may be stronger
in a pullet than the tendency to fatten, if anything dis-
turbs the development of the reproductive system at this
time the tendency to fatten is quite likely to assert itseif.

Similarly, as the natural laying and breeding season
approaches, the tendency is for the hen to produce eggs
more rapidly than at. any other time, and this is not at-
tributable entirely to more of the feed elements becoming
available for eggs, for though the period of flush produc-
tion usually begins aff.er the shortest days of winter when
the difficulties of feeding in short days are over, it comes
before the weather is warm enough to reduce the require-
ments of the hen to an extent at all equal to the nutritive
elements which she at this time converts into eggs. Every
hen t!:at is capable of laying lays at the breeding season,
and hens that have laid earlier will lay more freely than
before. Apparently the reproductive organs of each hen
work to their capacity, taking all they can get and use of
the nutritive elements consumed, even at the expense of
requirements for maintenance.

If this were not the case we should never have well-
fed hens becoming thin and poor while laying; but they
would be full and firm in flesh, though not fat, as long as
they were receiving an adequate maintenance ration. In
handling hens that have been laying for some time it will
usually be found that some are going off in condition.
This is most readily noticed by the majority of poultry
keepers when hens go broody after two or three months
of laying. Hens of breeds that have the incubating habit,
which lay as long as that before going broody, are gen-
erally in rather poor condition when they become broody.
Hens of persistently broody stocks, that go broody quite
regularly after three or four weeks of laying, are usually
in fair condition when they go broody. Many -stocks of
the breeds that commonly have the incubating habit pro-
duce few broody hens, and those only after long periods
of laying, and the hens are nearly always in rather poor
flesh when they go broody.

Instead of waiting to find out — as if by accident —
when hens go broody or when they have stopped laying,
that they have become thin and poor, the poultry keeper
should, from the time his hens begin to lay, at frequent
intervals, handle enough of them on the roosts at night
to see what their condition is and whether he needs to
handle them all. He then can take measures to prevent
hens laying themselves into poor condition at the rate
that is going on with the feed the hens are getting-
Whether he can keep the hen laying well through the
spring and summer and up to the molting period depends
on the constitution and vitality of the hen. In the aver-
age stock where selection for vitality has not been prac-
ticed, probably fifty per cent of the hens could not under
any system of feeding or management be made profitable

layers for more than six or eight months of their pullet
year.

But in the average large flock of layers, and in many
smaller flocks, a considerable proportion of pullets begin
to lose flesh and condition within a few weeks of the
time they commenced laying. The general cause of this
is failure to increase the amount of feed as the hens come
to heavier laying. All poultry, laying hens as well as
stock destined only for the table, should be fed to keep
it always in good flesh. Then, in the case of the laying
hen, we know that the hen is doing the best of which she

INTERIOR OF PEN IN THE LONG HOUSE IN THE REAR
OF BUILDING ON OPPOSITE PAGE

is capable in egg production. And though a hen of only
moderate vitality may not be able to go the full distance
with the continuous layers in the flock, by feeding her
well and keeping her always in good flesh, the poultry
keeper insures that she will be a profitable layer consider-
ably longer than if allowed to run down in flesh, and that
when she quits laying she will be in fair condition to sell
for table poultry.

The matter of breeding for egg production does .not
come under the subject of this book. Its aim is to tell
every poultry keeper how to feed the stock he has to
the best advantage. As was said in another connection,
the tendency is for a poultry keeper's stock to adapt it-
self to his methods of feeding and care, by the somewhat
automatic, and in some ways undesirable process of the
failure of the individuals the system does not suit to
thrive under it. While it is highly desirable that the
poultry keeper should have stock all well adapted to his
methods, that is never fully realized, and it is always
good policy while culling out the unsuitable as that qual-
ity in them is discovered, to consider how to handle them
to best advantage. On this principle the method of
dealing with a hen of doubtful value as a layer in the
latter part of the winter is different from that of dealing
with heavy layers.

If some hens in a flock are laying well and remain
in good condition, while others on the same ration, with
the same opportunity to satisfy their wants, are in poor
condition, the logical thing to do is to separate according
to this characteristic; and to feed the hens that are in
good condition as before, but for the others to change
the feeding as seems desirable to improve their condi-
tion, with the expectation that it will either improve their
production or extend their period of profitable produc-
tion. If some hens seem too much inclined to put on fat
they should be managed accordingly. If a poultry keeper

84

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

has carried so large a laying stock through the winter that
he has to reduce in the spring, it is good policy for him
to sell both fat and thin hens, keeping for himself those
that stay in best condition under his feeding and handling,
and that, when tested by modern culling methods, give
evidence of being good layers. If he has the room, needs
the eggs, and will give the matter attention, he can sort
out his hens after they have been laying long enough to
show how his system suits and affects them, and by giv-
ing the several types he has separated appropriate treat-
ment, a large proportion of them may lay as well as the
hens fed and managed according to his regular method
and for a much longer time than if all are fed the same
way, and with more profit than when those the method
dees not suit well are not identified until they are too
much out of condition' to come back within a reasonable
time by any treatment that it is practical to apply.

Though at first thought the plan of sorting the lay-
ing hens as just suggested, and varying the feeding to
suit the different types, appears contrary to the general
advice to eliminate those that do not thrive under the
methods used as soon as possible, it is really in line with
it — subject to the understanding that "as soon as possi-
ble" is construed in a common-sense way to mean with
due consideration of questions of profit and loss. The
case of the pullet reared to maturity and carried for sev-
eral months after beginning to lay is somewhat different
from that of the bird which at maturity appeared an un-
promising layer. The latter is reasonably certain not to
lay enough to warrant keeping her through the period
when even the best layers are usually giving their smallest
returns. The former has been carried through that period
and into the period when eggs are easiest to get. The
plan suggested is essentially the same as sorting the sec-
ond-grade layers at the beginning of the winter and
forcing them for eggs, or as finishing any kind of poultry
for market. It differs only in that, as long as the hen
will lay eggs at a profit and is not taking room that could
be used to better advantage by another bird, she is kept
for egg production.

Thorough inspection and appropriate assortment and
disposal of the laying stock is generally postponed until
early summer, and the most common practice is to try
to cull out at that time all hens that are not regarded as
worth carrying a second year. This culling is applied
generally to flocks that have uniform conditions and
treatment. It is obvious that this both fails to get their
best production out of a considerable proportion of the
birds culled out then, and also that it misses the birds
that would be culled out in a careful inspection a few
months later. Thorough economic culling of poultry for
any purpose is a continuous process, not one that can be
allotted to one or two particular occasions in the year.
There are various occasions when a thorough inspection
and culling are made more conveniently than at other
times, but all culling should not be left to those occa-
sions. Birds that are plainly going wrong should be taken
nut of the flock as soon as observed, and such steps as
are necessary to insure that birds kept will be profitable
should be taken. One of the most important of these is
to ascertain, after the hens have been laying a little while,
what must be done to get as many eggs as possible from
ALL the hens while they are kept.

Summer Management of Laying Stock

The summer feeding of laying stock is subject to
the same conditions as the feeding of growing chickens.
What was said in Chapter VI about feeding chickens in

hot weather applies equally to feeding laying hens on
range. Laying hens in confinement should be liberally
supplied with green feed, and with milk if it is obtain-
able. Hens that are to be kept through another laying
season should not be forced to keep up egg production —
which can be done, as long as they will stand it — by feed-
ing more grain than they would voluntarily take if well
supplied with feeds that they relish better in hot weather;
but where it is desirable to get all the eggs the hens will
lay, hens that are to be sold when through laying for the
season can be given as hearty a ration as they will eat.
In feeding heavy rations in hot weather the poultry
keeper should recognize that he is taking extraordinary
risks, especially with hens that are a little fat, and
should be on the lookout for any symptoms of trouble
that may appear. It is wise to make table poultry of
every hen that may attract his attention as apparently
more affected by the heat than others. Such hens are all
right for the table, but peculiarly susceptible to heat
apoplexy, and of course if killed in that way are a dead
loss. It is well in such cases to use the hen while she is
suitable for poultry.

Many hens begin to molt before midsummer. In
general these are the less persistent layers, but that is.
by no means an invariable rule. There are enough in-
stances of hens that were indifferent layers in their first
year being heavy layers in their second year, and some-
times in their third year, to show that the hen with capac-
ity for heavy laying does not always fully exhibit it the
first year. When we consider how many things may tem-
porarily affect egg production, and how any check to
egg production in warm weather is likely to start a molt,
we can easily see that the fact of an early molt, alone,
ought not to be taken as conclusive that the hen is not a
desirable hen to keep over. Other things should be con-
sidered— the condition of the hen in other respects, her
previous laying, and above all, any possible special cause
for what appears as premature molting.

Feeding Molting Hens

The ration for molting hens need not be materially
different from that fed them at other times. The quantity
should be as liberal as the hen can use to advantage. The
old idea was that hens molting should be fed nitrogenous
rather than carbonaceous feed. It was doubtless where
this practice prevailed that the benefits of feeding sun-
flower seeds, rich in fat, appeared greatest. As most
hens are in heavy molt in the fall when the weather is
often quite cool, the liberal use of corn in the ration-
keeps up' the heat of the body while its natural covering-
is deficient, and it will generally be found that hens that
are a little fat at molting time grow their new plumage
more quickly. The live feather contains a considerable
amount of fat (oil), and more during its growth than
afterwards. A hen that, when well fed during the molt,
appears to be taking on fat rapidly and becoming rather
sluggish, may be regarded as unlikely to resume laying
immediately after molting, for these symptoms indicate a
general condition not favorable to the production of eggs.

Artificial Lighting

This subject, which was briefly mentioned on page
8^T is very fully treated in "Use of Artificial Light t>>
Increase Winter Egg Production" (published by the Re-
liable Poultry Journal Publishing Company), which gives
in complete detail all the latest facts as observed at vari-
ous experiment stations and commercial poultry plants,
and allows the reader to draw his own conclusions.

Fattening and Finishing Poultry for the Table

Following Good Feeding for Growth Or for Egg Production, Finishing Processes May Be Easy Adaptations of
Rations Previously Given — Simple Methods of Fattening Broilers, Fryers, Roasters, and Fowls, Best
in Common Practice — Conditions Calling for Special Fattening — Crate Feeding and
Machine Feeding and When These Methods Can Be Adopted

TO make good table poultry, chickens must have
more fat than they normally carry while grow-
ing, or than is compatible with the highest
efficiency of all the physical functions. In feeding young
chickens for growth we do not usually pay. much atten-
tion to the possible fattening effects of the rations given
them, for under any conditions favorable to good growth
in chickens the possi-
ble effects of an ex-
cess of carbonaceous
elements in the ration
given them are neu-
tralized by green feed
and exercise. Hence
with all poultry that
is destined only for
the table, the practice
is to feed a good
growing ration under
conditions that make
for sound digestion
and thrifty growth,
until the bird has
reached the stage of
growth at which spe-
cial feeding to fatten
and finish can be com-
menced and the de-
sired result from that
process be obtained
before high feed-
ing affects the diges-
tion and the bird
begins to go back —
losing weight and qual-
ity of flesh.

Where poultry is
especially grown for
the table the best prac-
tice is to feed and
handle more with the
object of keeping the
muscles soft, without
going so far in this
that vigor and capac-
ity for growth are im-
paired. With ordin-
ary farm-raised poul-

J. H.

CURTISS WITH A PAIR OF CHOICE
ROASTING CHICKENS

Mr. Curtiss was one of the pioneers in growing this kind of poul-
try, became an extensive dealer in it, and in the thirty odd years he was
prominent in the industry, probably handled more fowls and chickens

try, and all stock

grown for egg produc- of superior "table quality Than any man in America,
tion or for breeding or

exhibition, the point of soft-meatedness is not especially
considered. The aim is to develop the strong physique
and the symmetrical organism that will be effective for its
purposes for several years. With all stock of these de-
scriptions the question of finishing for the table is not a
question of making superior table poultry, but of taking
the birds as they are when no longer profitable for their
special purposes, and making as good table poultry of

them as is possible in the short period that fattening
methods can be employed to advantage.

For the great majority of poultry growers, if they fed
always with a view to keeping their stock in good con-
dition, fattening for all ordinary purposes would be sim-
ply a modification of their usual feeding practice. It is
when young stock is poorly grown, or old stock is al-
lowed to get badly run
down, that the average
inexpert poultry keep-
er begins to take an
interest in special fat-
tening methods with
the idea that by using
them poor poultry can
be converted into good.
While as much fat as
can be put on it, with-
in a short time, im-
proves the poorest of
poultry, there is no
process or ration that
will make a first-class
fat bird cut of what
was an inferior one be-
fore fattening. We can
pdt on material of any
kind only such finish
as it is capable of tak-
ing. While special fat-
tening processes give
fine results when ap-
plied to proper materi-
al with skill and judg-
ment, they are often
detrimental when ap-
plied by unskilled per-
sons to birds that will
not sufficiently benefit
by them to justify the
trouble. Unless one
proposes to go into
fattening for market
thoroughly, and on a
considerable scale, it is
usually better to keep
to the simplest meth-
ods of fattening.

Fattening Broilers
Broilers are killed at

'SOUTH SHORE"

from three-fourths of a pound to a pound and a quarter,
or for large broilers up to two pounds or over. The
chicken as ordinarily taken from the yard at that range
of weights is not really FAT, nor will any ration that it can
stand make it so. But by feeding a ration rich in fatten-
ing matter, and keeping the chickens quite closely con-
fined, comfortable, and quiet for from one to two weeks
before they are to be killed, a slight accumulation of fat

85

86

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCK CAPONS
Photo from S. K. Burdin.

can be secured which makes them more attractive to the
eye and more savory to the taste. This can be done
however, only with stock of good vitality and with a nat-
uial tendancy to put on fat readily at maturity. Some
what undersized and stunted birds are sometimes fed
heavy rations for a longer period than indicated, and
those that stand it sometimes take on rather more fat
than the ordinary broiler, but they do not have the qual-
ity of the plump, quickly grown bird.

The usual method of feeding to finish broilers is
simply to add more corn and corn meal to the ration,
mixing the meal with milk if it can be obtained, and
feeding all the birds will eat. Many make the mash two-
thirds corn meal, and give cracked corn only for grain.
Some chicks can stand an all-coin ration, and some can
•not. A most important thing in finishing broilers is to
remove at once, and kill as they are, any chicks that the
forcing diet evidently does not suit. Poultry keepers
often leave these, expecting that they will come along,
although a little slower about, it than the others. It is
much better to sell them for what -they will bring, with-
out further feeding, for the chances are that they will
never gain enough to pay the cost of feed and care until
prices have fallen.

Fattening Fryers

A fryer is a chicken usually weighing about two
pounds, but occasionally much heavier. There is practi-
cally no d fference between large broilers and small fry-
ers except that the fatter chickens are more suitable for
frying. In fact a chicken of what is usually frying size,
if rather thin and yet quite soft meated, will broil bet-
ter than it will fry. Where chickens have been raised to
this stage on range, the best plan is to put them in
small yards, with good circulation of air, and shade, and
to give them from ten days to three weeks of high feed-
ing before they are to be killed. The length of time
must be determined by the readiness of the chickens to
fatten and their ability to stand heavy feeding. If the
chickens do not take kindly to strong rations, these mat-
ters can be regulated to some extent by making only
slight increases in the fattening material in the feed, and
by using more wheat than corn in the hard grain fed.

The safe way to feed chickens to get a reasonable
amount of fat as they grow is to keep close to a good
growing ration, but yard them quite closely. When this
is done — especially in warm weather — care must be taken
to keep everything clean, and if feed is allowed to stand
before the chickens, to see that it does not get fouled.
In this way chickens can be kept growing and carrying
a fair amount of fat for an indefinite period, often until
well grown. Such a course is especially advantageous to
those who hatch or buy all their chickens at one time
in the spring, and who want to have the cockerels ready
to kill for their own tables through quite a long season.

In this way the cockerels may be
carried from broiler to small roaster
size, the removals week by week
making room for the growing birds
that are left. If the birds are not as
fat as is desired by this method, it
is easy to take those that are to be
killed at a certain time and put them
in a small coop a week in advance,
and feed a heavier ration.

