364 



BEGINNINGS IN ANIMAL HUSBANDRY 



pers are in common use among poultry specialists, ana are 

 regarded with favor. Scattering grain in cut straw or floor 

 litter is a good plan, for it keeps the fowls busy and en- 

 sures slow eating, both of which habits are desirable. 

 Some feed a mash in the middle of the day, grain being 

 used morning and night. Some prefer one method and 

 some another. The dry mash is a favorite in some places 

 and the wet in others. 



The effect of food on the quality of the egg is very notice- 

 able in some cases. Foods of strong odor, such as onions, 

 impart objectionable flavor to eggs. Corn gives a rich 



yellow yolk, while most 

 other grains produce less 

 color. Green food and 

 clover or alfalfa hay, 

 also furnish good color 

 to the egg. 



Forced feeding of 

 fowls may be done in 

 two ways, one when the 

 feeder simply gives the 

 birds more feed than they 

 need or would eat under natural conditions ; the other being 

 a special artificial feeding process known as cramming, 

 wherein the crop is filled with food by the use of a machine, 

 and the fowl fattened as rapidly as possible. Of course 

 what would be a forced feeding of one fowl might not be 

 of another, because of difference in capacity. 



Referring to this subject of forced feeding, Robinson 

 says:* " Forced feeding is almost universal among poultry- 

 men. All regular, good feeding is in a sense forced feeding. 

 Even under natural conditions, with opportunity to balance 



*Principles and Practice of Poultry Culture. 1911, page 213. 



Fig. 202. Forced feeding in Engla 

 courtesy the Poultry Herald. 



By 



