New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 47 



consisting wholly of vegetable foods were used in contrast to those 

 containing animal foods will be reported later. In the feeding 

 experiment whose results are herein published, some skim-milk 

 or curd was added to the rations which contained otherwise only 

 vegetable food. This was to increase the palatability, to insure a 

 fair proportion of nitrogen and to ascertain whether the moderate 

 use of skim-milk curd would compensate for the lack of other 

 animal food. 



The animal food mostly used was the ground, dried " animal 

 meal." This has generally proved more palatable than dried 

 blood, and was found more convenient for daily use during warm 

 weather than cut bone, which contained also a relatively larger 

 percentage of fat. 



Experiments made some years before (see Bulletin No. 39) had 

 shown skim milk to be a profitable addition to ordinary rations 

 while other experiments (see Bulletin No. 126) had shown no dis- 

 advantage in the use of ground grain instead of whole grain, and 

 these facts were considered in arranging the ration. 



In this experiment two lots of chicks were fed for about four 

 and one-half months and two lots for four months. The pullets 

 from the corresponding lots were fed together for a month and a 

 half longer. Two lots of cockerels were fed for three months 

 and two lots of ducklings for four months. About one-quarter of 

 the chicks in each lot were Brahmas and Wyandottes and about 

 three-quarters of them were Leghorns. The cockerels used were 

 mostly Wyandottes with a few Brahmas and Cochins. The 

 ducklings were Pekins. All the chicks and ducklings used were 

 hatched in incubators and reared in outdoor brooders. They were 

 allowed the run of small separate yards. The cockerels were 

 removed when about twelve weeks old and the feeding continue* 

 with the pullets. Occasionally a chick escaped through the net- 

 ting into outside flocks where it could not be identified and was 

 dropped from the lot. The weight of any that died was counted 

 as loss in live weight. 



