36 



HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT 



so hard for what they get that, while healthy and strong, 

 they are neither productive nor as soft-meated as good 

 table poultry should be. If the keeper wishes better pro- 

 duction and better poultry under these conditions he can 



SCRATCHING FOR GRAIN IN LITTER THE BEST INDOOR 

 EXERCISE FOR HENS' 



obtain his objects by any method that sufficiently re- 

 duces the amount of exercise the birds are taking while 

 at the same time giving them equal or greater supplies of 

 feed. Either reducing the numbers in flocks, making 

 more flocks and placing them farther apart, or giving a 

 little more feed, or both these measures together, will 

 bring the results sought. 



With poultry in confinement especially with fowls 

 regular provision for exercise is necessary if it is desired 

 to keep the birds in good condition for a long term. With 

 birds that are to be confined for only a few months and 

 then killed, provision for exercise is not necessary and the 

 results for such a period may be better without it. Thus 

 in fattening poultry we prevent exercise that all feed con- 

 sumed may go to fat. Even egg production, if the birds 

 are in good condition at the beginning of confinement, 



may be better without exercise, until lack of it begins to 

 cause weakness and low vitality. 



The differences in temperament in different breeds of 

 poultry, and to a less extent in different individuals of 

 the same breed, also affect their re- 

 quirements for supplied exercise. 

 Small active fowls that are restless 

 in confinement may take all the exer- 

 cise necessary to keep them in good 

 condition to prevent indigestion 

 moving about the yard and looking 

 for a possible opportunity to get out. 

 While in one way serviceable, this 

 form of exercise is not altogether 

 beneficial, for contentment is essen- 

 tial to the most profitable production. 

 However, hens with this restless dis- 

 position will take exercise enough of 

 their own accord to prevent indiges- 

 tion or the excessive accumulation of 

 fat. That is the reason that hens of 

 the light, active, nervous breeds so 

 generally give good egg yields in con- 

 ditions where the heavier breeds give 

 very poor ones. 



The most practical way to provide 

 exercise for fowls, making it to a de- 

 gree compulsory, is by feeding the 

 grain in litter on the floor of the 

 poultry house, using such depth of 



litter as is necessary to conceal a considerable part of 

 the grain as thrown into it. This condition is secured by 

 using only a moderate amount of litter at the start, add- 

 ing to it as- it becomes broken, and occasionally removing 

 that near the floor which is finely broken and more or 

 less mixed with droppings or earth. 



Dry leaves make the best litter for this purpose, but 

 comparatively few poultry keepers can obtain them in 

 sufficient quantities to use constantly. Oat straw and 

 planer shavings are the articles most commonly used for 

 scratching litter by those who have to buy it. Dry corn 

 stalks cut in lengths -of about six to eight inches make 

 good scratching litter, rather coarse, but durable and 

 wearing for a long time without replacing. Any kind of 

 straw, hay, weeds, or stalky rubbish that is not too coarse 

 and tough will answer. 



MRS. CHAS. V. KEELER FEEDING CHICKENS' ON THE FARM RANGE AT "KEELERSVII.L.E", 



NEAR WINAMAC, INDIANA 

 The birds are Standard White Wyandottes not quite five months old, and weighing from four to six pounds each. 



