442 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRIGULTURE. 



Copying natiii-e .—li should never be forgotten that in the wild state their 

 food was the bugs, worms, seeds, etc., which they could find for themselves, 

 and which were hunted for and scrambled after continually. There was 

 then no overfeeding upon rich unatural foods that impaired health and 

 produced bowel troubles or other ailments that naturally follow unwhole- 

 some food. They subsisted by their own efforts in the wild state, while now 

 they are quite too often forced to eat unatural foods that are furnished in 

 hope of forcing them to an unatural growth. If the grower wishes to copy 

 nature as nearly as possible, the young poults may be given for their first 

 meal very fine oatmeal or finely cracked wheat or corn, with a little fine grit 

 of some kind and a very little granulated meat scrap. Some of the com- 

 mercial brands of "poultry food" are also good. They should have clean 

 water convenient where they can help themselves at will. 



Use bread and milk.— As 2l general rule do not feed them wet food or 

 slops. Poults are seed-eating chicks, not slop eaters. Bread and milk, how- 

 ever, contains elements most valuable in the growing of all kinds of fowls. 

 This food should be considered, when properly given, as one of the best 

 kinds of food for the first day or two. Soak stale bread in sweet milk, press 

 out the milk as completly as possible, and feed the bread to the young poults. 

 Be careful never to use sour milk, nor should the bread thus prepared ever 

 be fed after it has become sour. Feed this, a little at a time, every hour or 

 two for two days or more; then add a little hard-boiled egg, shell and all 

 broken fine, to the soaked bread. 



Meat in the ration.— Ai\.QV a day or two on this ration, follow with the 

 ration of finely broken grain already described, and include a little finely 

 cut meat. Make sure that the meat scrap is pure and sweet. Nothing is 

 more injurious to the poults than tainted or infected meat of any kind, as it 

 will disturb their bowels in a very few hours and cause great trouble. Lean 

 beef, well cooked and cut into very small fragments, is good. Be very^ 

 cautious about feeding green meat or bone. If any of this is fed, have it 

 cut quite fine, giving but little at first, and be absolutely certain that it is 

 fresh and sweet. Cooked meat is better for them while young. 



Supply of grit . —Co&rse sand is excellent for grit, and if sufficient of this 

 is at hand no other grit will be needed; but plenty of grit of some kind is 

 a necessity, for without it the poults can not grind their food. 



Danger of overfeeding . — Food should be given them quite early in the 

 morning and at frequent intervals during the day. Never overfeed them, 

 but use discretion in providing plentifully for their necessities. Give them 

 all they will eat willingly and no more. Avoid the use of rich foods, grains 

 in hulls, and millet seed, which is not good for them while they are young; a 

 little of this seed, however, may be fed as they grow older. Too much hard- 

 boiled egg is bad for them, while a reasonable amount with bread is bene- 

 ficial. An excess has a tendency to clog and congest the bowels, and the 

 writer has seen poults die from the effects of a diet exclusively of qz% and 

 millet seed. The same iniurous effect may be produced by feeding entirely 

 with milk curds. 



Bowel trouble. — Bowel trouble must be considered as an assured result 

 of improper feeding, and maybe aggravated by exposure to cold and damp- 

 ness. Indigestion is a prime factor in the development of this ailment that 

 kills so many turkeys while young. This should be prevented so far as 



