296 FARM ANIMALS 



animal meal, bone meal, chopped meat, skim milk, 

 offal from slaughtered animals, and various other 

 animal materials either in a raw or cooked form. 

 Preferably, however, these materials, if not from an 

 infected animal, should be fed raw since they 

 appear to act most beneficially on the digestion 

 of the chicken in that condition. Sometimes it 

 appears that in feeding for eggs the poultryman 

 may be able to accomplish better results by the 

 use of cheap fats like beef scraps than are obtained 

 by feeding higher priced animal meals. As a rule, 

 where direct comparison has been made between 

 rations with and without animal meal or some other 

 animal food it has been found that the greatest 

 increase in weight has taken place in those animals 

 which received meat meal. The difference in this 

 respect is usually of considerable importance. A 

 high grade of beef scraps may be obtained from 

 packing houses and fresh meat and bone may be 

 easily secured from local butchers and ground up 

 as occasion requires. This constitutes an exceed- 

 ingly cheap source of food for chickens and no 

 opportunity should be lost to buy them whenever 

 they can be obtained at reasonable prices. The 

 use of animal meals in egg production is highly 

 desirable from two considerations. In the first 

 place, these foods contain large amounts of protein 

 which is utilized in the formation of eggs, and in 

 the second place, they do not tend to an overfat 

 condition which is sure to result in relative ster- 

 ility of the hens. As already hinted, however, it 

 frequently happens that better results are obtained 

 from beef scraps than with ground meat, ground 

 bone, or milk albumen, and this material should 

 always be utilized wherever it can be conveni- 

 ently obtained. The great egg-producing value of 



