CHAPTER XXI 

 FEEDING FARM POULTRY 



Farm poultry is now a home necessity in every 

 community. A few years ago the domestic hen was 

 compelled to shift about and to get her food as best 

 she could. Times have brought a change in this 

 respect. The demand for eggs and poultry meat has 

 been so great and so insistent as to make poultry 

 raising one of the most profitable adjuncts to farm- 

 ing. On many farms, farm poultry now is exclu- 

 sively the source of income, and all labor and crop 

 production are directed to that end. 



All fowls are greedy feeders. While they use 

 food substances similar in form to what other classes 

 of farm stock require, their food should be intro- 

 duced in somewhat different ways. Rapid growth 

 calls for much concentrated food; and where egg 

 production is the aim, concentrated grain is de- 

 manded at all times. There is a need of much min- 

 eral matter for both growth and eggs. In a compar- 

 ative way poultry calls for more of this than other 

 kinds of live stock. There is less fat and more pro- 

 tein in poultry than in other meat-producing ani- 

 mals. In composition, eggs are similar to lean 

 meat; hence, in feeding for eggs, a comparatively 

 large amount of nitrogenous material should be 

 available as food. 



Eggs Chemically Analyzed. The egg that the 

 fowl produces is, next to milk, man's best food, the 



258. 



