168 



MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



Formula for Feeding Your formu- 

 la for feeding two parts bran, one 

 part cornmeal, one part alfalfa meal, 

 one part shorts, one part beef scraps 

 is the simplest I have ever seen, so 

 shall try it. 



1. Will the same formula hold 

 good with hens with free range but 

 no green food? 



2. In case they have access to 

 fresh alfalfa hay, would it be neces- 

 sary to use the alfalfa meal? 



3. Could I substitute shorts or 

 middlings for the meal in case they 

 are cheaper, and if so, in what pro- 

 portion? 



4. Does the balanced ration keep 

 up the egg yield during moulting or 

 is it necessary to add oil meal or some 

 similar meal during that period? 

 Mrs. G. H. G. 



Answer The same formula is good 

 for hens with no green food, but it is 

 much better to give them green food, 

 or roots, beets, turnips, carrots, 

 pumpkins, or some succulent vege- 

 table if possible. 



2. No, not absolutely necessary, 

 but I always continue the alfalfa meal 

 so the hens may not forget the taste 

 of it, as it is sometimes difficult to 

 break them into the habit of eating it. 



3. You could not substitute shorts 

 or middlings for it. 



4. During the moult, add oil-meal 

 or linseed meal, about one-fourth of 

 one part, to the feed. This ripens the 

 feathers, makes them fall out easier 

 and grow more quickly. 



For Young and Old Stock I am 



very much interested in your articles 

 and would like to ask you for a little 

 advice. Being away from home all 

 day, I have to feed in the morning 

 enough to do all day. This I can 

 manage for the old stock by feeding 

 scratch food in the litter and dry mash 

 in hoppers. But how can I manage 

 the growing stock? Please give a 

 formula for dry feed. Do you con- 

 sider the scratch food sold by the 

 poultry houses good food for the 

 young stock? My chicks will not eat 

 the baby chick food after a week or 

 ten days. I also give them lawn clip- 

 pings or lettuce every evening. 



Is a handful of scratch feed to the 

 hen once a day enough where they 

 have the dry mash and table scraps? 

 Is cracked corn good food to feed 



alone to young stock? I have Rhode 

 Island Reds. R. L. P. 



Answer Your questions relate 

 principally to the feeding of the 

 young stock, and you do not say 

 whether you want to keep them for 

 fattening for the table or for future 

 egg layers. There is of course a dif- 

 ference in the way of feeding, or 

 rather in the quality of the food to 

 be given to them. However, I will 

 tell you the way I feed for egg laying. 

 As soon as I think the little chicks 

 will eat whole wheat, I add it to the 

 baby chick feed, a small quantity. If 

 they pick it up quickly I add more 

 each day, and in a few days I give also 

 some kaffir corn or finely cracked 

 corn. It should be finely cracked, as 

 it is difficult of digestion. When it 

 is too long in digesting, the corn 

 ferments in the gizzard and that gives 

 the chick diarrhoea, which often 

 proves fatal. We never want to over- 

 tax the digestion of a chick, so I give 

 corn carefully. This applies to the 

 last question in your letter it is not 

 good to feed corn alone. It has been 

 clearly proven that chicks do better, 

 grow more quickly and mature ear- 

 lier if they can have a great variety 

 of seeds to eat. This is the reason 

 we prefer to buy the chick feed al- 

 ready mixed from the supply houses. 

 They have greater facilities for get- 

 ting a variety of grains than we have. 



When the young stock is old 

 enough to eat the wheat and kaffir 

 corn, they can be fed as you do the 

 old hens, only remember to give them 

 nice, clean litter to scratch in. It 

 will need renewing oftener than that 

 of the old hens, for if it gets foul and 

 they pick up some of their own drop- 

 pings, you will soon have a set of 

 sick chickens. Feed the grains in the 

 scratching pen to the little chicks, and 

 also give them in a hopper bran, al- 

 falfa meal, corn meal, ground bone 

 and either granulated milk or dried 

 blood in equal proportions. The lit- 

 tle chicks will prefer the grains in the 

 scratching pen and eat those the first, 

 which is just what they want, but if 

 they are hungry they will go to the 

 hopper. Most of the poultry supply 

 houses now make an excellent scratch 

 feed; they realize the need of it and 

 are able to mix it scientifically. I al- 

 ways buy from them, and if I think 

 there is too much corn and that my 

 fowls will become too fat, I say, 



