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HOW TO FEED POULTRY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITH PROFIT 



be mixed. The best consistency in a mash is usually ob- 

 tained when the bran and middlings are in about equal 

 proportions, but if the mixture is to be half corn meal 

 it does not make so much difference if the coarse light 

 bran is somewhat in excess of the fine middlings with 

 their greater adhesive properties. 



Whether the ingredients added to the meal are put 

 in separately or added one by one is immaterial. The 

 point in regard to them is to have them thoroughly mixed 

 with the scalded meal, and to have the resulting mash as 

 dry as it can be with all that has been added to it moist- 

 ened. A mush that seems as stiff as it can be stirred will 

 take from two to three times the bulk of the dry corn 

 meal in it to make this consistency. To work it in thor- 

 oughly takes strong stirring, but does not take long if 

 one has the strength of hand for it, and acquires the 

 knack of working the mass systematically to secure 

 thorough mixing quickly. It can be done in a small frac- 

 tion of the time required to explain it. 



While the proper or rather the most desirable con- 

 sistency of the mash is attained by having it just moist 

 enough all through to hold together as fed out, it should 

 not be supposed that there is peculiar virtue from a nutri- 

 tive standpoint in this degree of moisture. A little more 

 or less moisture will do no harm, though it will be found 

 that the birds usually like the mash best when it is about 

 as described above. If it is rather wet they may not eat 

 it quite so well. If there is much dry stuff in it they may 

 eat it regularly enough but are likely to scatter and waste 

 a great deal more of it 



In adding mill stuffs to get the desired degree of 

 dryness, a novice will often get in too much bran, with the 

 result that the adhesiveness of the mixture is very slight. 

 This condition can be remedied by adding a little more 

 water, either hot or cold, and then stirring in a little fine 

 middlings, red dog, or low-grade flour. It is a good plan 

 to have some of one of these articles on hand to use in 

 such cases, and also to make the mash a little richer and 

 of different flavor by way of change from time to time. 



If a mash appears much too wet when the other mill 

 stuffs have been added to the scalded meal in the intend- 

 ed proportions, it may be because the mush was made 

 too thin or because of an unusually large proportion of 

 middlings in a mixture of bran and middlings. The best 

 thing to do then is to add bran or mixed feed whichever 

 is being used, or if this seems likely to make too light 

 and bulky a mash, to put in more corn meal, using it 

 raw. It will take up moisture more readily than anything 

 else, though not to the same extent at once as when wet 

 with boiling water. 



Mixing a Cold Moist Mash in Pail 



A mash of the same ingredients as described above 

 may be mixed cold, and good consistency obtained, by 

 suitably limiting the amount of bran in it and using more 

 of the "sticky" wheat products, especially red dog, or low- 

 grade flour. This will mean, in the first place, the use of 

 more meal. Enough more must be used to make the bulk 

 of meal when wet with cold water (which will not swell 

 it at once as much as boiling water) nearly as great as 

 that of the meal required for a scalded mash for the same 

 number of hens. It should not be quite as great, because 

 this is a heavier mash than a scalded mash and the birds 

 will not eat so much of it, nor is it desirable that they 

 should do so. 



The knack in making the cold mash is to get the 

 proportion of fine middlings, red dog, or low-grade flour 

 that will hold it together and make it palatable when the 





cohesive property in the corn meal is only partly brought 

 out. It is harder to mix than a scalded mash, requiring 

 more strength and skill in mixing; and unless one has 

 strong hands and arms he will find it much more satis- 

 factory to use a mixing box and a spade for batches of 

 cold-mixed mash in excess of five or six quarts. In fact, 

 for either cold or scalded mash in quantities of more 

 than seven or eight quarts it will be found that the quick- 

 est and easiest way is to use a mixing box. 



Mixing Large Batches of Mash in Set-Kettles 



In making mashes in this way the meals used are 

 cooked more than in a scalded mash, though not usually 

 by any means thoroughly cooked. The amount of water 

 required is placed in the kettle and the fire under it so 

 managed as to have it nearly burned out when the water 

 comes to a boil. 



If this is not done and there is a hot fire that will 

 burn some time longer under the kettle when the feed 

 is mixed, it will burn to the kettle, making mixing more 

 difficult and also making additional work cleaning the 

 kettle afterwards. On most plants large enough to need 

 cooking appartus of this kind, there is enough old rub- 

 bish and light wood of various kinds to use in cooking 

 feed, and after a little experience one learns just about 

 how long it is necessary to keep the fire going to have 

 it meet the requirements and also give economy and ef- 

 ficiency in the use of fuel. 



If clover, alfalfa, or cooked vegetables are to be used 

 in the mash, they should go in before the 'corn meal. 

 Alfalfa that has been cured quite soft and green has a 

 tendency when fed to make the droppings of poultry pasty 

 and of a dull yellow color. This is prevented by slightly 

 scalding it. If when the water is boiling what finely cut 

 alfalfa or alfalfa meal is to be used in the mash is put 

 into it and well stirred before the corn meal is put in, no 

 looseness of droppings will appear. If vegetables are to 

 be fed in the mash they must be either boiled so that 

 they can be mashed first, or run through a root cutter 

 that will cut them fine enough to mix in it. 



The process of mixing from this point, when vege- 

 tables are used, or from the start without them, is just 

 the same as when mixing mash in a pail, only on a larger 

 scale and with larger apparatus, requiring two hands and 

 being a full-size, man's job, for to be done well and as 

 easily as so large a batch can be handled it must be done 

 quickly. Otherwise the heat which is still under the ket- 

 tle and in the brickwork around it will dry the mash so 

 fast that it becomes stiff and hard to handle, and- this 

 difficulty is increased by the greater stickiness of the 

 meal due to partial cooking. 



When the mash is mixed in the morning it is usu- 

 ally fed right after mixing. Many poultrymen prefer to 

 mix it at night and let it stand in the kettle until feeding 

 time next morning. Handled in this way the mash is 

 pretty well cooked when fed. An objection to leaving 

 the mash in the kettle, especially if the fire continues to 

 burn for some time after it is mixed, is that it often 

 burns to the kettle. The easiest way to keep the kettle 

 always clean and smooth is not to allow mash to remain 

 in it after mixing, but to take it out at once, put a pail or 

 two of water in, and, with a broom kept for the purpose, 

 wash the sides of the kettle clean, letting the feed 

 washed from them remain in the water to which more 

 will be added the next time feed is cooked. When feed 

 is cooked daily there will be no danger that feed thus left 

 will sour, but whenever there are to be longer intervals 

 between cooking it is better to empty the kettle. 





