Poultry Problems mid Profits. 415 



work. Then feed warm, easily digested mash at night, for eggs." 

 However, poultrymen are not agreed as to the best time for feed- 

 ing mash, some favoring it for the morning meal. A good mash 

 may be made of 3 parts bran, 2 parts middlings, 1 part corn meal, 

 1 part oat meal, | part meat meal, ^ part charcoal and 1 teaspoon 

 salt. Another would be 4 parts shorts, 2 parts alfalfa meal, 1 

 part corn meal, 14 P^^'t meal meat, ^^ part charcoal, 1 teaspoon 

 salt. 



Some good balanced rations that have been recommended are 

 as follows: 



Five pounds wheat, 4 pounds corn meal, 5 pounds barley, 2 

 pounds alfalfa, 2 pounds bran, 1 pound meat meal, 1/2 pound blood 

 meal. If alfalfa is not available use more oil cake or meat meal. 



Ten pounds wheat, 4 pounds middlings, 4 pounds bran, 1 

 pound meat meal, 15 pounds skim milk. 



Ten pounds wheat, 3 pounds shorts, 5 pounds corn meal, 2 

 pounds cottage cheese, 1 pound blood meal. 



Hens must have grit. "Grit enables the gizzard to prepare 

 the food for digestion. It is a fowl's false teeth. When grit be- 

 comes worn out it is expelled. If the sharp material cannot be 

 secured, the food must remain unground in the gizzard until it 

 softens and falls to pieces." 



"Most of the time my poultry has free range, which is always 

 best at all times. When yarded I try to use common sense in 

 feeding, following nature as near as possible, instead of form- 

 ulas." — Miss A. Sargent. 



"I feed wheat, oats, corn, cane seed and sunflower seed. In 

 winter a mash made of bran and alfalfa meal is fed once a day, 

 with an occasional feed of potatoes, beets, cabbage, turnips or 

 and refuse from the house." — F. C. Gibson. 



"In winter I feed all kinds of grain that we raise; also green 

 bone, when I have it, and vegetables and milk, with grit and 

 plenty of clean water provided at all times." — Mrs. J. T. Hume. ' 



"For green food use potatoes, timothy, crabgrass, peavines, 

 sweet potato vines, onions, radishes, lettuce, turnips, corn fodder, 

 kaffir fodder, carrots, ripe tomatoes and cow peas, and poor apples 

 and peaches, cooked. For grit, use coarse sand and some oyster 

 shell. A little ground flax seed is good for the birds. I grind it 

 in a hand-mill by mixing a little grain to prevent oil from clogging 

 up the mill." — Elmer Putnam. 



