84 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



value. Will you be quick enough to change at once 

 from the high-priced to the low-priced source of protein, 

 and open-eyed enough to change back, or discard both, 

 if next year's prices change radically ? This is the basis 

 of successful and economical feeding. The by-products 

 may follow the staple grains up or down in price, or 

 may increase in continuous ratio as prices go on up- 

 ward, and as certain things are more universally called 

 for by poultrymen who are learning fast. Some staple 

 feeds are becoming almost prohibitive in price. The 

 editor of Poultry, living in the far West and contending 

 with heavy freight rates, finds meat scrap costing him 

 five dollars a hundred. We used to get it here for less 

 than two dollars ; now, in the East, we pay three dollars, 

 or perhaps more. 



One cannot go far wrong in the use of the common 

 grains, if these are plump, in good condition, not too new, 

 and not fed to excess. The word "excess" may have 

 two meanings here : one may feed to excess by giving 

 more feed than the birds can digest, or he may feed any 

 one element to excess by using too much of it, in pro- 

 portion to the other elements. Feeding too much starch, 

 proportionately to the other elements, is a very general 

 mistake possibly the one most frequently made in feed- 

 ing grains for egg production. Yet when feeders learn 

 that it is the protein that brings the eggs, when it is 

 added, because the ordinary feeds do not contain enough 

 for heavy egg production, it becomes a temptation to 

 use too much protein ; which may bring on bowel diffi- 

 culties or satiety. In a state of nature, the fowls ate 

 many seeds (grains), it is true ; but the majority of wild- 

 ing seeds are small, and they were well balanced by the 