Fattening Small .Roasters
Ordinary small and medium-sized
roasters are principally cockerels of

the larger breeds, that are marketed just before they be-
gin to become so hard-meated and staggy that they woul
class on the market as old cocks. The greater part
them come from the general farms, for poultry speci
ists usually either market their surplus cockerels
bi oilers, or caponize them and keep them to make large
roasters. Most of the cockerels from the farms are in
just fair flesh when marketed, and from one-half to three-
fourths grown. They are at the stage where heavy feed-
ing for a short period will generally increase the siz
put on a fair amount of fat, and greatly improve the

1

A PAIR OF WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCK "SOUTH SHORE"
SOFT ROASTERS

These are capons but are not dressed "capon style"
— that is, with the feathers left on neck, wings, legs and
part of the back. All "South Shore" stock is fully dressed
for market — capons as well as pullets.

FATTENING AND FINISHING POULTRY FOR THE TABLE

87

table quality. As farmers generally are indifferent to
the possibilities of considerably increasing their returns
from the cockerels in this way, the practice of special
fattening these chickens has grown up among the poultry
packers, and many of them find it very profitable. At
the same time the buyers and jobbers in poultry mostly
take the position that this work could be done economi-
cally and much more satisfactorily by the growers on the
farms. They would rather have the grower send them
finished products; but if growers will not do this, then
the large buyers will engage in fattening as long as
the numbers of unfinished
chickens they receive make it
worth while to do so.

Where stock of this class
has been so well fed that it
is in good flesh, perhaps a
little fat, and quite soft-
meated, the best method is to
put the birds in yards and
feed liberally of a good grow-
ing ration, including a gener-
ous supply of green feed, and
all the milk they will drink,
keeping them on this diet for
a week or two, according to
their condition. Then put
them in a pen that can be
made so dark that they will
not move about, and let the
light into this pen only long
enough to allow them to fill
up with feed three times a
day. A good ration at this
time is: Two feeds a day of
clean, sound cracked corn.

one feed a day of a mash of 2 parts of corn meal and 1 part
of wheat bran, with 10 per cent of meat scrap added. This
feeding can be continued as long as the chickens eat
well, or until they are as fat as desired. Usually chickens
will be as fat as most people want them in a week to
ten days, though many chickens that are rugged at the
beginning of this course of treatment will stand high
feeding in the dark for two weeks or more.

The great advantage of feeding this way is that the
preliminary period of feeding makes the change from an
ordinary to a heavy ration so easy that the birds adjust
themselves to it without going off their feed, and when
they are put on the heavy fattening diet they have be-
come just lazy enough to take kindly to being kept in
the dark after eating. In this method of fattening the
risk of the birds going off their feed before they have
fattened is reduced to the minimum. In it, however, and
in all fattening, it must be understood that unthrifty birds
with poor digestion will not fatten, and it is a waste of
time and feed to try to make them do so. Any little gains
that they make cost more than they are worth.

Fattening Large Roasters and Capons

Large roasters are principally capons. Where win-
ter chickens are grown for. the table, the most of the
pullets are sold for roasting as soon as they begin to
lay, and some growers of Asiatics have young males re-
main soft long enough to be sold for large roasters; but
in the main, cockerels that are to be kept for large roast-
ers are caponized. As the large roaster is carried until
full grown before fattening for market, the method of
feeding is not much different from that used for growing
pullets for laying and stock birds. The market chickens

are usually crowded a little more in the yards and houses,
and fed with less attention to exercise. The less exer-
cise they take the more economically they are grown —
provided only that they take enough to ward off indi-
gestion.

The famous "so'uth shore" soft roasters of Massa-
chusetts are mostly fed from the time they leave the
brooders until they are ready for market on the simple
ration of cracked corn, meat scrap, green feed, and water,
as mentioned on page 62. This is their fattening as well
as their growing ration. The principle upon which they

FATTENING CRATE USED
THE DOMINION

AND RECOMMENDED BY THE POULTRY DIVISION OF
OF CANADA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

are fed and handled is to give a simple, substantial grow-
ing ration — one that reduces the labor in feeding to the
minimum and will produce as much fat as the bird will
carry while growing, with an increased production of fat
as soon as growth stops. The bird then -is watched
closely, and when the fattening has reached a stage
which experts in handling this class of poultry judge not
by the amount of fat, but by the appearance of the skin,
it is marketed. The chickens grown in this way are
quite different in appearance from those that put on all
their fat in a short time before being killed. The fat is
much more evenly distributed, and by killing when the
skin shows its best texture and color the bird goes to
the table when the proportion of fat to lean in the meat
is most appetizing. The grower of this class of poultry
characterizes the proper condition for killing as being
"ripe." He holds that a chicken, like fruit, comes to a
stage 'when it is at its best, and after that deteriorates.
The teim "ripe" as used by growers of poultry should
not be confounded with the same term as used to ex-
press the condition of meat held after slaughter until just
before the tissues begin to break down.

Fattening Old Fowls

It is doubtful whether it pays to go any farther in
efforts to fatten old hens and roosters than can be done
in a very short period of heavy feeding, with birds that
are in good condition at the beginning of it. In flocks
that are culled only at long intervals there are likely to
be many old birds in run-down condition and not having
good digestion, that are yet not so far gone but that
proper care and feeding will, in time, make good table
poultry of them. The time required for this, however,

88

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

may be so long, and the amount of feed consumed in it
so great, that the operation is unprofitable. If the poul-
try keeper watches the condition of the stock as he should,
none of the old birds need ever get so low in flesh that
they cannot be made as fat as necessary for market with
two weeks' feeding of a ration composed largely of corn.
Any of the rations for fattening roasters will quickly make
hens and cocks that are capable of taking on fat at a
profit, as fat as the consumer wants them. The exces-
sively fat hens that are often seen in the markets, which
careful buyers avoid because the most of their fat can
be utilized only in cooking operations for which cheaper
fats will serve, are mostly nonlayers that have been in
this condition for months.

Some of the special fattening methods which will
shortly be described frequently fatten old fowls quicker
and better than ordinary methods but, on the other hand,
they so often unfavorably affect individuals, and some-
times the entire lot on which they are used, that the re-
turns, on the whole, are no greater than if no effort had
been made to finish stock before marketing. The poul-
try keeper will almost always find that his best policy
is to feed for growth, or for eggs, and always with a
view to keeping stock in good condition, and then when
the time comes to sell a bird for market, whether as
broiler, fryer, roaster, or fowl, he can put it in as good
condition as the market requires with from one to three
weeks' feeding for that purpose in ordinary coops and
yards.

Crate Fattening

Crate fattening is the feeding of chickens confined in
crates or coops in which they have little more than
standing room, supplying mashes of the consistency of
thin mush or gruel, fed to- them in troughs outside the
coops, from which they eat by reaching through the slats
which form the front of the coop or crate. Some birds
take readily to this diet and method and put on fat and
increase more in growth during the period thay can stand
it than when fed in the ordinary way and given more
freedom. Some it does not suit at all, and the matter of
first importance where crate fattening is practiced is to
judge at the beginning of feeding what birds can be
profitably fed in this way and what cannot, and not use
the method on birds with which :t does not agree. This
is something that of course can only be learned by ex-
perience, and the novice must expect to make some
mistakes.

Crate fattening, or any other special process of fin-
ishing poultry for the table, is of some interest to every-
one who grows any considerable amount of poultry. It
is worth while to know something of these methods even
if the poultry keeper has no occasion to use them reg-
ularly. There are times when ordinary methods are not
giving results as quickly as desired. Thus when it is
important to put chickens in good shape for killing in
hot weather, and they either have a poor appetite for the
ordinary hearty ration, or it does not seem to agree with
them, the soft, semiliquid feed mixed with milk, which is
preferred in crate fattening, can often be used for as
many feeds a day as seems advisable. This feed, in fact,
is much like the mashes mixed with milk which are rec-
ommended for chickens in hot weather, except that it is
thinner, and instead of using bran to make the mash light,
corn meal, oatmeal, or other substantial feed is used.

Consideration of the points involved shows quite,
clearly that to add to ordinary fattening processes what
may be of particular value in special fattening methods
does not necessarily call for the appliance and the

:i

method used in crate fattening. The essential things in
fattening are to get the bird to eat as much as possible
of highly nourishing feed that agrees with it; to keep it
contented, comfortable and quiet, that all the nutriment
possible may go to fat, or to flesh and fat; and either
to modify the ration to meet requirements when it seems
to be having slightly unfavorable effects, or when these
are more seiious, to dispose of the bird before it loses
any of what has been gained. The crate is simply a con-
venience, adapted especially to the use of fatteners who
do not grow their poultry, or to times when a poultry
grower finds it more convenient to feed a few birds this
way than to give them space that he needs or can use to
advantage for other poultry.

It makes little, if any, difference whether the birds
being fattened eat the grains given them in the form of
an ordinary mash, and drink a certain amount of milk
with it, or take the same groud feeds mixed in the milk.
After feeding a soft, semi-liquid mash for a time on
cannot well go back to hard grains without more di
turbing effects on digestion than the soft feeds are cau
ing, but while the birds are accustomed to a considerable
part of hard grain in their diet the increase of soft feeds
and milk mean greater efficiency in the use of the hard
grain consumed. Up to the point when indigestion be-
gins, the birds will eat more of a mixed hard and soft
diet than of either alone; after that they will be likely
eat more and benefit more on all soft feeds.

Rations for Crate Fattening

Bulletin No. 21 of the United States Department
Agriculture gives detailed reports of the fattening
nearly 900,000 chickens at commercial poultry fattening
stations where buyers of poultry were equipped to keep
and feed large numbers of poultry as long as profitable
gains could be made. The following were the rations
which gave the best results in this work. For conveni-
ence in reference, numbers are given following those in
Chapter VII.

Ration No. 42:

I — Corn meal 3 parts, low grade flour 2 parts, shorts

1 part.

II — Corn meal 3 parts, low grade flour 2 parts.
Ill — Corn meal 5 parts, low grade flour 3 parts, shorts 1

part, 5 per cent tallow.

IV — Corn meal 3 parts, oat flour 2 parts.
V — Corn meal 4 parts, low grade flour 2 parts, shorts
1 part.

These mixtures were all fed in the same way, mixed
to the desired consistency with condensed buttermilk,
fresh buttermilk, or water, as available. When the sup-
ply was sufficient, 10 gallons or more of condensed but-
termilk, or the same quantity of semisolid buttermilk
suitably diluted, was fed with 100 pounds of grain. It
was found that when an expert and careful feeder at-
tended the chickens and saw that they had all they would
eat twice a day, the gains were the same as when the
birds were fed three times a day, while the consumption
of feed was a little less. With indifferent attention to
feeding the results were more satisfactory when three
feeds a day were given. In warm weather, rations with
the lowest proportion of corn meal and flour, and with
large amounts of buttermilk, gave best results. At this
time the period required to fatten was usually about
fourteen days. In the cooler weather of fall, when heavier
rations could be used and the birds' appetites were bet-
ter, the usual length of the period of feeding was six or
seven days.

In commercial fattening the feeder has many diffi-
culties to contend with that the grower need not have.

FATTENING AND FINISHING POULTRY FOR THE TABLE

89

The chickens on a commercial fattening plant come from
here, there, and everywhere, and many of them have been
so long in transit, or held under unfavorable conditions
and without proper feed and care by country buyers, that
they are in poorer flesh than when they left the farm, and
perhaps are out of condition otherwise. It is a common
practice to feed poultry in their shipping coops while be-
ing held in small numbers and in transit, the grain being
put on the bottom of the coop which is foul with their
droppings. Not only is hard grain fed in this way, but
also sloppy mixtures of ground feeds. A large proportion
of chickens subjected to such treatment suffer the usual
consequences of eating polluted feed, while the crowding
and exposure cause roupy conditions. These troubles the
grower can entirely avoid. The poultry grower ought
also to consider that a considerable part of the losses
which result from these things conies back on him. It
is by no means all passed on to the consumer. The buyer
(the middleman) protects himself by keeping his original
cost as low as possible.

Ration Xo. 43 — An Ontario Agricultural College Ration

I — Barley meal 2 parts, corn meal or chop 2 parts, shorts
or middlings 2 parts, finely ground oats 1 part,
animal meal 1 part. This is mixed with about one
and a half times its weight of skim millt and fed
three times a day. The birds are given water
twice a day.

II — Corn meal 2 parts, ground buckwheat 2 parts, pearl
oat dust 1 part.

Ill — Corn meal 4 parts, ground buckwheat 2 parts, pearl
oat dust 2 parts.

II and III are substantially the same ration modified in
II for hot weather and in III for colder weather. Pearl
oat dust alone is recommended as a good ration when the
cost is reasonable It is interesting to note that the aver-
age amount of feed to make a pound of gain in a series of
crate-fattening experiments at this institution was 3.3
pounds — almost exactly the same as the average for a poun:l
of growth as reported from the same place in the preced-
ing chapter.

The Cramming Method of Fattening
In England and on the Continent of Europe where
there is some demand for excessively fat poultry, the
practice obtains to some extent of cramming the birds by
forcing feed into the crop in larger quantities than the
bird would voluntarily take it. Efforts to introduce this
practice into America have never met with much encour-
agement. Two things are against it here — the cost of
labor, and the limited demand for poultry with more fat
than can be put on it by ordinary methods or by crate
feeding. The method is shown in an accompanying illus-
tration. The successful practice of it requires a con-
siderable measure of judgment in the selection of birds

for the process and of skill in forcing into the crop w'th-
out particular distress to the biid all the feed that its
system can stand. By this process birds can be made
enormously fat. The feed used is the same in substance

A CRAMMING MACHINE FOR SPECIAL. FATTENING
FOWLS

In cramming or force-feeding, the machine hopper is
filled with a gruel-like mixture of finely ground grain
and milk or water, and by pressure upon the pedal the
feed is forced into the crop. In using the machine,
operator always keeps one hand on the fowl's crop to
gauge the quantity that can safely be fed.

as in crate feeding, but must have the milled stuffs very
finely ground and must be thin enough to go through
the tube and nozzle by which it passes from the feed
reservoir in the cramming machine into the crop of the
bird, without clogging.

CHAPTER IX

Feeding Breeding and Exhibition Fowls

Good Laying Condition is Good Breeding Condition — Extremely High Production and Repression of Egg Produc-
tion Prior to the Breeding Season Are Alike Detrimental — Moderate Winter Egg Production Keeps Hens
in Best Condition for the Breeding Season — Feeding Before and After Exhibition — Feeding
Bantams to Get Small Size With Normal Development

THE greater part of the poultry grown in this coun-
try each year comes from hens that are kept
primarily for layers, or that, if not kept for that
purpose, lay a considerable proportion of their eggs be-
fore and after the breeding season. So, except in the
case of a small proportion of hens of unusual standard
quality and value for breeding whose eggs are incubated
through the entire season of their laying, the work of
a hen as a producer of eggs for the table is quite as
important to her owner as her work as a producer of
eggs for hatching. Both purposes have to be considered
in feeding the breeding stock. And even when the breeder
of high quality standard stock takes
the position that, if a hen of quality
gives him -4n the breeding season a
few chicks of superior quality she
has earned her feed and keep for the
year (though she may not lay more
than a dozen eggs in the year), what
seems financially justified is not bio-
logically good policy.

To be in good breeding condition
a hen must be in good laying condi-
tion. To show her type truly when
exhibited she must be in good laying
and breeding condition at the time.
That is what the Standard demands
and the judge who fails to give due
consideration to that requirement is
ignoring and perverting the applica-
tion of the Standard no less than
when he misapplies other .specifica-
tions. From what was said in Chap-
ter VII of the effects of change of
location and treatment upon egg

production, and of the reaction of such things upon the
reproductive system — especially just before a pullet begins
laying, it is apparent that the policy some breeders fol-
low of trying to prevent birds that would lay early in
the winter from doing so, in order that they may not
exhaust themselves in any measure before the breeding
season, has its peculiar risks, and is as likely to defeat
as to serve their purpose.

Refraining from the use of such forcing methods as
would be used in efforts to get as high egg production
as possible, is about as far as a breeder can safely go in
his efforts to retard laying until the approach of the
breeding season. To feed light with the idea that the
ration will be only a maintenance ration, and the hen
will not lay because she has not sufficient extra nutri-
ment for egg production does not give the expected re-
sults at all uniformly. Some hens will begin to lay and
lay themselves poor under such conditions. If they are
fed well and kept in good condition and their rate of
egg production is moderate through early and midwinter,
thoroughly vigorous hens will be in pretty fair condition
for producing chickens up to the latter part of April or
the middle of May, according to the latitude, but unless

they have a break in the laying at some time in the late
winter or early spring, the chickens they produce in the
latter part of the season are not usually worth much. The
greater number of hens from which eggs are set lay few
eggs before February and, not having been in good laying
condition through the winter, usually turn out to be not
in very good breeding condition until they have been out
on the land for a month or so.

