PRINCIPLES. METHODS AND SYSTEMS OF FEEDING 



35 



The effect of such feeding was remarkable growth or 

 egg production as long as the digestive organs could 

 stand this extraordinary rich diet, and then sudden col- 

 lapse. Poultrymen would have large stocks of chicks 

 coming on remarkably well for three or four months, 

 then they suddenly would begin to drop off in large num- 

 bers, and within a short time all would be gone except 

 the few that could stand this diet, and even those would 

 no longer show their former thrift. Where the use of 

 meat concentrates was more moderate, but still too heavy 

 for continuous feeding, the effects were not so striking or 

 so sudden, but showed in an unusual 

 proportion of losses from digestive 

 troubles. Such experiences led some 

 poultrymen to go back to their old 

 system of moist mash feeding, but the 

 greater number gradually saw the ad- 

 vantage of combining the two sys- 

 tems, making for each case such an 

 intermediate system as would best 

 meet its requirements. 



The most important general modi- 

 fication of the dry mash system was 

 to discontinue efforts to compel poul- 

 try to eat the amount of dry mash 

 necessary to give them the quantity 

 of protein required to meet the esti- 

 mated demands of remarkable growth 

 or high egg production. This was 

 brought about by simply increasing 

 the whole grain so that the birds 

 could eat about the same proportions 

 of grain and mash that they usually 

 will when fed a moist mash; and giv- 

 ing more abundant supplies of green 

 feed sprouted oats being extensively 

 used for this purpose. The dry mash 

 system so modified gives good results 



generally, and seems to suit the greater number of poultry 

 keepers. It does not give the best results obtainable un- 

 less the feeding of sprouted oats is very liberal (or other 

 succulent feed is freely supplied) and the oats fed while 

 the sprouts are so short that the feed is really a combi- 

 nation of moist grain and green feed. 



Where other materials that would similarly modify 

 the ration are more available than sprouted oats, the modi- 

 fications that are made usually take the form of moist 

 mashes supplementing the dry mash. In this combina- 

 tion the moist mash is not, as in old practice, the basis, 

 and in a sense the key to the ration, but is the convenient 

 means of giving the things necessary to supplement the 

 dry feeds, both ground and whole. The dry mash system 

 thus modified is the one that gives the best results to 

 most people, especially those of limited experience, and 

 those who are not able to keep close watch of their poul- 

 try, and to study carefully all that relates to feeding. 



In the work of highly expert feeders the best results 

 are usually obtained by combinations in which the posi- 

 tions of the two kinds of mashes are reversed, the moist 

 mash remaining a principal feature in the ration, and dry 

 mash being used to supplement it to such an extent as 

 will relieve the feeder of the close attention demanded 

 by a rigid moist mash schedule, and will give the birds 

 the opportunity to help themselves to dry mash when the 

 feeder fails to supply the other on time, or when their 

 inclination prompts them to take it. 



Relation of Exercise to Feeding Methods 



Poultry at liberty, foraging for their feed, take exer- 

 cise walking or running about, and scratching or grubbing 

 for feed according to their nature and structure. Fowls 

 are energetic scratchers wherever there is any promise 

 of reward for such effort. Turkeys scratch some, but not 

 nearly so much as fowls. Little chickens begin to scratch 

 briskly as soon as they begin to try to pick up feed. The 

 beak and the legs seem to have a tendency to work in 

 harmony. Waterfowl do not scratch, but find what feed 

 they get from below the surface of the ground by rooting 



OUTDOOR FEED HOPPER WITH THREE COMPARTMENTS 

 Photo from U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



and grubbing with their strong bills. It is this exercise 

 that makes the muscles of their necks so strong while 

 their legs are weak as compared with those of the scratch- 

 ers. The necks of ducks and geese are so strong that these 

 birds are caught and carried by the neck, instead of by 

 the feet as is customary in handling fowls. The legs of 

 ducks in particular are so weak that catching them by 

 the legs is likely to cause dislocation. 



It does not seem to make much difference in the 

 health of a bird what kind of exercise it takes, provided 

 it gets a reasonable amount; nor is it necessary that the 

 exercise should be strenuous. On the contrary, it is to 

 the interest of the poultry keeper that poultry should 

 take no more exercise than is actually needed to keep 

 them in good condition and thrifty; for every motion a 

 biid makes is using energy that comes from feed, and so 

 whatever energy is used beyond the needs of the bird 

 for exercise to keep it in physical condition, represents a 

 waste. The adjustment of exercise of course cannot be 

 accurate, but in a general way the proper relation is se- 

 cured by giving a part of the feed in such form and 

 under such conditions that it is eaten with little effort, 

 and the remainder under conditions which make a mod- 

 erate amount of effort necessary to obtain it. 



With birds on range the matter of exercise does not 

 call for consideration in the way that is necessary for 

 poultry in confinement. Birds at large are likely to take 

 much more exercise than they really need, and if they 

 are left to provide mostly for themselves they may work 



