18 



HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT 



leaves, onion tops, etc., they eat in small quantities when 

 tender, fresh and crisp, but do not care much about when 

 tough or wilted. Grass that is kept short, and all kinds of 

 leaves of weeds growing in such grass, are eaten by poul- 

 try with great relish and in surprisingly large quantities; 

 but as soon as any such vegetation gets a little hard and 

 tough they eat it sparingly if anything else more succu- 

 lent can be obtained. 



Of roots, the most useful for poultry feeding and the 

 one most widely grown expressly for the purpose, is the 

 mangel-wurzel beet. After this come sugar beets and large 

 table beets. Turnips are widely used, but as they some- 

 times give an unpleasant flavor to eggs poultrymen have 

 to be more cautious in feeding them. The bad flavor from 

 turnips seems to be due sometimes to the "rankness" of 

 turnips grown on strong land, and sometimes to the birds- 

 eating partially decayed turnips. 



Stock carrots, table carrots, potatoes, and onions all 



BREEDING DUCKS AT ATLANTIC FARM, SPBONK, L. I. 



These ducks can get a good deal of animal feed from the water, and therefore 

 do not need extraordinary amounts of it in their ration. 



make good poultry feed. The question of their use is a 

 matter of availability or cost. Where there is a 'surplus 

 of such stuff of unmarketable grade, it is cheap poultry 

 feed. If it has to be bought, the price should be based 

 not on the value of the marketable stuff of the same kind 

 for human food, but on the value of the waste product 

 in comparison with the staple poultry feeds. This point 

 will be explained more fully in connection with the dis- 

 cussion of the values of feeds as shfjwn by the general 



measurement of nutritive value. 



Of common fruits the apple is most generally avail- 

 able for poultry and has the advantage that spotted and 



bruised fruit will keep much longer than similar fruit of 



peaches, pears, and plums. None of these things need go 



to waste if there is poultry to which they may be fed, and 



birds that have at the same time free access to corn or 



wheat and to any of these, seem to get a well-balanced 



ration. Tomatoes are in the 



same class with the things 



just mentioned, but rather 



lower in actual feeding value. 



Cucumbers and all kinds of 



melons are greedily eaten 



by poultry. 



Clover and Alfalfa 

 As poultry generally do 

 not care for green grass 

 after it becomes a little hard 

 and tough, hay to be at 

 tractive to them must be 

 made from grass cut at the 



stage at which they prefer it, and cured to preserve the 

 green color. Clover and alfalfa are most suitable for this 

 purpose, and are more conveniently handled and fed when 

 ground into meal or cut very finely. While there is not 

 much difference in the feeding value of the two when both 

 are of like grade, the weather generally in alfalfa-growing 

 sections is more favorable for curing than in clover-grow- 

 ing sections. Hence a much larger proportion of the 

 alfalfa is nice in color, and in every way attractive, and 

 alfalfa tends, steadily to displace clover in the poultry 

 ration wherever they come in competition. 



Animal By-Product Feeds 



There are two sources of supplies of this kind loca 

 supplies consisting of the wastes and trimmings from small 

 butcher shops, from the family table, and perhaps an oc- 

 casional old horse; and the general commercial supplies 

 put up in convenient form and ready for use, by all classes 

 of packing plants handling meat and 

 fish products. Supplies from local 

 sources are generally limited and ir- 

 regular. At the same time they are 

 often the most desirable to use as far 

 as they will go, if they can be ob- 

 tained at reasonable prices and their 

 preparation for use does not involve 

 too much time and labor. Except for 

 small flocks, local supplies as a rule 

 are of little consequence. The multi- 

 plication of poultry keepers in towns 

 and suburbs tends to divide avail- 

 able local supplies until the amount 

 that any one poultry keeper can get 

 becomes so small that it is hardly 

 worth his while to look after it. He 

 finds it much more convenient to buy, 



in quantity to suit his needs, meat scrap, meat meal, dried 

 blood, fish scrap, and other similar preparations which 



will keep indefinitely, and are always ready for instant use. 





 Nearly all experienced poultry keepers consider green 



cut bone, which usually has with it considerable fresh 

 meat, the best of animal feeds for poultry, and the one 

 which supplies the additional mineral matter needed in 

 most palatable form. But few poultry keepers that have 

 large stocks can get anywhere near as much of this as 

 they could use, and unless they have a power cutter they 

 are apt to prefer prepared feeds exclusively, for while 

 cutting bone for a small flock is good exercise, the man 

 who cuts on a large scale needs to be properly equipped 

 for it. Meat and fish by-products as sold for poultry 

 vary considerably in composition. Dried blood and blood 

 meal are largely albumin, but most of the brands of 

 meat meal on the market are high in fat. As far as 



YOUNG DUCKS REARED WITHOUT ANIMAL, FEED 

 Same age, and originally same number as flock on opposite page. 



