CHAPTER X. 

 PRINCIPLES OF POULTRY FEEDING. 



Birds differ in a number of ways from other farm animals, 

 especially in digestion and assimilation of the feed and in their 

 requirement for maintenance and production. They are charac- 

 terized b}^ intense vitality. The transformation of feed in the 

 growing animal and the production of eggs in the adult are exceed- 

 ingly rapid; their lives are never sluggish. 



" Dr. W. H. Jordan, of the New York (Geneva) Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, has compared a Leghorn fowl that weighs 

 3^ pounds and lays 200 eggs (weighing 25 pounds) with a Jersey 

 cow that weighs 1,000 pounds and gives in a year 7,000 pounds of 

 milk containing 14 per cent of solids. He states : 



' If you take the dry matter of the hen and compare it with the dry matter 

 of the eggs she lays in a year, there will be 514 times as much dry matter in 

 the eggs as in her whole body. The weight of the dry matter in a cow's body 

 will be to the weight of the dry matter in the milk as 1 to 2.9. In other words, 

 based upon the dry matter, the hen does twice as well as the cow. I suspect 

 that the hen is the most efficient transformer of raw material into the finished 

 product that there is on the farm. Her physiological activity is something 

 remarkable, so in that particular the hen stands in a class by herself.' 



The temperature of the bird's body is high, ranging from 102° to 

 110° F. in different species. The energy necessary to keep up this 

 high temperature is great, and material of the right kind is in con- 

 stant demand to supply it . Birds are characterized by a heavy appe- 

 tite, which indicates intensive needs; this is accompanied by a very 

 rapid digestion which must be kept in order and constantly supplied 

 with pure feed. The nature of birds of the poultry group is to sub- 

 sist largely on seeds. They are therefore classed as granivorous 

 (seed-eating) rather than as omnivorous, yet in actual practice 

 the feeding of meat to some extent is found advantageous." * 



Composition of the Bird's Body. — The great variety of sub- 

 stances and compounds constituting the bird's body may be 

 grouped under four general headings, — water, ash, protein, and 

 fat. Along with the bony skeleton are ligaments, muscles, and 

 tendons, which hold the bones together and move them, the skin 

 and feathers which cover the body, also all internal organs, — 



* Quoted from Cornell Countryman, article by James E. Rice. 



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