212 THE SCIENTIFIC FEEDING OF ANIMALS 



addition to these, crushed wheat or oats, oatmeal or barley, etc., are fed 

 every evening. After this treatment they are placed in "mast cages" and 

 kept in semi-darkness at a temperature of 12° to 15° C. (53.6° to 

 59° F.). 



In "voluntary masting" from 6 to 15 fowls are kept in one cage 1^^ 

 meters long, 3^ meter wide and 50 to 60 cm. high. The mast feed con- 

 sists of coarsely ground buckwheat or buckwheat meal with fresh milk, 

 or buckwheat meal mixed with barley meal oatmeal or cornmeal, bran, 

 sour milk or buttermilk, with a little salt, charcoal and sand, fish meal 

 or finely ground egg shells, oyster shells or other shells. During the 

 last four or five days or the last week a teaspoonful of oil or 10 grams 

 of lard is added to the ration. To impart a spicy taste to the meat 0.1 

 to 0.15 gm. of cinnamon or 0.25 to 0.3 gm. of juniper berries are added 

 to the morning and evening feed of each fowl. Feeding times, 8 a. m. 

 and 4 p. m., must be regularly observed, feeding vessels cleaned before 

 each meal, fowls kept free from vermin (by use of insect powder), and 

 the droppings removed daily or covered with ground muck in a quiet 

 manner so as not to disturb or excite the fowls. The entire process 

 requires about two or three weeks. 



2. Feeding Ducks 



From 24 to 36 hours after hatching, young ducks receive feed com- 

 posed of a mixture of milk, wheat bread, weighed amounts of green stuff 

 (nettles, yarrow) and grated carrots or soaked rice. Beginning with 

 the second week they receive coarsely ground buckwheat, barley or 

 wheat. Beginning with the third week, wheat bran and feed lime or 

 ground bone, shrimps or fish meal, and chopped raw or cooked horse 

 meat or tankage. Rye bran and wheat bran, greens (chopped nettles, 

 duckweed [Lenrna] etc.), equal parts of each, and 5 per cent of meat 

 and sand are mixed prior to feeding. 



Beginning with the sixth week young ducks receive crumbs of soft 

 feed composed of 3 parts corn meal, 5 parts bran, 4 parts feed meal and 

 y2 part fish meal. Curds, sour milk, earthworms, crushed snails or May 

 beetles, lettuce and comfrey are favorite by-feeds. When the feathers 

 begin to develop, soaked ground oats, followed a little later with dry 

 ground oats and whole grains, are given. 



At first the young ducklings should be fed every two hours, then four 

 times a day, and beginning with the sixth week three times a day. After 

 they have access to pasture and ponds, morning and evening feeds are 

 sufficient. 



Rations for older ducks, in pens, per head and per day, are as follows : 

 Boiled potatoes 1(X) gm. with bran 60 gm.; evenings, 75 gm. of oats or 

 barley; at noon, greens, worms, chopped meat or tankage, 15 gm., beets 

 50 gm., or the following ration : 



