OATS 



189 



readily see. It is used extensively in fattening poultry for market, 

 and is suitable for use in wet mashes during the finishing periods. 

 Rolled or crushed oats with hulls may take its place; but if hulls 

 are present, the advantage is entirely with the purer oat meal. Oat 

 meal should be used in chick 

 rations in small quantities. 



Sprouted Oats. — The feed- 

 ing of sprouted oats when they 

 are from four to six inches high 

 is a very economical method 

 of supplying green feed to all 

 classes of poultry. The cost 

 is slight, the time required for 

 growth short, and the amount 

 of succulent material is very 

 large. The following method 

 is generally followed in the 

 sprouting of grain, the idea 

 being to incorporate as much 

 water into them as possible 

 during the sprouting period. 



Manner of Sprouting. — 

 Only the best grade of plump, 

 heavy feed oats should be used, 

 and handled in such a manner 

 that they will reach maximum 

 growth quickly. Six quarts of 

 clean oats are placed in a ten- 

 quart galvanized pail, which is 

 then filled with water at a 

 temperature of not over 100° 

 F., to which are added ten 

 drops of formalin to prevent 



mold. The oats are allowed to soak in this in a warm room for forty- 

 eight hours. Next they are poured on a tray of the sprouting rack 

 to a thickness of one inch. The sprouting rack used can be home 

 made. It is built seven feet high and two feet square, with seven 

 trays, each being about two feet square. Figure 115 shows such 



*The sprouting of oats for poultry was early recommended by the Maine 

 Experiment Station. The Cornell Poultry Department was the first to devise 

 the use of a home-made rack with wooden draws for the oats. 



Fig. 115. — Rack for sprouting oats; large 

 enough to provide five hundred laying hens 

 with a continuous supply of succulent food.* 



