FARM ANIMALS 295 



knowledge of the business, construction of suit- 

 able houses, use of proper breeds, avoiding over- 

 crowding, proper feeding and care of hens, recog- 

 nition of the profitable laying age of fowls, and 

 thorough care of chickens from the time of hatching. 



In order to discuss some of the practical matters 

 which must be considered in profitable poultry 

 raising this chapter is divided into sections accord- 

 ing to the kind of fowls concerned. 



Chickens. It is perhaps well to start out with 

 the subject of feeding chickens. Too many people 

 seem to act upon the theory that success with chick- 

 ens can be had without giving any attention to 

 their feeding. It is of course a fact that chickens 

 will eat almost any kind of green material or grain 

 food as well as waste materials and that under 

 ordinary circumstances, especially where they have 

 considerable freedom and opportunity to find in- 

 sects and other food, no serious trouble arises. 

 Certain phases of considerable importance in the 

 feeding of chickens have been thoroughly demon- 

 strated by experiments and better results can be 

 obtained by giving proper heed to these experimental 

 facts than by attempting to overlook them and to 

 go into the chicken business headlong. 



In the first place chickens need considerable 

 variety in their ration which should always include 

 animal food, ground grain, and some green feed. 



Animal Feeds. Chickens can perhaps utilize a 

 larger amount of animal food in proportion to 

 their weight than the larger farm animals and this 

 is also true of ducks, geese and turkeys. No 

 animal food need be excluded from the ration. 

 They seem to relish and make good use of all of 

 them. Thus, satisfactory results have been ob- 

 tained from the use of milk albumen, beef scraps, 



