32 



HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT 



binations. In the same way, though by cruder processes 

 and with narrower limits imposed by the need of always 

 making a profit, the good poultry feeder gives to the ra- 

 tions he feeds enough variety to keep the birds' appetites 

 keen, and to secure the largest consumption of feed by 

 each bird that it can digest and assimilate, and from 

 which it can turn out a profitable commodity while still 

 keeping itself in good condition for further service. 



The poultry keeper who grows his grain, or who 

 buys and mixes 

 his own feeds 

 needs to consider 

 the question of 

 variety in grains 

 much more than 

 the one who 

 buys ready- 

 mixed feeds. As 

 has been stated, 

 the manufacturer 

 of c o m m e rcial 

 mixed feeds 

 makes a point of 

 securing good 

 variety b o t h in EMDEN GOOSE AT HER NEST 



his mash mixtures and his scratch mixtures. He is so 

 diligent in getting every sort of grain, seed, or mill by- 

 product that will give appetizing variety to the feeds he 

 sells that he almost monopolizes the accessible supplies. 

 And as the grains the poultryman grows or buys in quan- 

 tity are few in number, he must give particular attention 

 to the matter of feeding them in different ways, and also 

 must be more careful to supply variety in the other classes 

 of poultry feeds. 



In mashes of mixed mill stuffs, variety can be obtained 

 by occasionally making the mash different in composition. 

 Thus if the moist mash usually fed is a mixture of corn 

 meal, ground oats, and wheat bran in equal parts, with 5 

 per cent of meat scrap, and the birds begin to seem a lit- 

 tle indifferent to it, an occasional variation by omitting 

 the bran, and perhaps at the same time doubling the 

 amount of meat scrap, may be greatly appreciated. They 



will not eat as much, as a rule, of the richer mash, but 

 they will relish it more; and while it would not be a 

 good mash for continuous feeding, using it occasionally 

 varies the monotony of the uniform mash with always 

 the same ingredients in the same proportions. In mak- 

 ing such variations the feeder must use judgment of 

 course, taking into consideration . the condition of the 

 birds and also temperature conditions. The variation 

 mentioned by way of illustration would not be right for 

 hens that were becoming fat, nor would it be appropriate 

 in extreme warm weather. Either of these conditions 

 would call for reducing heating elements. 



Raw or Cooked Feeds 



Until some fifteen years ago facilities for cooking a 

 part of the feed for poultry were regarded as a necessary 

 part of the equipment of an up-to-date plant for the pro- 

 duction of fowls and eggs, while the small poultry keeper 

 who did not have stock enough to warrant special appli- 

 ances for cooking for the poultry relied upon a big pot 

 on the kitchen stove. The cooking of feed for poultry was 

 sometimes overdone in the old days. People did too 

 much of it, and made too much work of what they did. 

 But of late years the tendency is to go to the other ex- 

 treme, and rigid adherence to systems that do not call for 

 regular cooking leads to neglect to provide even such 

 facilities for cooking poultry feed as are almost essential 

 if the poultry keeper is to be prepared to use all available 

 wastes to the best advantage. 



The economical use of such things as small potatoes, 

 beets, carrots, and turnips for poultry, requires that they 



A PAIR OF AFRICAN GEESE AT THE RHODE ISLAND 

 EXPERIMENT STATION 



FLOCK OF BREEDING GEESE MIXED BREEDS AS 



COMMONLY USED IN GOOSE GROWING 



DISTRICTS 



This flock produced from four to five hundred gos- 

 lings a year. Nearly all their feed was obtained from 

 the pasture. 



be either cooked or cut fine in a root cutter. We can 

 fasten large roots in poultry houses so that the poultry 

 can pick them to pieces, but with small roots this cannot 

 be done, and if they are given without cutting they are 

 under the fowls' feet, rubbed in the dirt of the floor, and 

 soon become so soiled that the birds have to be famishing 

 for succulent feed or they will not eat them. Cut in a 

 root cutter and fed raw, there is less waste but it still 

 is considerable, as the birds pick the stuff over and scat- 

 ter it more or less. Cooked until soft, and then mixed 

 with meal and bran, and a little meat meal to flavor it 

 more highly, such waste roots make a mash that the birds 

 gieatly prefer to any raw mash, and the full feeding 

 value of the roots is secured. 



Onions which are much relished in any form by poul- 

 try, and generally considered very beneficial, cannot be 

 fed raw to laying hens, or to poultry from which birds 

 are being taken to kill for the table, because raw onions 