Where egg production is checked until near the
breeding season, either by intent or by failure to give
care to put and keep hens in laying condition, the general
effect is the same. Men may theorize all they please

COMFORTABLE COOPS, GOOD RANGE AND REGULAR FEEDING START

THESE VALUABLE WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCKS ON THE RIGHT

ROAD TO BEST DEVELOPMENT

about keeping their hens from laying in the winter that
they may get stronger,' more vigorous chickens in the
spring, but when fertility is poor and the chickens in-
ferior for some time after the hens start laying in the
spring, it is clear that the hens would have been no worse,
and the poultry keeper would have been better off, if they
had laid moderately all winter. Pullets commonly fail to
lay as early in the winter as is desirable when they are
kept primarily for egg production, because of the diffi-
culties of getting them hatched and grown, and into1 reg-
ular laying without being affected by the many things
that may retard laying. It is poor policy for a poultry
keeper to manufacture such difficulties for the purpose of
keeping a pullet from laying for several months after she
would begin if not interfered with.

The breeder who is an exhibitor has to take chances
with the birds he exhibits. Their experiences in being
shown may or may not seriously interfere with their lay-
ing, but to make a reputation for his stock he must show
his best birds no matter how it affects their egg pro-
duction. For the rest of his stock, the aim always should
be to keep it in laying condition and also in breeding
condition continuously, yet never to. force beyond the

90

FEEDING BREEDING AND EXHIBITION FOWLS

91

rate of production that the hens will maintain on average
good rations, with plenty of variety and plenty of exer-
cise. In general, breeding stock gives best results when
given considerably more yard room than is necessary for
hens kept for laying only. When hens are laying in clo-e
confinement and are ' well fed they usually lay rather
better than when given a large range. In nearly all cases.

FAVORABLE CONDITIONS FOR GROWING STOCK

With plenty of room and both sun and shade, chick-
ens that are well fed grow bit; and husky. I'hotn show.-.
Mr. Jos. Mason a veteran utility Light Brahma breeder.

other things being equal, hens that are liberally fed meat
>craps or green cut bone will lay considerably more than
those that are not.

So by giving his breeding stock large yards or fairly
good range, and by keeping highly concentrated animal
feeds out of their rations, the poultry keeper can keep
their egg production 20 to 30 per cent lower than it would
be with heavy feeding of animal matter in confinement.
Many observations indicate that the substitution of milk
for meat scrap in rations fed to breeding stock gives
much better fertility in the eggs, and stronger germs, yet
the evidence on this point is not so one-sided that it can
be affirmed that the feeding of rations containing heavy
percentages of meat invariably makes for lower fertility
and vitality. Matters relating to fertility are the most
complicated and obscure and the least understood of all
questions that call for consideration of poultry keepers;
and comparisons of results in different flocks, handled by
different persons under different conditions, throw no
light on the subject except as careful observers are able
to make first-hand studies of cases. Practically no sys-
tematic work of this kind has been done. All the com-
parative observations on fertility that have been pub-
lished are for different flocks on the same plant.

The writer regards it as quite improbable that the
feeding of any article of poultry feed is, in itself, capable
of having any marked influence on fertility — either one
way or the other. But high feeding is generally more or

detrimental to fertility in all animals, and it is to be
expected that in a comparison between results of feeding-
breeding stock a hearty grain ration made richer by the
addition of highly concentrated animal feeds, and the
same ration modified with milk, the latter would quite
regularly show the best fer'ility. At the same time it is
in line with many observations, and altogether reasonable,
to suppose that the same difference would follow were
the ration modified in some other way — as by the feeding
of green feed to the extent that would modify a grain and
meat ration as much as an unstinted allowance of milk
modifies a grain ration.

In practically all statements of rations, the amount
of green feed consumed is either an unknown quantity,
or is much less than poultry would consume if they could
get all they wanted. Breeding stock on range on grass
land, or on land growing a crop which the poultry do
not eat, and from which they take as vegetable feeds, grass
and weeds, will get also large quantities of worms and
insects. Breeding stock in poultry yards sown to rape
or a similar growing crop, to which they are allowed ac-
cess only as they eat it quite clean, and breeding stock
in yards which afford no green feed, but where green
feed of some kind grown outside is supplied as freely as
they will eat it, cannot get any considerable amount of
animal feed for themselves.

In such cases some concentrated animal feed is nec-
essary— not so much as when it is desired to secure the
heaviest egg production possible under similar conditions,
but still enough to make a mash appetizing. It is desir-
able, whenever it is practical, to keep breeding fowls
where they will be well fed on a variety of feed without
giving them anything but a little hard grain. But only
the small breeding flock on a relatively large and good
range can have these advantages, and when the truth
about this matter is told, the bulk of the better-than-
average standard stock produced every year comes from
breeding stock that has not by any means ideal conditions
of range, but is given, as far as possible, the care nec-
essary to make up for this lack.

The less concentrated rations, whether modified with
milk, or with vegetable feed, generally give, a smaller egg
yield. As between hens kept under the same conditions
it is often noticeable that if one pen is laying very heav-
ily, say up to 75 or 80 per cent, and another is laying
about 50 per cent, the pen having the lowest egg yield
will give the best fertility and the most chickens. Both
pens being fed alike it would appear that the ration was
a better laying ration, for one pen than for the other- —
that the pen that laid at the lowest rate would need
something more stimulating to bring it to its best in egg
production. Most people in feeding poultry seem to find
it easier to make the changes necessary to bring up egg
production, than to make those that will slow up egg
production without putting the fowl out of condition. The
best way to do this is gradually to cut out all ground
feed, giving less of it each day for about a week and
then stopping it entirely, but feeding liberally of wheat,
barley, heavy oats, or hard, bright cracked corn, until
the egg production goes down to about an average of 50
per cent. If it seems likely to go below that feed mash
and meat or cut bone moderately until it comes back and
is held at an average just above 50 per cent.

At this general rate of production most of the hens
in a flock will throw good strong chickens and do fo
until quite late in the season, even though they have laid
continuously through the winter and spring. The hen is
in better condition, her vitality is better maintained, and
she has more of it to transmit to her offspring. If kept
through the breeding season on a diet and system that
gives only what may be regarded as a normal production
of eggs for so long a period, she is also more likely to
lay well through the remainder of the year, when her
eggs are used for the table.

Feeding in Preparation for Exhibition

Theoretically, birds that are bred right — for the right
size, weight, and type — and grown right (if young), or
kept in normal condition through their molt (if old), do
not require any special feeding. But the seasoned ex-

92

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

hibitor neither takes it for granted that any of his well-
fed birds will be all right to take out of the flock and
put in the showroom, nor does he put off inspection of
the biids from which his entries will be selected until
time to begin the work of grooming and training them
for exhibition. Long before the time for that he has
noted the most likely candidates for competitions, and
from the time a bird is thus marked in his mind he
watches its condition closely, and if it does not appear
to him to be growing and developing, or molting as it
should, he takes such measures as seem advisable to in-
sure better development.

In giving exhibition stock the finish in form and
plumage that birds must have to stand well in poultry
shows of the first class, conditions of life count for as
much as feed — sometimes more. And this applies not
merely to conditions of life in a short period before the
exhibition at -which the bird is displayed, but to condi-
tions from the time of hatching. Crowding in the coops
and houses, confinement in bare yards, and even over-
stocking the range for growing chicks as much as might
be admissible with birds for breeders (not to be exhibited)
if well managed in every other respect, must be carefully
avoided. Nearly all consistently successful exhibitors at
the leading shows give their stock far more room, both
indoors and out, at every period of life, than is generally
considered necessary. To one who does not appreciate
perfection of finish in fowls, and how much this depends
upon natural conditions of life, it often appears that the
breeder of first-class exhibition stock is not making good
use of his opportunities — not half utilizing the capacity
of his land and equipment. But the exhibitor has learned
by experience that though much may be done to improve
a specimen by extra feed and care in a few weeks prior
to a show, it is only the specimen that has little "wrong
with it when taken in hand at that time that will respond
to treatment in a measure that justifies the trouble.

With experienced feeders and exhibitors who have
grown their stock well and kept old birds in good con-
dition, special feeding for exhibition is mostly a matter
of hastening or retarding development of specimens, as
far as that can be done without radical treatment, in
order to have them in their best con-
dition at the time they are to be
shown. Birds are at their best in
color and condition of plumage for
only a short time after the coat of
feathers is fully grown. Hence ex-
hibitors plan to have certain birds
ready for certain shows. If the birds
develop according to expectations, no
special feeding is necessary. But if
a bird is coming too fast or too
slow the poultryman tries to retard
or to hasten development according-
ly. Also it frequently happens that
an accident to a bird selected for ex-
hibition at a particular show makes
it necessary to substitute a less ma-
ture young bird, or an old one not
so far advanced in the molt, and per-
haps not up in flesh; or a slight in-
disposition may put a bird back; or
something may interfere with the
work of a poultryman to such an
extent that through no fault of his
the stock generally needs extra care.

Under any of these conditions the birds that are to be
exhibited must have forcing feed to put them in condition
seasonably. Finally, as most birds that are shipped any
distance to shows lose considerable in weight and condi-
tion before they get back home, it is desirable that the
bird sent to the show should start with a little reserve
of fat. The exhibitor of poultry is, in his field, as much
interested and as proficient in "fleshing and fattening"
poultry as is the producer of fine table poultry in his.

In all the literature on this subject there has never
appeared a more pertinent and concise statement in re-
gard to the feeding of birds in preparation for exhibition
than the following from the pen of Mr. A. C. Smith, pub-
lished twenty years ago, yet as applicable today:

"To get the required amount of exercise in confined
quarters, a litter of leaves, coarse hay, or rye straw should
be placed upon the ground to the depth of four or five
inches. A few oats should be scattered in this as soon
as the birds are fairly off the roost in the morning, if it
is during the short days of winter. Then as soon as the
mash can be prepared the birds should receive about two
heaping teaspoonfuls each. This small quantity warms
them up, and sets the machinery of their digestive organs
to work, but .is not enough to destroy their appetite for
more. This mash should be made of ground oats and
corn meal; or corn meal, flour, middlings, and bran. The
proportions should be governed by the quality of the
goods. A mash that is so light in substance that it does
not cling together is not rich enough; neither is a tough,
doughy mash what is desired. This mash should be sea-
soned lightly with salt, but no spices whatever should be
used, as they tend to intensify the color of the head parts
for a time only, and to diminish it in proportion after-
wards. It is also advisable to use a small quantity of
bone meal in the mash every morning, and twice a week
a little icfined fish meal, say, one-twelfth or so. This is
a forcing feed and but little should be employed unless
it is desired to bring females toward a laying state. Clover
meal should be used once or twice a week in this morn-
ing mash. It is preferable to cut clover as the latter is
too bulky in the crop, and often clogs the passage to the
digestive organs.

"The fowls should be kept scratching until noon,
when the green feed should be given. Everyone has his
preference. The writer prefers cabbages, as they are the
greenest and tenderest things to be procured in the win-
ter months. Green feed can be placed before them in
two days; it may be chopped and a certain amount fed

A BREEDING PEN OF RHODE ISLAND REDS ON THE FARM OF LESTER
TOMPKINS, CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS

From a photograph by the author in the spring of 1907. This pen was of
birds then eight years old that had been kept mated just as shown in the pic-
ture for seven years.

FEEDING BREEDING AND EXHIBITION FOWLS

93

every day, or it may be given in unlimited supply. If it
is furnished without restriction it must be kept constantly
before the fowls otherwise they are liable to eat too
much when a new allowance is supplied.

"Between three and four o'clock the fowls should be
given the heartiest meal of the day. The exact time that
it should be given depends upon the length of the day.
The object is to give the fowls an hour to an hour and
a half of exercise before they go to roost. Considerable
-can be accomplished by a selection of grains. If the
birds are too fleshy, more barley and less wheat should
be used for the evening feed. Wheat and barley are the
best feeds at this time. If the weather is very cold, and
the birds in a normal state of flesh, a small handful of
corn may be allowed each one just before it jumps on
the perch for the night. With fowls that are in poor
flesh it is well to use more wheat and but little oats or

a large-framed bird; but the faults in plumage that come
from limited nourishment while the feathers are growing
cannot be greatly helped by any course of diet.

The use of condiments and drugs of various kinds
in fitting birds for exhibition, which was somewhat com-
mon in early days, is now little practiced. Fowls havs
to be rugged and firm in flesh to stand up in an exhibi-
tion coop for five or six days and evenings, and giving
them "dope" of any kind beforehand while it may serve
as a stimulant for the first day or two leaves them much
worse through the latter part of the show than if they
had been given only wholesome feed. Most old exhibi-
tors have at hand at shows a few simple remedies or
tonics to give to birds that may become sick, but beyond

SCENE ON BLUE ROCK FARM, IOWA CITY, IA.
Colony houses ready for exhibition pullet stock when the chicks are weaned.

barley for a scratching feed. Corn should be given for
the evening feed to birds in this condition.

"Young birds of the heavier breeds which are some-
what underweight should not be forced to overexercisft.
In such cases increase of weight is the main point, but
a moderate amount of exercise will prove advantageous
in these cases also. A great variety of feed should be
sought for such birds. The mash should have a greater
proportion of corn meal. Broken sweet crackers of all
sorts may be used to good advantage in connection with
corn meal and bran as a soft feed. In cold weather sun-
flower seeds and buckwheat in small amounts are good
agents in securing the desired object. They are also in-
strumental in procuring the lustre of plumage so much
desired by exhibitors. Beef tallow is very good to give
a lustre to the coat Too much is not beneficial to the
health of the bird, but a piece one-half the size of an
English walnut every second day will answer the pur-
pose, and prove a great treat to the birds."

As a substitute for sweet crackers mentioned above,
which cannot always be obtained, many exhibitors use
sugar, giving from a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful per
bird in the mash. It is regarded as particularly useful
where it is desired to increase weight rapidly and tempo-
rarily. As soon as a bird fattened on sugar has that article
taken from its ration, the fat it had supplied begins to dis-
appear. As far as weight alone is concerned, heavy feed-
ing for a short time before a show will accomplish a great
deal. It is not difficult to add from a pound to a pound
and a half to the weight of a nearly grown, but thin
bird of medium size in a few weeks — and even more to

that they rely upon the appropriate use of ordinary feeds
to put and keep the birds in as good condition as is pos-
sible under the stress and excitement incident to ex-
hibiting them.

Feeding Birds After Exhibition

The experience of a trip from home, from four to six
long days in the showroom, perhaps with irregular feed-
ing, overfeeding at one time and a long wait for feed at
another, and a return trip, in all making usually six to
eight days of abnormal and disturbing life, puts mosx
birds somewhat out of condition, and is apt to start many-
cases of mild indigestion. Probably the majority of bird,
returned from exhibition are in rather poorer condition
than when they went. Birds of the heavier breeds, how-
ever, and especially old birds that after a day or tw >
appeared tired and sluggish, and that were fed freely, are
apt to be overfat and also considerably lower in vitality
than when they left home.

Birds that are below par in condition should not be
put immediately on a full, heavy ration. For a day or
two, about three-fourth's of what they had been eating
before going to the show is enough. On this the diges-
tive organs will soon come back to normal, the birds will
be bright and lively and have keen appetites. Good, sweet,
succulent feed is the one thing that may be given them
from the first without stint; for it is the great regulator
of digestion. The ration can be gradually increased until,

94

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

at the end of a week, they are getting their accustomed
allowance.

Birds that are overfat when returned from a show
should be put at once on a diet of hard grain and suc-
culent green feed, giving little corn, and making them
work a reasonable amount for the light feeds of other
grains necessary to put the digestive organs in good con-
dition while the birds are reducing weight and getting ii>
trim again.

Experience shows that full return to good breeding
condition and fertility usually takes several weeks, and in
many individual cases may take several months. It ap-
pears to be largely a question of how sensitive a bird is
to change, excitement, and irregular life, and of the extent
to which it has been shown. Neither the looses and ac-
tions of the birds nor the egg production of the hens
will show with certainty when they are in good breeding
condition again. The test is the fertility of the eggs and
the vitality of the chickens hatched, and this appears to
be associated with and dependent in part upon conditions
of the nervous system and of the reproductive organs that
continue to affect the breeding power of a bird sometimes
long after it appears to ordinary observation to be in
perfect physical condition.

