POULTRY 



425 



562. Feeds and feeding. Chickens require concentrated feed 

 made up chiefly of grains and grain by-products. They also re- 

 quire relatively more protein than do most other farm animals. 

 Better results are obtained if a considerable part of the protein 

 is furnished from animal sources. In spring and summer the 

 fowls, if they are allowed the run of the fields, pick up animal 

 protein in the form of bugs, grubs, and worms. In winter, 

 however, it should be 

 furnished them in some 

 such form as meat 

 scraps or milk. 



Poultry in general, 

 and more particularly 

 the good layers, need a 

 very much higher per- 

 centage of ash (out of 

 which to make egg- 

 shells) than is required 

 by other farm animals, 

 and more than is fur- 

 nished by the common 

 grains. It is because of 

 this that, the excellent 

 practice of furnishing 

 chickens with a constant 

 supply of oyster shell 

 has become common. 



FIG. 218. The Barred Plymouth Rock 

 The most widely used American breed 



Charcoal should also be kept before the fowls at all times. This 

 is not feed, but regulates the digestive process. 



Since the chicken has no teeth, it grinds its feed in the gizzard 

 with the help of pebbles or little pieces of stone (usually spoken 

 of as grit), a supply of which should be available to the birds at 

 all times. Hens will lay better if part of this grinding is done 

 for them. Therefore ground grain should form a part of the 

 ration, a satisfactory proportion of ground grain to whole or 

 cracked grain being one to two. 



