1460 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



Skimmed milk and its products are greatly relished, but if sour milk 

 curd is fed, care must be taken that the chicks do not get too much. 

 If the milk is given as drink, an unlimited supply at first might cause 

 bowel trouble; after the chicks have become accustomed to it they 

 may have all they want. Skimmed milk is not to be used as a substitute 

 for water. 



Commercial milk albumen has been tried in an experiment at Cornell 

 University, but in this case it did not give so good results as did skimmed 

 milk. How far milk products may be substituted for meat scraps and 

 meat meals in chick feeding has not been proved, although in the test 

 of seven methods of feeding chicks, referred to above, those chicks 

 that had no milk ate S to 7I per cent of their total food excluding green 

 food in beef scrap, while those given a mash moistened with skimmed 

 milk or a powdered milk solution ate only 4I to sh per cent of their total 

 food in beef scrap. 



Green foods. — Green foods are greatly relished by chicks and seem 

 necessary to their best growth. These foods furnish wholesome nourish- 

 ment at low cost and supply bulk to a chick ration without excess of 

 fiber. Chicks should be given all the green food they will eat. After 

 the first few days this is best supplied by a grass run. Until the chicks 

 can go out into the yards, green food should be furnished them. 



Lawn clippings are often obtainable in the summer. These are much 

 relished, but they should be used when fresh and crisp. Fresh clover or 

 alfalfa is very good ; it should be shredded quite fine if given to the youngest 

 chickens. The very young chickens are fond of fresh sod, chickweed, 

 or lettuce, and they are able to pick off the tender leaves; lettuce, however, 

 is often too expensive to use in this way. The older chicks enjoy the 

 leaves and the blossoms of vetch. Sprouted oats are very good and may 

 be provided at any time of the year. The following description of the pro- 

 cess of sprouting grain is reprinted from Bulletin 284, Cornell University 

 Agricultural Experiment Station: 



" The operation of sprouting grain as a green food requires considerable 

 expense for labor. Sprouted grain, however, appears to have some ad- 

 vantages over other forms of green food, which justify the expense. This 

 is particularly true in the feeding of young chickens during the season 

 when they cannot have access to the ground. 



" One of the difficulties which has been experienced in the feeding of 

 sprouted grain is the development of molds. In order to kill smut or 

 mold spores, it is recommended that the grain used for sprouting be 

 treated with formalin. To do this, a large quantity of grain should be 

 treated at one time in order to save expense. One pint of formalin added 

 to thirty gallons of water will treat thirty bushels of oats. The liquid 