Feeding Bantams

The size of a bantam is determined primarily by
selection in breeding, but may be influenced considerably
by feeding. In nearly all bantams the object is to have
the birds as small as possible, yet with the type of the

large breed of which they are miniature reproductions.
The development of the appropriate type is much influ-
enced by conditions. In all but the Cochin and Brahma
Bantams the best chickens are grown, and the breed type
well preserved when the birds are at liberty on a good
range, and given no feed but a little tine chick feed — only
enough to insure that they will be well nourished. Grow-
ing the Asiatic Bantams in this way usually results in
making the birds too slender in form, a little too high on
the legs, too long in the neck, and too active to show
good type. There is also a tendency to shorter and less
profuse feathering when the birds range much. The best
way to grow this type is in grass yards that give 'plenty
of green feed and animal feed, yet limit the ranging and
the activities of the chicks, and to feed them about as
other chicks are fed, except that only fine grains should
be used, and comparatively litf.le soft t\e1. The fino
commercial chick feeds generally are splendid feeds for
bantams.

Starving or very short feeding to reduce size will
keep down weight but is apt to spoil type in any breed,
and certain to prevent the production of the finest qual-
ity in color of plumage. It also greatly reduces the vital-
ity of the birds and this, no doubt, is the cause of ex-
ceptional delicacy in many stocks of bantams. The best
breeders of bantam* now follow the policy of feeding for
fair development of body with good quality in plumage
color, and consider the production of a proportion of
birds that are overlarge as less objectionable than to
have all birds small and all more or less defective in
plumage.

YOUNG BIRDS MAKE THEIR BEST DEVELOPMENT UNDER THESE CONDITIONS

CHAPTER X

Feeding Turkeys, Peafowl, Guineas and Pheasants

Differences in Feeding This Class of Poultry Due to Size, Habits of Life, and Susceptibility to Unfavorable Condi-
tions in Domestication — Rations Used by Successful Turkey Raisers for Breeding Stock and for
Growing and Fattening — Feeding of Peafowl Practically the Same as of Turkeys —
Guineas and Pheasants Thrive on Common Poultry Feeds

f^T^HE four kinds of poultry considered in this chap-
ter have much the same general feed requirements
f^~ and feeding habits as chickens, but are less
domestic, more restive under restrictions upon their move-
ments, and more susceptible to the effects of contami-
nated soil and polluted feed and drink. These character-
istics make the profitable raising of turkeys and guineas
depend very much upon opportunities to give them range
where they can procure the greater part of their feed by
foraging, and where they will not be seriously molested
by their natural enemies. Under such conditions the feed-
ing of the adult stock is a comparatively simple matter.
To start any considerable number of young birds and
bring them with slight losses to the size at which they
become safe from their smaller and more numerous ene-
mies, however, requires keeping them under control and
surveillance while they are small, and for this reason they
generally have to be kept near the dwelling of the per-
son having them in charge, arid fed with more care dur-
ing that period than chickens.

Peafowl and pheasants are kept more for ornament,
and usually in much smaller numbers, and because of the
greater rarity and value of the stock the tendency is to
restrict them more. This is likely to make conditions so
much more unfavorable than for turkeys and guineas that
in general experience the peafowl and pheasants seem
more delicate and difficult to raise. The almost universal
tendency among those growing any kind of poultry which
they find rather delicate is to feed something out of the
ordinary — something supposed to be peculiarly suited to
the young of the kind of stock handled. Instead of doing
this the novice in growing these kinds of poultry should
seek to provide the best substitute practical for the nat-
ural conditions most favorable to the birds, and .feed them
as he would chickens under the same circumstances, mak-
ing proper allowance for the size of the birds in feeding
grain. Young guineas are smaller and young pheasants
much smaller than average chickens at hatching, and they
need the finer cracked grains for a longer period — just as
bantams and the smaller varieties of chickens do.

A point to be considered in relation to the greater
susceptibility of these kinds of poultry to contaminated
soil, and the possible occasion for careful dieting of birds
which are easily affected by it, is that in all somewhat
rare kinds and varieties of poultry, selection for vigor and
vitality is likely to be much less rigid than in the popu-
lar and plentiful stocks. The writer has frequently seen
turkeys, guineas, and pheasants doing as well as chick-
ens under conditions not desirable for poultry of any
kind, and with care that was neither expert nor regular.
One brood of six or eight guinea chicks, in particular,
kept until about eight weeks old with a common hen
mother in a coop about three by four feet, made of rather
wide boards with narrow cracks between, and after that
put in a coop about twice as large and kept there until
winter, all lived and grew to fair size. The coop first
used was kept in a place where the sun beat down hot
on it nearly all day, and was rarely moved. My atten-
tion was attracted to it because in passing the place A

number of times in the heat of the day on some hot spring
days I noticed this coop, which I supposed contained
young chickens, standing where the sun beat in on it
and not a breath of air was stirring. As I was acquainted
with the old lady who occupied the house and knew that
she was frequently away all day, I finally stopped one ex-
tremely warm day when the house was closed to see if
the chickens were suffering and if there was any way I
could give them relief. To my surprise, when I came
close enough to see, the young birds were guineas. Next
day I stopped to see the lady and suggest that if she
hoped to raise any of them, better and more roomy ac-
commodations should be provided. She assured me that
she thought the birds would do very well as she had
some years before raised some in just such a coop. It
was only after much urging that she engaged a boy to
make a coop with more room, and adopted the plan of
moving the coop to clean ground at long intervals.

Guineas that will live and grow as well as those did
under the circumstances were as immune to all the dan-
gers of such conditions as any stock could be. Turkeys
are often grown in small numbers in confinement, and
sometimes make good growth. Many growers of pheas-
ants are as successful with them as with chickens under
thf same conditions. It is doubtful whether there is any
profit in stock so raised, "but the fact that it can be done
is of interest to many persons who are deterred from
raising some of the other kinds of land birds used ac
poultry because they suppose that it is useless to attempt
tT do so unless they provide special feeds and give much
more attention to feeding them than to feeding chickens
From such cases as that cited it appears that good, vig-
oious stock is half the battle, and that, if the birds have

THE START IN THE SPRING

Photo from Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture.

the vitality to start with, something may be done with
them under ordinary conditions in which chickens are
grown, though better results are obtained with less effort
when turkeys, peafowls, guineas, and pheasants are on
good range not much used by other poultry. The great
trouble in managing all these birds is the difficulty of
keeping them in bounds. They are inclined to wander

95

96

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

much farther than chickens and, as the young birds can
fly out of any uncovered enclosure at an age when chick-
ens are restrained by low fences, the keeper has little
control over them unless they are in close quarters.

Although the feeding is so like the feeding of fowls
that any poultry keeper who can grow good chickens
should be able to adapt the rations used to the other
kinds of domestic land birds with good results, and easily
learn by observation what changes
might be made in them to advantage,
a. few examples of the rations for
each kind will be helpful to most
readers and will show the differences
in the methods of giving similar ra-
tions: •

RATIONS FOR TURKEYS
No. 44 — J. F". Crnngle's Rations

I— FOR BREEDING STOCK—

Feed mostly on oats scalded, give
corn about twice a week. Furni.;h
charcoal and oyster shell in boxes
from which the birds can help
themselves.

II— FOR YOUNG TURKEYS—

Four times a day give stale bread
(from three to ten days old) moist-
ened with milk. In wet, cool
weather put a little red pepper in
this feed. Give clabbered milk to
drink. After about three or four
weeks, begin to feed wheat and

cracked corn. Scalding the grain makes it easier to
digest. The scalded grain should not be fed until cool.

Ill— FATTENING IN THE FALL—

About October 1st beg-in to feed twice a day what
whole corn they will eat up in a few minutes. The
birds will fatten better if allowed to range than if
confined in pens.

No. 45 — Rhode Island All-Corn Ration

Use only northern white flint corn. Give this to the
little ones coarsely ground and mixed with sweet or sour
milk, or made into bread and moistened with milk. GtVe
this at first four or five times a day. After a short time
feed with it a little dry cracked corn, and also substitute
gradually for the ground corn, cracked corn soaked in milk.
By the time the birds are eight weeks old they should be
getting all cracked corn either dry, or partly moistened
with milk. After June 1st birds on range should need feed-

with boiling water and steam before feeding. Or
if it is desired to use a dry mash give: bran 8
parts, meat scrap 1 part.

II — FOR YOUNG TURKEYS —

1 — One hard-boiled egg for every eight poults added
to stale (not sour or moldy) wheat bread dipped
in milk and squeezed dry. Feed for about two
weeks. The egg may be alternated with cottage
cheese. Then substitute best meat scrap for the
egg, and keep clabbered milk before them.

2 — One raw egg for every eight poults, added to a
a pint of bran and enough clabbered milk to mix

NEARING THE FINISH
Turkeys being driven to market in the fall.

rather dry. After two weeks gradually substitute
chick feed.

Ill — FOR FATTENING —

1 — Feed grain — principally corn — night and morning;

feed sparingly for the first ten days, then increase

gradually to all they will eat.
2 — To make plump, white-meated turkeys. Give equal

parts of ground oats, ground barley, and coarse corn

meal, mixed with table scraps, boiled carrots, and

potatoes, and milk.

3 — Ground oats moistened with milk, and a little mut-
ton fat added every other day.

4 — Equal parts of corn meal and ground barley, mixed
with boiled potatoes or rutabagas.

The profit in growing turkeys for market is almost

will eat three times a day.

No. 46 — Turkey Rations Recommended By the United
States Department of Agriculture

I— FOR BREEDING STOCK—

If the birds are on range, a good feed of grain — pre-
ferably oats or wheat — is all that is necessary. In
winter feed twice a day on equal parts of oats, wheat,
and corn, with any succulent green feed. Supply ani-
mal feed by giving meat scraps, beef livers, and lungs,
or skimmed milk — sweet or sour. Give free access to
grit, shell, and charcoal.

-FOR YOUNG TURKEYS-
1 — Hard-boiled egg chopped

II-

mg only twice a day. Where the range is good and the entirely in the feed thev secure hv forao-ino- Fven it
flock of only moderate numbers, they often need no feed-
ing from August 1st until October. While the range sup- the high prices which turkeys have commanded in recent
plies some feed in the fall, the birds are fed light feed -, i . . c 1 i *i
of whole corn twice a day. In November, to fatten fully years it is douotiui whether money could be made any-

win eSt nthrfLVi«meSt^edfltre where growing turkeys for the table on purchased feed,

or on grain from the corncribs and granaries on farms.
Some harvested feeds must be used in starting the young
turkeys, but the quantity of these is insignificant. Some
feed must also be given to finish for market, but this
need not be a large part of what produced the meat. The

duu ^um, WILII any sue cine ii i. Kreen ieea. SUDDIV am- i- r ii i i r r

mal ^feed by giving meat scraps, beef livers, and lungs, Policy of those who grow turkeys for profit must be to

have them get the most of their living by foraging, and
this result is secured by keeping the size of the flock
down to what the range will carry. Overstocking has

the"firSt"Week> th6n whole' wheaf'ind the effect of either making the turkeys remain much

nearer the farm buildings where they and other poultry
are fed, or causing them to wander far in search of feed.
They may hang around home for a time, and then take a
notion to look up new and better pastures, and they are
apt to do this just when the attendant has concluded that
they have settled down to a quiet life, and is proceeding
with other work on the theory that, for the time, the tur-
keys need no watching.

Several broods of turkey poults generally combine in
one flock and, as turkeys are usually kept, all the birds
are likely to go in one flock. But where there is room
and they are allowed to do so, a stock will frequently re-
main divided into small groups all season, each of these
following a different route in foraging. It is the natural
habit of a flock of turkeys, when foraging, to make a
circuit that will bring them home toward evening. They

fine and corn bread
_ the first week
hulled oats.

2 — Stale bread soaked in milk and squeezed dry for
the first few days, then common chick feed.

3 — Clabbered milk seasoned with salt and pepper, and
corn bread crumbs.

4 — Equal parts of pinhead oats, whole wheat, and

cracked corn.
5 — Cracked wheat.
6 — Corn meal 3 parts and wheat bran 1 part, mixed and

baked into bread.
1 — Bran or middlings 2 parts, cracked Egyptian corn

1 part, wheat or hulled oats, or a mixture of the

two, 1 part.

Ill — FOR FATTENING —

Feed wheat and oats twice a day at the beginning of
the fattening period, gradually changing to corn.

No. 47 — Washington Experiment Station Rations

I — BREEDING STOCK —

1 — Give corn, wheat, oats, and clover or alfalfa, using
less corn than of other grains. The following may
be given as a wet mash: Corn meal 1 part (by
measure), bran 2 parts, chopped onion, or raw
apples, or cooked mashed carrots or potatoes, 1
part, meat scrap or clabbered milk 1 part; mix

FEEDING TURKEYS, PEAFOWL, GUINEAS, AND PHEASANTS

97

do not invariably make the same round, but are apt to GO
so. Fences and walls make no bar to their progress, for
they go over them easily. It is their custom to make
stops in shady or secluded places along their circuit to
rest, and anyone knowing the "stations" on their route
can tell very nearly the time of day when they will be
found at each. In rainy weather which interferes with
foraging as they travel the circuit they are apt to go
quickly from station to station, but remain a long time
at each, with the result that they get little feed. Careful
turkey raisers make a practice of looking up the turkeys
at their stations at such times and feeding them at these
places as many times during a bad day as is necessary
to insure that they will have all the feed they need.

Trouble is sometimes experienced in feeding new
corn to turkeys when fattening them. It is always better
to feed old dry corn if it is available; but if new corn
must be used, it should be fed light at first, and the quan-
tity increased as the birds become accustomed to u.
When this is done new corn may be used with safety.

Peafowl may be treated exactly as turkeys are, with
the difference that as they are not grown for the table
they have no need of fattening rations, and corn is not
as essential a part of their diet. If they are kept as most
peafowl are, in small numbers where they can have lib-
erty, they really need no more feeding than is necessary
to keep them from going into yards occupied by other
poultry, or from mingling with the other stock. This
separation is not for the benefit of the peafowls, but for
the protection of the other birds.

Guineas are given practically the same feed as tur-
keys, except that corn is usually given them cracked in-
stead of whole. While they forage more widely than
chickens they do not go as far as turkeys, nor are they
as systematic in their habits. They are apt to keep near

enough to home to be within hearing distance when the
fowls and chickens are fed, and to rush in for their share,
even though they have formed the habit of roosting out
and are shy about being handled in any way.

Guineas as marketed are usually in poor flesh, or at
best only fairly fleshed, but from lime to time a few
nice fat guineas may be seen in the markets. Where the
thin guinea when plucked appears unattractive, fat guineas
properly displayed will attract favorable attention at once.
Whether it would pay the grower of guineas to fatten
before marketing probably depends upon the circum-
stances under which they are grown, and the opportunity
to sell them at a premium over ordinary stock. The few
fat guineas that are seen in the market are probably birds
of unusually docile disposition that have been reared and
fed with chickens, or. birds that have had some other ex-
ceptionally favorable conditions of growth.

Pheasants — The older authorities on pheasant feeding
mostly recommended the use of "custards", ant eggs,
maggots, and other things difficult of preparation; and
also place much emphasis on the feeding of a greater
variety of high-priced seeds than is put in feeds for chick-
ens. The most successful pheasant growers in America
have generally discarded all such special and expensive
feeds as not only too costly and troublesome, but as actu-
ally inferior to a good ration for young chickens and
turkeys. A thing to be especially sought in handling
pheasants is a secluded place where they will be safe
from things that would frighten them. While some pheas-
ants are tame and not easily frightened, the average
pheasant is more shy and nervous than the most flighty
of our varieties of fowls. Birds of any kind that are
easily frightened and are often frightened are never
thrifty; the reaction of the fright upon the digestive sys-
tem prevents proper digestion and assimilation of feed.

BRONZE TURKEYS ON THE FARM
Scene on Farm of Chas. McClave, New London, Ohio.

