lo Feb., 1909.] 



Utility Poultry Keeping. 



119 



twelve hours before being used, being kept tightly covered for that time. 

 This can be given warm in winter and cold in summer. Mix it in a 

 crumbly form. About 3 ozs. per bird is a fair ration, but the quantity 

 of food given should be varied according to breed and appetite. Green 

 food or roots chopped finely may be given in the middle of the day. 



The evening meal should be of grain. Wheat should be the principal 

 grain, but oats, maize, peas, or barley may be given as a change. If the 

 grain is scattered amongst litter such as short straw or pine needles, it will 

 give the fowls exercise in scratching for it. During the winter months, 

 maize or oats may be given more frequently, as they are of a heating 

 nature. The following table shows the composition of the various grains 

 and meal* : — 



In purchasing grain, always lay in a stock when the market is at its 

 lowest. The best quality is always the cheapest in the end. 



Thousand headed kale is a good green food. Lucerne, red clover, 

 lettuce, and silver beet are also very suitable. With plenty of water a 

 succession of green food can be obtained. 



Animal food in the shape of green cut bone, blood meal, and meat 

 scraps is a valuable aid to egg production, but should not be given to 

 excess. About one pound of green bone or blood meal may be given to 

 twenty hens two or three times a week. 



Regularity in feeding must be practised, and fowls should never be 

 allowed to miss a meal. 



The Value of the Hen. 



According to a Bulletin of experimental station v/ork issued by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, the dried grain of wheat contains 

 about 15 per cent, water, 2.1 per cent, nitrogen, 9/ioths of i per cent, 

 phosphoric acid, fths of i per cent, potassium oxide. One hundred pounds 

 of wheat sold off the farm carries away about 15 lbs. of water, 2 lbs. 6 ozs. 

 nitrogen, over 14 ozs. of phosphoric acid, and nearly 10 ozs. of potash. 

 Professor Henry, in his work on Feeds and Feeding, gives the amount 

 somewhat differently. In 1,000 lbs. of wheat there are 150 lbs. of water, 

 23.6 lbs. of nitrogen, 7.9 lbs. of phosphoric acid, and 5 lbs. of potash. 



Farmers' Bulletin (U.S.A.), No. 128, gives the composition of hens' 

 eggs : — Shell, 11 per cent. ; water, 65^ per cent. ; piotein, 11. 9 per cent. ; 

 fat, 9.3 per cent. Then 100 lbs. of eggs contain n lbs. of shells, mostly 

 lime, and 65I lbs. of water. Neither contains the costly elements of 



* This table {jives the total percentages present in each kind of food. Probably about two-thirds of 

 these are digested by birds. 



