FEEDING POULTRY 345 



must shovel the mash into their mouths and cannot pick up small 

 particles of feed like chickens, a slightly sticky, moist mash is most 

 suitable to them. A crumbly, moist mash is more palatable to 

 chickens, but the scooping action of waterfowl in eating would 

 scatter a crumbly mash and make it difficult for them to pick up. 

 Duck raisers generally use a somewhat sticky binding-material, like 

 white middlings or low-grade flour, to bind the particles of mash 

 together. 



The dry mash has been more widely adopted with each succeed- 

 ing year for several reasons : 



1. It requires less labor. Sufficient may be mixed at a time to 



FIG. 101. Dry mash hoppers in use (California Station). Observe 15-inch high platform 

 to keep hoppers up off ground where they will not be scratched full of dirt and litter. 



last for a week or more. The feeds used in the wet mash must not 

 only be mixed dry but the amount needed for each meal must be 

 moistened and mixed just before feeding. By using large hoppers, 

 enough dry mash can be distributed to each pen to last the fowls a 

 week or two. 



2. There is less waste. The fowls scatter the wet mash a good 

 deal. They pick out choice portions and carry them off to eat. 

 Some of the feed adheres to mixing utensils, hoppers, etc., and is 

 wasted. Well-constructed dry-mash hoppers are practically non- 

 wasting. 



3. The dry mash is more sanitary as there is no wet feed to 

 adhere to mixing box, shovels, pails, and feed hoppers, and become 