Feeding and Fattening Ducks

Special Features of Feeding Practice Due to Aquatic Habits of Ducks and to Their Remarkable Adaptability to
Forced Feeding — Rations Used By Pioneer and Leading Commerical Duck Growers — Rate of
Growth of Ducks — Feeding Young Ducks Designed for Breeders for Development
and Breeding Stock for Egg Production

DUCK culture in America is principally the grow:ng
of ducks to be sold for the table at about ten
weeks of age. There are few breeders of stand-
ard ducks for exhibition. Perhaps one farmer in ten
keeps a few indifferently bred ducks with other poultry,
and feeds them the same way, except as the ducks make
their ration different by the things they get in foraging.
Occasionally a poultry keeper with a preference for ducks
keeps quite a large flock of them and sells the eggs for
table use. In general, those who keep just a few ducks
get poor results from them because they do not realize
that a system of feeding which would be ruinous to any
other kind of poultry is what is required to get the best
a duck is capable of doing.

In all discussions of the making and use of moist
mashes for land birds, emphasis is placed, over and over,
on the importance of avoiding sloppy feed, and the neces-
sity for using hard grain in larger proportions than the
soft feeds given, if the birds are to be kept in good physi-
cal condition for any length of time. In expert feeding of
ducks, hard grain is not used at all for the young birds
while growing, and the breeding stock is given only a
light feed of grain once a day. All the rest of the feed
is in the form of mash, and the wet mash is used almost
exclusively, because the conditions under which the birds
aie fed and the method of feeding do not admit of giving
the ground feeds in the dry state. Ducks can be raised
on dry feed, and will do well with it, but — as they want
a great deal of water to wash a moist mash down when
eating it, there is no object in giving it dry.

Moist mashes as prepared for ducks, are usually
mixed about as dry as a moist mash can be, but the ad-
vantage of this is in the handling of the mash in distribut-
ing it, and in the fact that the feeding troughs keep mucli
cleaner if the mash is so dry that it will not stick to them.
Frequently poultry keepers raising a few ducks make the
mashes for them very thin and sloppy — about like the
feed used for chickens in crate feeding — and the ducks
seem to thrive as well on them as on anything.

In feeding ducks, water must always be accessible to
them while eating, for unless supplied with water to wash
down the feed they eat only sparingly — not enough for
good growth or egg production. The feed trough and
the pail or trough of water should not be so close to-
gether that the birds can easily reach from one to the
other, as under such conditions they slop badly and waste
a great deal of feed. But if the water is just far enough
fiom the feed so that the bird cannot turn to it with a
mouthful of feed and swill the -feed in the water it will
partly swallow the feed, or swallow as much as it can,
before going for a drink. Then when it goes back to the
feed the drip from its bill falls near the water vessel and
not in the feed as it will if the feed and water are too
close together. With small flocks of ducks the slopping
and waste from having feed and water too close together
are insignificant, but when there are fifty or more duck-
lings in a flock, or ten or twelve breeding ducks, the waste
becomes important and the work of keeping feed and
water receptacles and the floors about them clean is
much increased.

SIX PHOTOGRAPHS SHOWING THE RATE OF GROWTH OP DUCKLINGS

98

FEEDING AXD FATTENING DUCKS

99

The young ducks in brooder houses are usually given
water in drinking fountains of the inverted-cup type. As
the%' grow larger the water is put in pails or troughs ot
such size and construction that the birds can drink and
can get their heads and necks well into the water but
cannot get into it bodily and foul it with their droppings.
Where a. few ducklings are raised with hens it is best to
give them water in a pan that they can get in, and to
rinse it out and give clean water with each feed. This
will enable the little ducks to keep themselves free from
any lice that may come to them from the hen. If the
ducks are fed indoors and this results in too much wet-
ting of the floor or of litter on it, the head lice — whicii
are most troublesome when ducks are hatched and reared
with hens — will be kept off if the water vessel is such
that the duckling can get its head well under water.

When the breeding stock is confined to the house i i
winter, special care must be taken to keep the ducks from

of determining in advance which ducks need it and which
do not, makes it the best policy for the novice in duck
laising, or for all who do not observe symptoms of trou-
ble as soon as they appear, to take no chances. In exper-
imenting on this point the writer found that some duck-
lings would go off their feed unless given sand at the start,
while others seemed to have no need of it, until he tried
putting ducklings out for their first feed on grass (as we
do goslings). From that time he found no occasion to put
sand in feed for young ducks. One of the advantages of
raising ducks, however, is that they will do better than
any other kind of poultry where the natural conditions
are not good, and probably the greater number of those
who grow even a few ducks cannot start them on gras-\
The effect of lack of sand or grit in the feed is to make
ducklings appear weak and listless, and indisposed to
move or take any particular interest in anything. A little
feed containing coarse sand or fine grit will revive them

FEEDING TIME AT ATLANTIC DUCK FARM, SPE'ONK, L. I.

Taking the litter in a large part of the floor wet by their
dabblings in the water and running about while wet. The
usual plan is to have the water pail in a wooden frame
about two and a half feet square, sunk into the floor un-
til the top is only a little higher than the iloor. This top
is of slats with the edges up (strips of furring will answer)
and with a space left in the middle into which the pail
will go just deep enough to be firmly held in place. The
floor under the frame is dug out as much as necessary to
drain away all the water that is slopped out and conies
through the slats. Where ducks have access to running
or standing water in their yards or on range, it may not
be necessary to provide water especially for drinking at
feeding time. That depends on the amount and condition
of the water, and its accessibility.

In feeding young ducks in brooders, or ducks with
hens, if they have not an opportunity to eat growing tender
green feed from the first, it is important to put a little
coarse sand or fine gitt in their mash. Some duck grow-
ers put sand or grit regularly in the mash for quite a
long time, others use it only for a few days. It does not
appear that there is any advantage in continuing it longer,
nor is it necessary in all cases, though the impossibility

almost as soon as swallowed if given when the symptoms
are first noted.

Another important particular in which ducks are un-
like other poultry is their ability to digest, assimilate, and
thrive remarkably upon rations having proportions of ani-
mal matter that would be highly injurious to chickens,
turkeys, or geese. Ducklings can stand for some time
meat scrap up to 30 per cent or more of their ration. It is
not economical to feed it so heavily for any considerable
period, but the ability of the duck to use strong feed
makes it possible often to force growth very rapidly, and
this is of great advantage both in bringing on ducklings
that are a little backward as they approach the age for-»
killing as green ducks, and in forcing lots to get them on
the market as soon as possible when prices are declining.

While ducklings can use heavy rations containing
large amounts of animal feed to advantage, they need lib-
eral supplies of green feed. In fact, the use of large
amounts of animal feed is necessary and profitable only
when ducks are grown in confinement where they obtain
little or nothing by foraging. When a few ducks are grown
on good range, or are liberally supplied with green feed,
they will grow quite as well as those grown on heavy

100

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

meat rations under the conditions which obtain on the
commercial duck farm, though perhaps not quite as rapid-
ly. In growing ducks for market, the profit is in the
green duck, killed at from nine to eleven or twelve weeks
of age. In growing a few ducks for the home table, a
much meatier and larger duck can be obtained by keeping
them until four or five months old. But to hold them
profitably for the longer period they should be where
they will pick much of their living, or where garden
waste will make an important part of their diet. It will
not pay to hold them so long and buy grain for them.
Commercial duck growers also use large proportions of
green feed in mashes, but rarely have enough of it to re-
duce appreciably the quantity of grain and meat needed
to grow their ducks.

Large flocks of ducks kept for breeding can rarely
be given a range that will supply any appreciable quan-
tity of feed. Small flpcks with good range either on grass

the ducks begin laying- increase the amount of meat
scrap to 12 or 15 per cent. At noon feed a little hard
grain — corn, wheat, or oats, or a mixture of those
grains.

II— FEED FOR YOUNG DUCKLINGS—

First four days, wheat bran. 4 parts; corn meal,
1 part; low-grade flour. 1 part; 5 per cent of fine grit.
Feed four times a day, all they will eat up clean.

After the fourth day, wheat bran, 3 parts, corn
meal, 1 part; low-grade flour, 1 part; 5 per cent of
fine meat scraps and 3 per cent of fine grit. Feed four
times a day. For green feed give finely cut green
clover, rye, or cabbage.

When the ducks are three weeks old reduce to three
feeds a day, and make the mash of equal parts of
corn meal, wheat bran, and low-grade flour, 10 per
cent of meat scraps, and 3 per cent of grit.

From six weeks old until the ducks are ready for
market give the following: corn meal, 2 parts; bran,
1 part; low-grade flour, 1 part; 10 per cent meat scrap,
and 3 per cent of grit.

Xo. 49 — Weber Bros.' Method of Feeding:

I— FOR BREEDING DUCKS —

Equal parts of corn meal and shorts, with 10 per
cent of meat scrap added. If green feed is not avail-
able, add one-fifth of vegetables to the mash. Give
raw vegetables at noon two or three times a week.

*f9

BROODER HOUSE FOR YOUNG DUCKLINGS

or on streams often pick the greater part of their living.
The Indian Runner ducks are especially adapted to se-
curing their living by foraging over meadows. The gen-
eral tendency of foraging ducks is to work favorite local-
ities quite thoroughly. The Indian Runner, as a result
of living for many generations under conditions that made
it necessary to forage systematically over considerable
areas, has the habit of doing that established to a degree
that enables it to get more than most ducks from the
range on ordinary meadows.

The conditions in duck growing are such that the
questions relating to feeding have been most thoroughly
worked out on the commercial duck farms. Comparative-
ly little has been done in this line at agricultural colleges
and experiment stations, though the determination of the
value of feeding meat to ducks in much larger amounts
than had been customary was made at the Geneva (N. Y.)
Experiment Station.

RATIONS FOR DUCKS
Xo. 48 — James Rankin's Method of Feeding

I — FEEDING FOR BREEDING DUCKS —

Equal parts of corn meal, wheat bran, low-grade
flour, about 10 per cent of meat scrap, and about one-
fourth of the whole cooked vegetables — potatoes, tur-
nips, etc. Feed this mixture mornings and evenings,
a little more than the birds will eat up clean. After

From the middle of November when put into the
laying houses until the middle of December, feed equal
parts of ground oats and shorts with about 5 per cent
of meat scrap. Feed this morning and evening, and
give green feed at noon. After the middle of December
give a full laying ration of equal parts of corn meal
and shorts, with about 10 per cent meat scrap added.

II — FOR YOUNG DUCKS —

Equal parts of corn meal, bran, low-grade flour,
ground graham bread, rolled oats, 5 per cent of meat
scrap, a little oyster shell, and fine grit, and a little
finely cut green rye. Feed five times a day until the
ducks are three weeks old.

After three weeks: corn meal, 2 parts; bran, 1 part;
middlings, 1 part; 10 per cent of meat scrap, a little
oyster shell and finely cut green stuff. This is fed
until the ducks are six or seven weeks old, when the
following ration should be given: corn meal, 3 parts;
low-grade flour, 1 part; meat scraps, % part; 3 per
cent of oyster shell. When green stuff is available add

1 part to the mixture.

Xo. 50 — A. J. Hallock's Method

I — FOR BREEDING DUCKS —

Corn meal, 4 parts; bran, 2 parts; middlings, 1
part; oats, 1 part; wheat, 1 part; mixed moist with
about equal bulk of cut clover or other green feed,

II — FOR YOUNG DUCKS —

First week: equal parts of corn meal, middlings,
crackers or stale bread, and green stuff, with a small
handful of sand to a quart of feed. .Occasionally give
stale bread soaked in milk for a change. Second week:
corn meal, 4 parts; wheat bran, 2 parts; middlings, 2
parts; meat scrap, 1 part; sand, about one-third the
quantity of green stuff. At about six weeks put ducks
in fattening pens and feed the following: corn meal,

2 parts; bran, middlings, and greens — together — 1 part;
meat scrap, about 12 per cent.

FEEDING AND FATTENING DUCKS I

101

SHELTERS USED FOR DUCKS DURING THE LATER PERIOD OF GROWING

Many other rations might be given, but they are all
derived from and are substantially the same as the fore-
going. Mr. Rankin was the pioneer of Pekin duck grow-
ers in America. The father of Mr. Hallock bred ducks
for the New York market long before the introduction of
the P.ekin. Duck growing then was on a small scale. Mr.
A. J. Hallock began with Pekins almost as soon as Mr.
Rankin, and being a young man and more favorably
located, developed his business on a much larger scale
and became permanently a leader in the industry. The
Weber Brothers began a few years after Mr. Hallock and,
being neighbors of Mr. Rankin, got much of their early
knowledge of the business from him. Nearly all the men
who have made their mark in the growing of ducks for
the table learned their business either on one of these
farms, or from men who were trained on one of them.

It should be understood that all duck growers — and
all expert poultrymen — vary their rations from time to
time according to the availability and prices of different
feeds. Corn meal, wheat bran, middlings, and low-grade
flour are staple mill stuffs, supplies of which are prac-
tically always obtainable at as low prices as any other
feeds could be bought. The practical duck grower uses
these, with meat scrap and green feed, and adds to the
mixture anything else in the milled-feed line that he can
get at a satisfactory price. Duck growers generally use
low-grade flour more than poultrymen who keep other
kinds of poultry, because it is not practical to scald such
large quantities of feed as they require, and the low-grade
flour is not only the best thing to give adhesiveness to

the mash, but adds much to its nutritiousness and palat-
ability. Finely ground crackers and bakery waste give
like results.

It will be noted that some of the duck rations pre-
sent the unusual feature of hard grains mixed in the mash,
and that in these cases there is not given the light feed
of grain at noon, which is more common. Some poultry
keepers who keep ducks for their eggs feed considerably
more unground grain but give it mostly after soaking in
water. Slightly sprouted oats are also a favorite feed for
ducks. They can use a limited quantity of hard grain
with the mashes or soaked grain given them, but any at-
tempt to keep ducks on a ration with more than one light
feed of whole or cracked grain a day will result in poor
growth or poor production.

The feeding of the ducks on a large plant is always
done as expeditiously as possible. Everything is arranged
with a view to quick work from the moment the distribu-
tion of the feed begins until the last lot has been fed.
Every available man takes a hand in the work, for as soon
as feeding begins the ducks become quite excited, and it
is always the experienced duck grower's policy to prevent
excitement as far as possible, since the least excitement
or disturbance that puts the large flocks of ducks in mo-
tion may result in the maiming of some of the ducks and
may unfavorably affect the growth of many that are not
crippled outright. The Pekin duck in particular is nerv-
ous and timid and, growing at the remarkable rate that it
does, is even weaker than other ducks on its feet. Hence
the grower takes every precaution not only against fright-

•

A FLOCK OF TEX-WEEKS-OLD DUCKS READY FOR MARKET

102

POUI-JTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

ening the ducks, but against their injuring one another in
their eagerness to get at the feed.

The nervousness of ducks is much more in evidence
when they are kept in yards without water runs than
when they have water for swimming. In the yards where
•only drinking water is provided, the ducks are much
•quieter and pay much less attention to things that dis-
turb them if the water supply is constant. This can be
arranged either by having water piped to all houses an 1
yards, with automatic faucets at each drinking place, or
by having faucets at different convenient points on the
plant where by opening a faucet for a definite short period
at approximate intervals the supply of water in the ves-
sels on a long line of pipe is replenished.

When the feed is distributed on a duck plant with
horse and wagon, it is the usual practice to distribute it in
wooden pails, placing these conveniently for the feeders
all over the farm before feeding begins. The ducks do
not associate the appearance of the horse and wagon
loaded with pails with the feeding and pay no attention
to it. The feed having been thus distributed, at a signal
all the feeders begin and put it in the troughs as quickly
and as quietly as possible. In the brooder houses where
the youngest ducks are fed the work is done rather more
leisurely and with a little closer attention to giving the
ducks only what they will clean up promptly. With the
flocks that are older and are not fed so often it does not
matter if a little is left after the first rush for feed. The
birds will soon come back and clean it up, and the all-
important thing is that they shall all have enough to keep
them feeling comfortable until the next meal.

On many duck farms the feed is distributed from a
car running on a track built over the fences. This can be
•done because the fences need not be over two feet in
height, and are sometimes lower than that. When the
feed is distributed in this way the feeder uses a shovel,
and as he pushes the car ahead of him throws the mash
to wide troughs in each pen, placed at the right distance
from the track. In this way the feeding can be done
very rapidly.

