THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



Nutritive 

 Batio. 



For convenience, in this table the grains and 

 meals are placed in order of their nutritive 

 values, or richness in albuminoids. The analyses 

 are from various sources, many of them checked 

 by more recent determinations. But no analyses 

 can be taken rigidly, since a sample of white 

 oats, 38 lbs. to the bushel, would differ appreciably 

 from one weighing 42 lbs. Middlings or fine 

 sharps are especially variable. The figures will, 

 however, quite suffice as a fair average guide. 



In using such a table to plan a dietary, we 

 must first decide what proportions ought to 

 exist between the various columns ; 

 Proper and, above all, the proper " nutritive 



ratio " between the albuminoids, 

 and the fats and carbo-hydrates 

 added. We need not trouble ourselves much 

 about the husk or the water, except so far as, 

 being almost valueless, they affect the real cost 

 of the food ; and although we must see that 

 there are salts enough, especially for young 

 and growing stock, we can easily add them if 

 required ; so we mainly consider the nutritive 

 ratio. On this point experiment has been chieHy 

 confined to the human race and to cattle, the 

 results very closely agreeing ; and it is generally 

 held that to maintain healthy anim.al life the 

 proportion of albuminoids should not be less 

 than I : 5. Some authorities, more specifically, 

 consider there should be about albuminoids 

 18, fats and oils 7, carbo-hydrates 75, which 

 works out the same ratio almost exactly, experts 

 differing a little in detail. A similar ratio has 

 been adopted for poultry, but before doing so, 

 there are two points to consider. 



The first is that of exercise. Cattle lead a 

 very indolent life, as do the majority of men in 

 less degree ; and it is universally agreed that an 

 active life requires rather more of albuminoids. 

 Fowls are decidedly active animals. Still we 

 shall certainly be safe in reckoning about i : 4i 

 as sufficient in genial weather, and keeping up 

 the same total of albuminoids in winter, but 

 increasing the carbo-hydrates, or still better 

 the fats, to about 1:5, in order to meet the 

 colder weather. Such summer and winter ratios 

 should be amply sufficient, as regards the fowls 

 alone. 



But there is further to consider any dailj? 

 product of the stock, such as milk or eggs. For 

 any such, we must supply the material. This 

 has been abundantly proved in the case of 

 milking cows. Milk contains so much fat and 

 sugar that its own ratio is 1:3 or i :3i, hence 

 additional food of the ordinary i : 5 ratio, with 

 sufiicicnt succulent material to supply fluid, 

 may suffice fairly. Recent experiments have 

 shown that the average dietary for milking 



cows in the United States varies from I : 7 in 

 some States to as low as i : 10 in others, whereas 

 it ought to be fully 1:5; and it has been proved 

 by systematic tests, that when the ratio was 

 raised even to that figure, the results were so 

 improved that the butter cost three cents less 

 per pound. In England a greater supply of 

 albuminoids is given with yet further benefit, 

 in the shape of linseed cake, etc. But eggs, 

 we see above, contain about as much albu- 

 minoids as fat ; and to produce an ounce daily 

 (excluding water) of such rich material is no 

 light task. Hence the need of special food for 

 laying hens. Such a bird craves for albuminous 

 food, and every breeder knows that while laying 

 freely she will often devour with eagerness 

 those giant earth-worms which, when not laying, 

 she generally refuses. She 7mist get albumen. 

 Reserving this point for special consideration, 

 however, and taking the above-named ratios as 

 sufficient for ordinary purposes, including rear- 

 ing, let us now put our table to use ; and first 

 of all examine a few of the principal ingre- 

 dients commonly given as food to fowls. 



Beans and Peas strike us at once by the 

 very large proportion of albuminoids compared 



with the other groups ; their ratio 

 Ingredients jg as high as I : 2^. We see why the 

 Poultry Food, old cockers gave their birds peas 



while training, and why beans are 

 given to horses when in severe work. The 

 proportion is so large that it may be used to 

 "balance" the dietary against other foods de- 

 ficient in this group ; but the deficiency in fats 

 and carbo-hydrates is so great, that fowls fed 

 largely on pulse would be hard, dry, and stringy. 

 Pulse, even in moderate quantity, does not seem 

 to suit some fowls, while others thrive on a 

 portion of such diet ; hence a dietary thus 

 balanced should be watched with care. Alalt 

 culms, malt sprouts, or malt-dust, as variously 

 called, are very similar in composition, but 

 decidedly richer in fat, and moreover have 

 most valuable digestive properties. This arises 

 from their peculiar nitrogenous ferment, called 

 diastase, which has the property of converting 

 starch, and even a portion of cellulose, into the 

 soluble substances dextrin and sugar, precisely 

 the same changes that have to be produced in 

 ordinary digestion by the saliva and pancreatic 

 fluid. It is for the same reasons that finely 

 ground malt is mixed with various kinds of 

 " infants' food." When any form of such malted 

 food is mixed with boiling milk or water, to the 

 consistence of very thick arrowroot, after a few 

 minutes the thick mixture becomes thin ; the 

 starch is converted by the malt principle into 

 a soluble form, and dissolved. This simple ex- 