Rate of Growth of Ducks

Remarkable as is the growth of an average chicken, it

FRANCES ELLEN WHEELER FEEDING A FLOCK OF HER PEKIN DUCKS

is slow compared to that of a Pekin, Aylesbury or Rouen
duck. The combined standard weight of a Pekin duck and
drake at maturity is just the same as the combined stand-
ard weight of a Plymouth Rock cock and hen. The duck-
ling at hatching weighs about the same as an average
Rock chicken. At ten weeks old the duckling is ready for
market, not as a small broiler, but at a weight of six to
seven pounds. The rate of growth for a lot of Pekin
ducklings on a New England duck farm that were weighed
at intervals of two weeks, was as follows:

Weight at hatching iy2 ounces

Weight at two weeks 14 ounces

Weight at four weeks 2 pounds

Weight at six weeks 4% pounds

Weight at eight weeks 5% pounds

Weight at ten weeks 7M> pounds

Comparing these figures with the data on the rate of
growth of chickens given in Chapter VI, the reader will
see that the average Pekin duck is heavier at ten weeks
than the average Plymouth Rock cockerel at twenty-four,
and heavier at eight weeks than the average Plymouth
Rock pullet at twenty weeks. The green duck when mar-
keted in this stage is quite fat. After about the twelfth
week the duck begins to molt its "chick feathers" and
grow its adult plumage, and if held until the new coat is
coming strong it is not only hard to dress, but actually
loses weight, and cannot be again put in marketable con-
dition until after it is full grown.

Feeding Ducklings for Stock Birds
Commerical duck growers select their breeding birds
from their general stock of young ducks when putting
them into the fattening pens. Up to that time the same
rations and conditions are suitable for all. As a rule, no
ducks for breeders are taken from the earliest hatches,
for these are not likely to be the best birds of the season,
and they would have to be carried too long before they
were needed. The common practice is to select the most
of the birds to be kept for breeding from certain hatches
which are conspicuously good, during May or June. These
ducks, kept for stock purposes, are given the same ration
that they had from three to six weeks until full grown. As
soon as possible after selection they are put in more
roomy quarters than are allotted those in preparation for

market. Special attention is
given to supplying them well
with green feed. On the
farms that have limited
water range the best of this
is given to the stock, old
and young, that will be used
for breeding the next season.
The object is to secure the
full development of bone and
muscle, and make birds of
full standard weight when
carrying a moderate amount
of fat. The duck in this
condition is right for breed-
ing, and also as good as can
be for exhibition. The prac-
tice of some exhibitors of
making ducks very fat before
showing them, giving them
extraordinary weight and ap-
parent size is detrimental to
the birds. It is the ducks
so treated that shrink so
much in weight when shown.
A well-fleshed specimen will
not make any extraordinary
shrinkage unless conditions
attending its exhibition are
uncommonly bad.

CHAPTER XII

Feeding and Fattening Geese

Influence of the Grazing Habit of Geese Upon Feeding Practice — Starting the Goslings With Hens On Grass —

Handling Large Flocks — Ra e of Growth of GoslL-g., — Methods and Rations Used On Commercial

Goose Fattening Plants — Relation of Feeding Methods to Profits in Common Practice

NO one can really appreciate the value of green
feed for all kinds of poultry until he has had a
little experience in growing geese — and has
grown good geese quickly. Geese are as fast growing as
ducks, and they can be grown almost entirely upon green
feed. They do better with a little grain feed. They
grow quicker, larger, and carry a little more fat as they
ai rive at marketable age if they have one or two light
feeds of ground grain daily; but their prime need is for
pasture in summer, and for liberal supplies of vegetable
feed with a moderate grain ration in winter.

The novice in growing geese usually — and quite nat-
uially — supposes that the goslings should be fed about the
same as young ducks. He waits the conventional twenty-
four to thirty-six hours before giving them anything — to
insure that they will not be hurt by feeding too early —
and then feeds them a substantial meal of mash of some
kind. If they do not seem to feel right after being filled
up with this, he puts a 1'beral amount of sand or grit in
their next soft feed. That helps, but in general those
who try to grow goslings with a heavy grain diet have
a great deal of trouble with them and lose many. If it
is understood that the goose is a GRAZING BIRD, and
that all kinds of poultry want the vegetable feed they
eat very succulent and tender, the requirements in feed-
ing geese are much more readily apprehended. They
like to have access to the water, but do not get nearly
as much of their natural feed from it as ducks. They
prefer marshy land to clear water, because it affords
them plenty of succulent grass and weeds, with enough
animal feed of various kinds to give variety to the ration;
but the goslings can be grown on dry pastures with only
water for drinking, if the flock and the pasturage are so
managed that the grass is never allowed to become hard
and tough.

Starting the Goslings Right

Most goslings are hatched with hens, especially in
the early part of the season when, if the geese are not
allowed to sit, they will lay many more eggs. The com-
mon hen can brood only about half-a-dozen goslings at

the start and these quickly grow so large that they have
no further need of her services. A hen with a brood of
goslings, should have such a shelter coop as would be
given her with a brood of chicks; but instead of such a
run as is usually attached to a coop for chickens, the
goslings should have a pen of boards or of narrow poul-
try netting. A board eight or ten inches high will keep
them in. The pen should be about 6 ft. square, or as
much larger as is convenient, and should be placed where
there is a good growth of short, tender grass and weed?.
Where only a few goslings are grown, it is a good plan
to use wire covered runs such as are used for other
young poultry when they must be protected from cats;
then the goslings need not be confined to the brood coop
at night and can eat grass at will. With large lots of
goslings this is not practical because they need protec-
tion for so short a time that the cost of providing a lot
of such runs and the labor of putting them out and put-
ting them away would be out of all proportion to the
benefit of giving the goslings the opportunity to feed at
night while small.

The hen with her brood of goslings should be put
in the coop with a run or pen confining the goslings to a'
little plot of grass near it, as soon as the goslings are
dry. Those that hatched first will usually begin to nibble
the grass a little as soon as put out. The hen should
be fed two or three times a day what mash she will eat
up clean when the goslings are eating with her. If there
is grass enough available so that the goslings can always
have all the green feed they will eat while growing, it is
best to give the hen only two feeds of mash a day, and
give one feed of whole or cracked grain. The goslings
may have as much of any feed that is given the hen as
they can eat while she is eating what she will take read-
ily at one time. They like mash much better than hard
grain, but will eat some of the latter. If the supply of
green feed is not going to be ample, and must be con-
served to make it last, the hen and goslings should have
three feeds of mash a day, for as long as the hen stays
with them. Any mash that is good for the hen will do

A FLOCK OF WATERFOWL ON POULTRY PLANT AT WISCONSIN UNIVERSITY

103

104

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

for the goslings, but the feeder should use care to feed
only what will be eaten up at once, for goslings are like
other creatures in their tendency to eat the most of things
that are easy to fill up on, and if they have mash lying
by them will not eat so much green feed.

As soon as the grass in the enclosure is eaten short,
or becomes soiled so that the goslings do not care for it.

TOULOUSE GOSLINGS THREE WEEKS OLD

the coop should be moved. A coop 6 ft. square with half-
a-dozen young goslings in it, on average good lawn, will
need moving daily after the second or third day, and
soon will need moving twice a day. Then a larger yard
should be provided. When the goslings must be con-
fined to the brood coop at night, it should be opened as
early as possible in the morning, and not closed until
the attendant is about to retire for the night. Growing
them well on mostly green feed is a matter of giving them
opportunity to fill up with it at frequent intervals through
as much as possible of the twenty-four hours. After
they are large enough to have yards instead of small
pens the method of handling them varies. A few gos-
lings may be given the run of a yard or pasture large
enough to afford them feed until grown, but large flocks
are more economically handled by confining them to a
part of the range until that is eaten clean.

Growing Large Flocks of Geese

Those who specialize in growing geese plan to have
a considerable number of hens hatching at the same
time. Then instead of putting the goslings out in single
broods at the start, they' either place several hens in their
brood coops so that while the hens are confined to these
coops the goslings from all will have the same pen; or
they take the hens away entirely, keep the goslings in
lots of two or three dozen in pens on the grass during
the day, and at night put them in coops or boxes in lots
of twelve or so, and put these under a shed or other con-
venient cover. Many growers say they would rather do
this for the short time it is necessary than bother with
the hens. The goslings are fed several times a day upon
such mashes as the growers are using for other poultry
or find convenient. Where they have plenty of clean
green feed, mashes are often used with no apparent bad
results that, if given to goslings with limited supplies of
green feed, would make them sick. In some places where
geese are extensively grown on pasture, all kinds of
mashes from nearly dry to sloppy, from heavy to light,
and from sweet to sour are used — some growers being
very careless in the matter of taking up remainders ot
sloppy mashes, yet in general one grower's geese ap-
pear as good as another's.

After a week or ten days, according to the weather
and the season, the entire lot of goslings near the same

age is put together in a grass field and a low fence of
wire netting run across the field to confine the goslings
to a strip a few rods wide until that has been eaten short.
Then another fence is placed a few rods farther on, mak-
ing a yard of about equal width with the first; when the
grass in that is eaten off, the first fence is put a suitable
distance beyond the second — and so on until the goslings
have grazed the whole field. By that time the grass on
the strip first occupied will have grown again, and the
goslings are taken back to it and started over again. This
system, of course, is applied with modifications to suit
different circumstances. Early in the season when the
goslings require some shelter they may be yarded where
they can be driven at night to some permanently located
out-building, or suitable shelters may be given them in
the fields. But after the goslings are about three weeks
old, and the baby down is replaced by the thicker, tougher
coat of down which is under the feathers of the bird in
full plumage, it takes something unusual in the way of
a storm to drive a gosling under cover, nor do they need
much shelter from the sun except in very hot weather.

Many of the goslings grown in this way get no gram
after the first few weeks, and most of those fed some
grain get only enough to make a good growth of frame.
The grain fed is usually a mash or a little scalded cracked
corn. The goslings grown in this way are not fit for
market, and in general the growers take no interest in
fattening them, preferring to take what they can get for
them in a state to which they can be brought with little
cost. Goslings that are to be used for stock birds are
usually fed the same as the old geese after they are about
half grown. While this is common practice and the most
convenient way when small stocks are concerned, better
stock birds will be obtained if young birds run by them-
selves and are given a little more grain while growing.

Rate of Growth of Goslings

Goslings grow at about the same rate as ducks; tint
is, the goslings of breeds of large size, such as Toulouse
Emden, African, and crosses and grades of these, will
usually weigh about double (rather more) as much as

GOSLINGS IN THE ABOVE PICTURE AT 9 WEEKS OLD

ducklings of the Pekin, Rouen, and Aylesbury breeds at
corresponding ages. Mongrel common geese, like "puil-
dle ducks", grow more slowly. Also, to make full and
rapid growth on this scale goslings must have a fair al-
lowance of grain. The goslings that are reared almost
entirely on grass will not do it except where a few are
grown together arid the pasture is uncommonly good.

FEEDING AND FATTENING GEESE

105

They may have the frame and muscle, but will not have
the fat to bring them up to full weight. And, as a rule,
they will be from ten to fifteen per cent smaller than they
would have been with one or two light feeds of mash
a day.

Large goslings weigh about three to three and a
half ounces when hatched. At one month they should

GOSLINGS GRAZING

weigh from four to five pounds, and from that time until
ten weeks old should make a gain of over one pound a
week — a little more at first, gradually increasing until at
the last of the period they are putting on as much as a
pound and a half a week. At this rate goslings weigh
from 10 to 12 or 13 pounds (and occasionally even more)
at ten weeks of age. A gosling to be sold as a green
goose is usually at its best for that purpose at ten to
eleven weeks. Sometimes they will continue to grow
for a little longer, but as they are usually coming to this
age in June and July, they are more apt to go back a
little than to gain if the weather becomes hot. As the
earliest goslings bring the best prices, and the tendency
is for the price to run a little lower as the season passes,
it is nearly always the best policy for the grower of green
geese to sell them as they are at ten or eleven weeks.
If held longer they may not only begin to go back in
weight, but will certainly begin to molt their first plum-
age and grow their adult coat, and while they continue
to increase some in size while this is going on, the rate
of growth is not as rapid as before, they are not as fat
as it is desirable to have them to command the best
pi ices, and being full of pinfeathers they are hard to p:ck,
and do not make as nice an appearance when dressed.

Fattening Goslings

Goslings that are grown to be marketed as green
geese at ten to twelve weeks of age can be made as fat
as necessary by simply giving them all they want of aa
ordinary mash for growing chickens, for a week or ten
days before they are to be sold. Few goslings are fin-
ished in this way, because so few of those who grow
goslings produce them in any considerable numbers, or
are willing to give them any extra care and feeding.
Goose growing generally is a matter of getting what is
possible from a few dozen, or at the most a few hundred
goslings, without expense for feed. The greater part of
the goslings grown each year are either sold to men in
districts, where geese are grown on many farms, who
make a business of fattening for the market, or go into
the markets of the 'large cities with the general receipts

of poultry, and there are picked up in quantities by com-
mercial fatteners, or in small lots by immigrants from
Central Europe who fatten them for their own tables.
The commercial fattening of geese is done by substanti-
ally the same methods as market ducks are handled in
the last few weeks before killing. The principal differ-
ences are in the "conditioning" of the geese before the
beginning of heavy feeding, and the more exclusive use
of corn in fattening. The geese brought to a goose-
fattening farm to be finished for market, being collected
from hundreds of different places, sometimes transported
long distances, and mostly accustomed to a diet contain-
ing comparatively little grain in any form, cannot be im-
mediately put on a heavy fattening diet. To do so would
be to spoil the digestion and make it impossible to finish
them for market. Especially in fattening the earliest
goslings in hot weather it is necessary carefully to avoid
anything that would puf them "off their feed."

A goose farm that fattens through the season, from
as early as goslings can be secured for this purpose untU
the beginning of winter, is usually located where ponds
or streams will afford the geese ample opportunity for ex-
ercise in the water. When the geese are first brought to
the farm they are put in yards that give them access to
the water, and fed rather sparingly twice a day a mash of
corn meal and bran and middlings, in which the corn
meal is about half of the mixture, and the other half is
equal parts of the other two ingredients. There is con-
siderable diversity in practice in this respect however,
and some fatteners use much larger proportions of corn
meal from the start.

Green feed is given liberally. As the first geese do
not come to the farm until July, and as the land on which
geese are fattened soon becomes quite fertile, it is an
easy matter to have rank crops of oats, barley, or fodder
corn growing at this season, which will supply all- the
green feed needed for some time. With plenty of green
feed, two light feeds of grain a day, and freedom of the
water, the geese are soon in excellent condition and ready
for a heavy fattening ration. They are now taken from
the yards affording them access to water for swimming,

GOSLINGS DRINKING

leaving these for the newcomers, and are placed in pens
a few rods wide, and either nearly square or about twice
as long as they are wide. The arrangement and size of
the pens is determined mostly by the lay of the land and
convenience in feeding. In these pens are long troughs
for water and feed.

106

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

The fattening ration may be much heavier than what
the geese have previously received, containing a larger
proportion of corn meal with some meat scrap, or the
birds may at first be fed only more freely of the lighter
ration they have had up to this time, and perhaps given
three feeds of it a day instead of two. The composition
of the ration, the frequency of feeding, and the liberal

COOK HOUSE' AT AUSTIN'S GOOSE FATTENING FARM,
MANSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS

or sparing use of green feed, are all matters to be de-
termined in each case by the feeder's judgment of what
the birds can stand, by the importance of haste in finish-
ing them, and by the available supplies of green feed.

The plants are not usually large, and the profitable-
ness of operating them depends much upon putting as
many geese as possible through the process. To insure
supplies of geese the fattener must contract ahead for
deliveries at certain times, and the earlier receipts must
be got out of the way to make room for others as they
come along. With each lot the grower has 'to consider
how to get it ready for market as quickly as possible, but
always with due consideration of the fact that if he over-
feeds a lot in the early stage of fattening it may delay
getting them properly fatted, and may also bring hea\y
losses. So he gives always as heavy a ration as he thinks
the birds can stand for the period required to make them
as fat as desired, and in view of the importance of green
feed in conditioning new lots as they arrive, and the fre-
quent difficulty of securing full supplies for the latest
arrivals, the fattener usually gives the birds that are get-
ting a heavy fattening ration as little green feed as l;e
can, and not have them break down. Sometimes the birds
get none for several weeks at the finish.

The feeding on a goose-fattening farm is usually go-
ing on continuously from daybreak until after dark. Each
pen is fed only twice, or at most three times a day, and
as mixing and giving the feed constitute practically the
whole of the day's routine for most of the men employed
on a large plant, the number of men kept is just enough
to do the work by beginning the second feeding immedi-
ately after the first is completed, and the third imme-
diately after the second. This can be done better with
geese than with Pekin ducks because they are not shy,
nervous, and excitable, and are not so uneasy when oth-
ers are being fed while they wait. Feeding in this way
the goose fattener does not attempt to feed only what
the birds will clean up quickly, but feeds liberally, his
only care being to avoid giving more than will be eaten
within an hour or two after feeding.

AVERAGE RATIONS FOR GEE*E AS USED BY
SUCCESSFUL, GROWERS

No. 51 — The Little Compton Method

I— FOR BREEDING GEESE —

Turn out on pasture from June until fall, feed no
grain while grass is available, then feed lightly of oats
and whole corn. After February 1st give a mixture of
corn meal, shorts, meat scrap, boiled potatoes, and
turnips in the morning; whole grain in the afternoon.

II — FOR GOSLINGS —

Pen the birds on tender grass and feed a mash of
corn meal and shorts two or three times a day until
about three weeks old, then put in larger pasture and
give a light feed of mash twice a day, with occasional-
ly a little cracked corn.

No. 52 — C. F. IN civilian's Method

I — FOR BREEDING GEESE —

They must have a pasture where from early spring
they will live almost exclusively on grass, clover, and
green rye. Place some oats and barley in boxes about
eight inches square, where the geese can get to them
in the pastures, but away from other poultry. Give
corn only in the coldest weather, or when there is snow
on the ground, preventing the geese from foraging.

IL— FOR GOSLINGS—

The first two or three days keep them in a wan
place and give them only soaked bread and water. In
nice weather put them on grass in small enclosures
that can be moved every day. After a week let them
run. The first four or five weeks give nothing but an
occasional feed of stale bread. Do not soak this after
the first few days, as they like it better dry, if they
have plenty of green feed. After five weeks give a
mash of 2 parts of bran and 1 part of corn meal in-
stead of the bread.

HI — TO FATTEN GOSLINGS —

After six weeks feed corn meal and bran, equal
parts, in a moist (but not sloppy) mash.

No. 53 — W. H. Rudd's Method

I — FOR BREEDING GEESE —

Adult geese should be turned out to pasture the
same as cattle, and should obtain their own living
about six months in the year. Through the early lay-
ing and breeding season they should be fed twice a day
with shorts (bran and middlings) and corn meal, equal
parts, moistened with water. If stale bread can be
had at reasonable prices, soak it and use instead of
shorts. Add 10 per cent of meat scrap, or its equiva-
lent of other animal feed. Supply shell liberally.

U_FOR GOSLINGS—

Feed at first a mash of 1 part of corn meal and
2 parts of shorts, wet cold and squeezed as dry as pos-
sible. Give a little every few hours — as often as they
appear hungry. As soon as the grass begins to grow
put them in movable pens on the grass. When three
or four weeks old, turn them out to pasture. The en-
closure may be of any size, but should be so fenced
that they cannot wander from it. With good pasture
the mash may be 3 parts of shorts and 1 part of corn
meal. Feed this twice a day — only as much as they
will eat up clean. The drinking vessels should never
be empty. .

IH_FOR FATTENING GOSLINGS—

Confine them more closely and feed less shorts and
more meal, adding some meat scrap; gradually in-
crease the proportion of meal and meat scrap until the
feed is about 90 per cent corn meal and 10 per cent
meat scrap.

FEEDING MONGREL GEESE AT AUSTIN'S FARM

Relation of Feeding Methods to Profit
Throughout this chapter the greatest emphasis his
been put on the liberal use of green feed, because the
profit in growing geese — and the pleasure as well — de-

FEEDING AND FATTENING GEESE

107

pends upon keeping them under such conditions that they
secure the greater part of the feed they require by graz-
ing. It is possible to grow geese on heavy grain rationj.
The risks and losses are greater and the cost usually too
great, but it can be done; and there is little doubt that
if it were profitable to grow geese on grain as ducks are
grown, strains of geese could be developed by selection,
generation after generation, of individuals that did be.^t
on such a diet. But the general run of geese are not
adapted to heavy grain feeding, and it will usually be
found that when they are so fed — even on a well-
made mash, considerable quantities of it pass through
them undigested. This will be the case even with thrifty
birds that are making normal growth. Obviously they
get all they need from the grain, provided they get i;
often enough, but their digestive organs appear to carry
grain feed through the system too rapidly to admit or
complete digestion.

The goose normally is not an efficient digester of
grain. Its digestive system is adapted to the quick hand-
ling of bulky, easily digested material. Except when ra-
tions with too much corn meal are given to goslings it
the start, it takes a great deal of abuse of the digestive
system of a goose by heavy grain feeding to damage it
seriously, for the goose has a rugged constitution, ami
the digestive organs apparently have more power than
those of other poultry to discharge nutritious matter in
excess of immediate requirements. The goose is not
quickly cloyed by overfeeding, and if it is allowed to
do so will eat much more grain than it requires and can
use to advantage. For that reason goose growers who
put their breeding geese out in pastures and keep a little
grain by them, give oats and barley which are the least

attractive grains.

Young geese penned on grass that affords them less
green feed than they could use to advantage and are
fed grain to make up the deficiency will almost always
eat much more grain than it is economy to give them, if
they are allowed to do so. To feed grain lightly in order
to correct this does not answer the purpose, for the pro-
portion digested is apparently about the same whether
much or little is eaten at one time. It should be rec-
ognized that the average goose is only going to get a
part of the nutriment in grain fed it — apparently as much
as it can get from grain in the time it would take to
digest tender vegetation. So while a little grain is at
times beneficial, supplementing the green feed and giv-
ing better growth and better egg production, it really
pays to feed grain only for what it will do over and
above what can be done with all the green feed the birds
can eat — that is, when the geese are grown for the table.
In growing extra-large geese for exhibition, grain is fed
more freely, for here the idea is to get the greatest pos-
sible growth regardless of cost.

The problem of supplying succulent feed to geese on
limited areas becomes quite troublesome sometimes when
more than two or three are kept, for it takes a lot of
green feed to make a pound of goose. The birds are
not fussy about what they eat and, while we think of
grass as the principal feed to be obtained from pasture,
geese really prefer many of the common weeds to grass.
They are particularly fond of dandelions and other low-
growing plants that come in grass, and where geese have
access to grass land year after year in sufficient num-
bers, they will exterminate such weeds, while the grass
will improve as long as it is not eaten down too close.

CHAPTER XIII

Growing Feed for Poultry

At Present Prices the Collectible Manure Made by a Single Medium-Sized Fowl is Worth Fully Fifty Cents a Year
— The Poultry Keeper Should Always Plan to Have Enough Ground Under Cultivation to Utilize
This Valuable Fertilizer — Green Feed for the Fowls Should Be Provided, if Nothing
Else — What Crops to Plant and How to Grow Them Successfully

A BACK- YARD poultry keeper whose small flocic
occupies all the land he can use for poultry or
planting is not interested in the question of
growing feed for poultry; but to every poultry keeper who
has more land than that the question is one of great im-
portance. It is not merely a question of supplying feed
for the birds — though that is a consideration. The root
of the matter lies deeper. The droppings of poultry are a
valuable fertilizer for plant growth, but under some con-
ditions become noxious poison to poultry. Everyone who
keeps fowls has to consider how to dispose of the drop-
pings to the best advantage.

Many poultry keepers — far too many — are accustomed
to treating the droppings as so much worthless refuse that
must be go* rid of with the least possible trouble and ex-
pense. Amazing as it may seem to those who know some-
thing of the fertilizing value of poultry manure, in dis-
tricts where there is much intensive poultry keeping
enormous quantities of hen manure are annually buried
in public dumps with ashes and all kinds of refuse, or
piled up in out-of-the-way spots on poultry farms, or per-
haps used for grading and filling.

A part of this waste has sometimes seemed unavoid-
able. For instance, the land occupied by a certain mar-
ket poultry plant upon which large stock of chickens had
been grown for many years eventually became so satu-
rated with poultry manure that the birds did not thrive
on it. Other farms in the vicinity were in much the same
state. The district was devoted to poultry to the exclu-
sion of most other lines of agriculture; the people were
poultrymen, but not farmers. There was no outlet for
a surplus of manure within any convenient hauling dis-
tance, and hundreds of tons were dumped in a swamp ar
the rear of this farm, while in another part of the same
state an isolated large poultry plant, in a general farm-
ing community, was getting $10.00 a ton, at the plant, for
all the poultry manure saved from the droppings boards,
and trading off the droppings mixed with litter for new
straw litter, load for load.

There was a time, when there was not so much poul-
try kept and when poultry and pigeon manures were ex-
tensively used in tanning leather, when the clear manure
was always salable at prices which realized as much as
its fertilizer value. But that time passed nearly a quar-
ter of a century ago. Since then there has been only a
limited demand for poultry manure for other than ferti-
lizing purposes, and this has been so irregular, and con-
fined to so few localities that not one poultry keeper in a
hundred could benefit by it. Getting value for poultry
manure since the large demand for it for tanning purposes
ceased has been a matter of using it to produce feed for
poultry. Occasionally one might sell or trade it to ad-
vantage, but in general what the poultryman got from
the manure was what he could get by using it himself.

A medium to small-sized fowl (the kind most common
throughout the country) makes from \y2 to 2 bushels of
manure a year. About half of this is always collectible.
When hens are kept in small yards, or confined entirely
to the house, it is practically all collectible, though the

108

part not left on the droppings boards is usually much
mixed with earth and litter, and its value further reduced
by exposure to the air, sun, and rain. Making due allow-
ance for some unavoidable waste, there is still the possi-
bility of securing and using approximately three-fourths
of the value of the fresh manure. This means that from
a flock of ten birds about one-third of a ton of manure
can be collected in a year. At the present time this should
be worth at least five dollars, or fifty cents per bird.

To lose this value is not a serious thing to the owner
of ten birds, but if the owner of a hundred birds loses in
the same proportion it is fifty dollars, and if the owner
of a flock of a thousand birds fails to realize the value in
their manure, it means at least FIVE HUNDRED DOL-
LARS taken from his annual income. No one can afford
to lose this. A poultry keeper who has more than a little
back-yard flock ought always to have land enough to
utilize all the manure his poultry make. It is a point
of good management to adjust the amount of poultry kept
to the land in this way.

In the smallest yards where poultry are kept and
some feed grown for them, the feed should — as a rule —
be some rank growing crop that rapidly utilizes the ferti-
lizing elements in the manure. Rape is one of the best
plants for small spaces, as it can be sown broadcast to
occupy the ground fully, and by cutting the tops at in-
tervals and feeding to the poultry it will continue growing,
furnishing a regular supply of green feed, and taking up
the manurial matter in the soil through the entire season.
In planting and using rape in this way particular attention
should be given to the physical condition of the land be-
fore the seed is put in. The common tendency of amateur
gardeners is to rush the preparation of the land to get
the seed in as quickly as possible. The experienced gar-
dener does not put seed in the ground until it is properly
and thoroughly fitted — forked or spaded as deep as the
character of the soil will permit, well pulverized, and
made smooth on the surface.

If this is not done, the soil but slightly stirred, left
lumpy, and with the manure that had accumulated at or
near the surface imperfectly mixed with the soil, the con-
ditions of good growth are not realized, and the vegeta-
ble crop cannot do the service expected of it as quickly
or as well as when the land is thoroughly fitted. Land
that has not been cultivated for one or more seasons
'should be thoroughly worked over twice before seeding.
Nothing that can be done to it pays better than the second
spading. On plots that are large enough to warrant using
hand plows, deep tillage and thorough preparation are
secured by running each furrow twice — making a furrow
and then coming back in it.

Where there is more land available, a succession of
crops that can be cultivated as they grow may be planted.
If the idea is to produce feed for poultry only, rape, chard,
lettuce, cabbage, and mangel wurzel beets are the most
satisfactory crops. In most cases it is desirable to grow
some vegetables for the table as well as for the poultry,
and where one or two pens of fowls are kept on an ordi-
nary town lot there usually is land enough available for

GROWING FEED FOR POULTRY

109

planting to furnish all the vegetable feed the birds re-
quire, and a considerable amount of vegetables for the
family table. It is simply a matter of intensive cultivation
and good management.

In growing a variety of vegetables for poultry or
for the family and the poultry, the aim should be to ad-
just everything to the principal crop or crops grown. For
instance, if it is desired to have a supply of cabbage or
mangels for the fowls for winter, as well as green feed
of some kind through the summer, the winter supply
should be considered the main thing and all plantings
made accordingly. Cabbages for winter are usually set
in July in the northern states, so a good crop of rape,
chard, or lettuce may be taken from the same land before
the cabbages are set out. Turnips are less desirable for
poultry than the other vegetables mentioned because, as
commonly grown, they often have a bitter flavor which
is communicated to the eggs of fowls that eat them, and
tven when free from this, turnips that are only very
slightly decayed and are eaten read-
ily by poultry, may have a rank odor
and give a disagreeable taste to the
flesh or eggs of birds eating them.
With these risks in the use of raw
turnips it remains true that a crop
can be started and matured later in
the season than any other vegetable
that will make winter feed, and that
•with care in feeding — and by cooking
them if that is found necessary — tur-
nips may be freely fed to poultry.
The writer has known of their be-
ing fed as freely as mangels to large
stocks of laying hens without affect-
ing the flavor of the eggs.

In considering vegetable crops for
poultry it should be observed that
cabbages and the root crops occupy
slightly different positions in the
diet. Cabbage is both a green and
a succulent feed. Except for the
"bleached inner leaves of the matured

head, and for other parts after long storage, cabbages
supply considerable of the material that gives color to
egg yolks. Mangels apparently supply none of this.
Yellow turnips may supply it, but observations on their
use do not afford results warranting the statement that
they materially affect yolk color. Cabbage as fed in
winter does not give rich color to yolks but does relieve
the extreme paleness that occurs when the diet contains
little yellow corn, green-cured clover or alfalfa, or green
sprouted oats. Hence a supply of cabbage may be con-

nary testing may be of some service, the difficulty is of
such a nature that only results at actual time of planting
prove the quality of the seed as used.

The difficulty of getting good stands of mangels haa
long been commonly explained on the theory that the
seeds generally were low in vitality. On this supposi-
tion the best time to sow mangel seed is after settled
warm weather comes. Authorities taking this view have
been accustomed to recommend rather late sowing. The
best crops of mangels the writer has seen in late years
have been from early sowings. The poultrymen most
regularly successful with them say that the best practice
is to sow mangels as early as the ground can be properly
worked; that if the seed is good it will germinate then as
well as at any time, the crop will start well ahead of
the weeds, will have a long growing season, and produce
enormously; that if the seed is not good, another supply
can be secured and the crop resown as soon as that fact
is ascertained; that by this course there is an oppor-

KEEP SOMETHING GROWING IN THE POULTRY RUNS
WHENEVER POSSIBLE

Growing crops in the runs use up fertility that otherwise would be wasted,
supply some green feed for the fowls, and afford grateful shade. Illustration
shows oats growing in runs at Maryland Experiment Station.

tunity to replant several times if necessary before the
time mostly recommended for this vegetable, and that
the earlier a stand is established, the heavier will be
the yield.

Poor germination seems to affect the larger varieties
of beets most. For that reason, people who have had
much trouble in getting good stands of the largest varie-
ties often become discouraged and put in the smaller
kinds of stock beets. That this is really their advan-
tage may be doubted, for the roots of the "mammoth"

sidered as in part substituting for other common green varieties grow so much larger than the others that often

feeds, and at the same time supplying succulence, while
the root crops supply only succulence and such nutriment
as is contained in their solids.

Growing Mangels

The greatest obstacle to the growing of mangels is
the uncertainty of germination of the seed, and the con-
sequent difficulty of getting a good stand started early
in the season. Unsatisfactory results from mangel seed
are said by some seedsmen to be due to exposure of the
seeds in storage or in stock to conditions under which
the germs start and then die. It is said that a degree of
moisture not detrimental to other seeds will often pro-
duce this result. The only way of determining the germi-
nating quality of the seeds is by testing. While prelimi-

what looks like a very poor stand of the big ones yields
much more than a good stand of the smaller varieties, on
a like area of the same land.

Mangels can be grown well on any friable soil that
keeps Reasonably moist through the season. The land
should be ploughed deep, worked thoroughly fine, and
put in the best possible physical condition before sowing
the seed. Some of the most regularly successful grow-
ers of mangels say their practice is to harrow and smooth
the land until it is as good as they would want it for
ordinary garden, and then go over it several times more.
They say that such extra work greatly benefits the plants
at the start, and its influence continues through the whole
growing season. With thorough cultivation, both before

110

HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT

sowing and as necessary afterward to keep the soil loose
and the weeds down, mangels appreciate liberal applica-
tion of manure. How freely poultry manure may be
used for them depends upon the soil and whether it con-
tains enough moisture to make such strong manure avai:-
able for the plants without burning them in the early
stages of growth. Generally it is not wise to use hen
manure heavily for mangels on land that will not dry out
quickly in case of a spring drought. On such lands it is
better to use ordinary barnyard manure. Where, however,
there is moisture enough to insure that the plants will
not burn, hen manure can be used very liberally, especi-
ally if applied before ploughing and thoroughly worked
in by harrowing.

Where the growing crop is to be cultivated by man
power mangels should be sown in rows two feet apart,
and when up well should be thinned to about 10 or 12

A FIELD OF MANGET^WURZELS GROWING FOR WINTER GREEN FEED

inches apart in the rows. If young beets can be used
either for poultry or other stock it may be a good plan
to thin to 5 or 6 inches apart the first time, then before
the beets at this distance are crowding so that growth is
reduced take out the intermediate ones. Many growers
prefer to make one job of the thinning, considering the
value of the small beets for use in summer not great
enough to offset the check to those left through the sea-
son, if through press of other work they should fail to
make the second thinning at the right time.

Where cultivation is with horse implements the rows
of beets should be three to four feet apart, and the plants
thinned to 12 to. 15 inches apart in the row. Where the
land is strong and capable of producing very large beets
it will be found an advantage to give the plants plenty of
room. Generally mangels do best with level cultivation,
but on land that is a little wet early in the season it is
sometimes a good plan to ridge the land slightly before
planting, and sow the rows of beets on the ridges. This
gives a little better conditions for the plants at the start
and the ridges work down when the cultivator is run
through them.

Growing Cabbage

While it is principally late cabbage, for winter use,
that is grown for poultry, a supply of early and second-
early cabbage to be taken from the ground as needed,
often comes in handy for extra green feed in summer.
In gardens worked with hand and small wheel hoes it is

often practical to grow a considerable number of heads
of early cabbage between the rows of crops of various
kinds that do not at this season require the room they
will need later. In such places cabbage plants may be
set at the necessary distances to allow them to head prop-
erly— 18 to 20 inches is right for most of the early varie-
ties— or cabbage seed may be sown in a solid row, as
when starting plants for transplanting, and the plants
allowed to grow this way until they are wanted for feed.
Those who follow this practice say that a small strip of
land will provide more green feed from cabbage grown
this way than from rape, chard or lettuce.

In the northern states plants for early cabbage must
be started in hotbeds in February or March, transplanted
to coldframes when they are two or three inches high,,
and grown in these until they can be set in the open
ground in the spring. As a rule, it does not pay one who
grows only small quantities of cab-
bage to try to start his own early
plants. The trouble is only war-
ranted when other plants are to be
started under the same conditions.
The young plants require close and
careful attention, and if they do not
get it will make poor growth later.
In general, therefore, it proves
more satisfactory to buy good
thrifty plants in such numbers as.
are required. In the South early
cabbage may be started in the open
as late cabbage is in the North.

In growing early cabbage for
poultry feed it is generally advisable
to give plants a little more room
than is allowed by market gardeners
who force them to get the crop on
the market as early as possible and
all at the same time. The plants
will take longer to head, but they

will hold their large outer leaves better and, as they grow-
larger, make considerably more feed. The rows should be
from 24 to 30 inches apart and the plants 18 inches apart
in the tow.

In the growing of cabbage for winter storage and use
it is desirable to have the plants complete their full growth
just as hard freezing sets in. If they reach full size too
early in the fall many of the heads split, preparatory to-
starting a seed stalk. Though they are still useful as,
poultry feed, a larger proportion of the stalk becomes
woody and inedible, thus increasing the waste, whiciv
when the cabbage is harvested at just the right stage
is limited to the stump below the head. According to
locality and the estimated rate of growth, main crop
cabbages are set out from about the middle of June until
the first of August.

The prime points in growing a good crop of cabbage
are, good plants, heavy manuring, thorough cultivation
of the land as long as tools can be used among the plants-
without too much breaking of the outer leaves, and a
fairly liberal amount of moisture throughout the period
of growth. The grower who buys his plants should take
none but strong, thrifty looking plants, that have plainly
not been stunted in the seedbed by crowding or for lack
of moisture, or allowed to wilt while in the market.
Those who grow their plants should select for the purpose
a rich, quite moist plot upon which no cabbage has recent-
ly been grown, or manure used containing cabbage refuse.

GROWING FEED FOR POULTRY

111

The seed should be sown— not too thickly— in rows 10 to
12 inches apart. Seed should be sown to produce several
times the number of plants required, thus giving a good
selection when transplanting. The young plants should
be cultivated enough to keep the soil loose and free from
weeds.

Cabbages do best on strong but friable black soils,
but with proper management and liberal applications of
manure heavy crops can be grown on any soil that is in
good tillage To grow cabbage economically, however,
the soil mrsi: be reasonably well suited to the crop.

Tb<; plot selected for the crop should be one not
fo* it the previous season. If the land carries a
liberal amount of fertilizer from previous crops and i?
in a very good state of tillage, or if manure is available
for a heavy application to the entire piece, it will be least
work to put the manure on broadcast and plough under.
On lands less heavily fertilized to begin with, better re-
sults may be obtained by furrowing deeply where the
rows are to run. manuring in the furrows and turning the
soil back into them before setting out the plants. For
horse cultivation the rows should be from 3 to 4 feet apart,
and the plants from 2 to 2l/2 feet apart in the rows. The
best distances will depend upon the variety of cabbage
used and the fertility of the land, and can be determined
only by experience and knowledge of both.

Growing Turnips

The advantage of growing turnips for poultry is that
a crop can be obtained from plantings made when it is too
late to st?rt beets or ?et out cabbage. The time for sow-
ing rutabagas is about a month later than the latest date
that mangels can be sown with expectation of a fair crop;
the common varieties are sown still a month later — in the
last of July, and in the latitude of southern New England
turnips may be sown as late as the first of September, and
give a good supply of small roots. Unlike mangels and
cabbage, turnips are best grown on light soils and without
fresh manures. The best land fcr them is land that is in
good tillage and contains a moderate amottrt of old
manure remaining from applications for previous crops.
Rutabagas and the larger varieties of other turnips should
have the rows 18 to 24 inches apart and be thinned to
leave the plants 6 to 10 inches apart in the row, ac-
cording to the variety and the time of planting. When
planted too late to make full growth the plants can stand
closer.

Growing Stock Carrots

Carrots are not often especially grown for poultry, but
if one happens to have a piece of sour land upon which
the other crops mentioned will not thrive, it will often be
found that such a plot will grow a good crop of carrots.
The earlier it is planted the better the crop will be. A
fair to good crop is often obtained from sowings made as
late as the early part of July. For these late sowings,
however, the half-long and large stump-rooted carrots are
preferable to the long stock carrots.

Carrots are usually sown in rows from 14 to 20 or
more inches apart, according to size and season. On rich
land they can be grown, if desired, without thinning. The
roots will not be as large or as uniform in size as when
thinned to a few inches apart, but the total weight of the
crop is usually considerably greater.

Storing Vegetables for Poultry

As far as such space is available or can be provided,
permanent cellars are best and most convenient for storing
cabbage and roots for poultry. Barn cellars, special root
cellars, and incubator cellars are equally satisfactory. The
latter, of course, are available for this purpose only

through the early part of the winter. For storage of cab-
bage in any considerable quantity in cellars, shelving
should be provided upon which the heads as taken up with
the loots can be spread in single layers. In large heaps
in a cellar, cabbages are likely to heat and rot badly.
Roots can be stored in cellars either in bins or in piles
on the floor. They should never be stored with tops on,
for the tops, if packed at all close, will heat and rot quickly
and communicate the rot to the roots.

Outside pits for storing cabbage, and sometimes other
roots, serve in emergencies; but the labor of making them,
the tiouble of taking stuff from them as wanted, and the
larger proportion of waste in stuff so stored, make the
cost of building a pit annually for a few years equal to that
of a permanent root cellar of considerably more capacity,
and immeasurably more convenient.

Growing Grain for Poultry

The question of growing grain for poultry is on a very
different footing from that of growing vegetables. As a
rule, the only way that one can be sure of having mangels
and cabbage in quantity is to grow them. On most farms
that carry large stocks of poultry the greater part of the
grain used must be bought because there is neither land
nor labor available to grow it. Even when land is avail-
able it is generally difficult to get the labor. Hence, in
general, the question of growing grain for poultry is a
question of using to advantage the manure not needed for
vegetable crops, fruit or grassland, and the usual practice
is to plant as much land to corn as can be conveniently
taken care of, or as the available manure can be spread
over. The average cornfield on a small farm devoted to
poultry is probably under two acres. A great many are
less than an acre. Occasionally on larger farms fields of
four or five acres are planted. These corn plots are not
always manured with collected manure. Frequently they
aie on land close to the poultry buildings and have only
the fertilizer left on the land by the birds. The great
advantage of planting corn in such places is that it affords
shade for "the poultry, can be grown on the same land
indefinitely year after year, and in any medium-loose and
well-drained soil will keep the land pure enough to prevent
troubles due to contaminated soil.

The average yield of corn grown under either of the
above conditions, cultivated as long as practical, and
then used for range for fowls or chickens, is about 100
bushels to the acre. It is seldom under 60 or 70 bushels,
and occasionally over 150. Instances have been reported
of more than 200 bushels to the acre, but this was accom-
plished by careful spacing of the stalks in the rows and
extremely high culture. Two or three acres at average
yields provide a quantity of corn that materially con-
tributes to the feed supply, while the stalks, cut in lengths,
make good scratching litter.

Oats are often grown by poultrymen to provide
straw for scratching litter, and incidentally for what
grain the oats threshed by the birds on the poultry
house floor supply. Oats, however, appear to be of much
less interest to those limited for land than corn, for most
poultry farms are on rather light land not especially
suited to oats, and, besides, the poultry must be kept away
from the oats while growing.

Millet is sometimes grown, like oats, for the stra\v
and what grain' it may contain.. It is better adapted to
light soils than oats, has a later season, and stands
drought better.

Growing Green Rye For Poultry

Winter rye is probably the most widely adaptable
and most effective crop for the purification of foul
ground. It also affords supplies of green feed in open
winters and in the early spring. It can be sown at any
time that the ground can be worked, but to get the most
benefit, both in cleaning the land and in supplies of green
feed, it should be put in early in the fall so that it will be
well established and cover the ground well before win-
ter. Then poultry can feed on the rye as it stands, any
time that the snow does not cover it, while it will be
ready either to pasture or to cut for feed the first thing
in the spring. Rye on poultry land should be sown
rather more thickly than as ordinarily grown to make
long straw.

I N D B X

Alfalfa, Clover and 18

Analyses of Feeds 23

Animal By-Products Feeds 18

Ash, Properties of 10

Bantams, Feeding- 94

Barley and Barley Products 15

Broilers, Fattening 85

Buckwheat and Buckwheat Products 16

Cabbage, Growing 110

Carrots, Growing Stock Ill

Capons, Fattening Large Roasters and 87

Carbohydrates, Properties of 10

Chickens at Various Ages, Weights of 66

Chickens, First Feeds for Young 48

Chickens From Weaning to Maturity, Rations for 61

Chickens in the Fall, Feeding 69

Chick Ration, A Simple Standard 49

Chick Rations Used and Recommended By Practical

Poultry Growers. Some 56

Chicks, Feed Consumed by Growing 67

Feeding Schedule for

How Much to Feed

in Brooders. Feeding

in the Growing Period, Culling and Separating 65

Special Rations for Brooder .-.

with Hens. Feeding - 47

with Hens. Variations in Feeding 50

Clover and Alfalfa 18

Commercial Mixed Feeds — Their Place in

Feeding Economy .* - 21

Condimental Poultry Feeds

Cooking Apparatus, Small

Cooking Apparatus, Steam

Corn and Corn Products

Cramming Method of Fattening:, The 89

Crate Fattening -

Cutters, Bone : 39

Cutters, Hay, Fodder and Root 39

Digestion Coefficients

Digestive Organs of Poultry, The

Ducklings for Stock Birds, Feeding .. 102

Ducks, Feeding and Fattening

Feeding Habits of

Rate of Growth of

Rations for , -.100

Egg Production, Rations for

Eggs, Feeding Infertile

in Mashes, Infertile .— - 42

Exercise to Feeding Methods, Relation of

Exhibition, Feeding Birds After

Exhibition, Feeding in Preparation for

Fats, Properties of

Fattening Broilers

Crate - 88

Fryers

Old Fowls 8?

Rations for Crtite

Small Roasters 8

The Cramming Method of

Feed Consumed by Laying Hens, Amount of -- 80

Consumed by White Plymouth Rocks in

Growing Period 67

for Poultry, Growing ....108

Kitchen and Table Waste as Poultry--
Mixers, Mechanical

Mixers, Power 3

Feeding Formulas, Development of

Feeds, Commercial Mixed — Their Place in Feeding 21

Condimental Poultry

Physical Properties of 11

Raw or Cooked

Fiber, Properties of

Fowls, Feeding Habits of

Fruits and Vegetables in Mashes, Soft

Fryers, Fattening

Geese, Average Rations for

Feeding and Fattening ..

Feeding Habits of -

Growing Large Flocks of .. —104

General Notes on Making Moist Mashes.—
Goslings, Fattening —105

Goslings, Rate of Growth of ... ..... -v

Right, Starting the .................. ....

Grain for Poultry. Growing ..... .' ........... ....

Grains and Seeds, Miscellaneous
Green Feed for Poultry, Growing
Guineas, Feeding ..... '. ..................................... :.

Hens, Amount of Feed Consumed By Laying
Johnnycake for Chicks, Making Baked
Kitchen and Table Waste as Poultry FeedU-
Laying Stock, Summer Management of ........

Machinery, Shelling and Grinding \

Mangels, Growing , .\

Manure, Value of Poultry

Mash by Machine, Mixing Moist

Equipment for Mixing a Pail of

Feeding, Dry

in a Pail, Mixing a Scalded

in Mixing Boxes, Making Large Batches of

in Pail, Mixing a Cold Moist

in Set-Kettles, Mixing Large Batches of

Making a Cold

Making a Scalded

Systems, Combining Wet and Dry

Mashes and Scratching Mixtures, Mixing Dry

General Notes on Making Moist

Oat Products in

Soft Fruits and Vegetables in

Table Scraps in

Methods of Feeding, Some Practical Poin.s About.

Milk

Milk and Milk Products

Mineral Feeds

Mixing Dry Mashes and Scratching Mixtures

Molting Hens, Feeding

Nutritive Ration, How to Find the

Nutritive Requirements of Poultry :

Oat Products in Mashes

Oats and Oat Products

Oats, Making Sprouted

Parasites to Feeding and Feeding Results,

Relation of Poultry '

Peafowl, Feeding

Pheasants, Feeding

Protein, Properties of

Pullets for Egg Production, Rations for rt\

Pullets for Egg Production, The Ideal Way to Manage.... 7
Pullets, When to Move to Winter Quarters 7

Range, Brooder Chicks With Good ..

Range, What Chicks Can Get from the Farm.... ••

Rations and Conditions, How Stock Becomes Adapted
to Certain ,

Are Adapted to Conditions, How .

as the Weather Moderates, Modifying

for Chickens From Weaning to Maturity

for Crate Fattening

for Egg Production

for Pullets for Egg Production

Reported by Poultrymen in the Nineties, Selected— 7 ;
Roasters and Capons. Fattening Large ..

Roasters, Fattening Small

Rye and Rye Products

Rye for Poultry. Growing Green

Scratching Mixtures, Mixing Dry Mashes and... .

Systems of Poultry Feeding

Table Waste as Poultry Feed, Kitchen and

Turkeys, Feeding

Feeding Habits of

Rations for

Turnips. Growing

Values of Feed Mixtures, To Find the....

Variety in Grain, The Question of

Vegetable Feeds

Vegetables for Poultry, Storing .
Vegetables in Mashes, Soft Fruits and ..
Vitamines, Properties of .

Water Supply in Winter, The ..
Weights of Chickens at Various Ages....

What Poultry Eat

Wheat and Wheat Products 1<

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