PROPERTIES AND COMPOSITION OF POULTRY FEEDS JT 



15 



MARKET POULTRY FARM SHOWING COLONY HOU 



(Continuation of 



ther discussion of this is deferred until the methods of 

 feeding are taken up. 



Oats and Oat Products 



The value of oats for poultry feed is extremely vari- 

 able. Heavy oats with plump, full kernels and thin hulls 

 ;ire quite equal in value to corn and wheat. A moderate 

 amount of hull does not seem to reduce either their palat- 

 ability or their nourishing properties, as compared with 

 vhat the birds will eat readily of the other grains men- 

 f ioned. In the British Isles oats are commonly rated the 

 best of grains for poultry, and many American writers, 

 following English authority, have unstintedly praised 

 oats, and as unsparingly condemned corn as poultry feed. 

 The reason for the preference for oats in England is that 

 the oats produced in the British Isles are uncommonly 

 good, while the climate is unsuited to corn. In America, 

 on the contrary, most of the oats produced are of medium 

 to poor quality, while good corn may be grown almost 

 everywhere. In the South oats are almost always poor 

 and light. Tn the Northern States the quality is much 

 better and the production much greater, yet enormous 

 quantities of oats that seem to be entirely suitable for 

 horse feed, are of-little value for poultry feed. Canadian 

 oats are, on the whole, better than our best northern oats, 

 and the English opinion of the value of oats in poultry 

 feeding is more applicable there than on this side of the 

 boundary line. Another reason for the English objection 

 to corn is that it makes yellow fat in poultry, whereas 

 their markets prefer white fat. 



The ordinary examination of oats for quality is made 

 by simply removing the hull from the grain. Anyone who 

 has been feeding oats without examining them, and has 

 perhaps wondered why his poultry did not appear to like 

 oats and would eat little even when kept short of other 

 grains to compel them to do so, will be surprised, when 

 he examines an ordinary sample of the oats he has been 

 feeding, to find how few grains contain large plump ker- 

 nels, and how many are almost entirely hull. It does not 

 pay to buy oats for poultry unless they are good enough 

 so that the birds, eat them readily as a part of a mixed- 

 grain ration. Hulled oats make good poultry feed, but 

 the price should not be higher than good feeding wheat. 



Ground oats and mixtures of oats with other ground 

 grains are common feed articles. Their value in either 

 case depends upon the original quality of the grain, and 

 the freedom of the mixture from additions of surplus oat 

 offal from other sources. It is not possible for anyone to 

 say positively upon inspection whether a sample of ground 

 oats or mixed feed including ground oats, having an ex- 

 cessive amount of hull, was made of very poor oats, or 



S'ES FOR GROWING CHICKENS ALL THE WAY BACK 

 view on page 14) 



was adulterated. The only question that really concerns 

 the buyer is whether the proportion of hull is greater than 

 desirable in a poultry feed. If it is, he should reject the 

 article, for the excess of hull makes it an undesirable an 

 expensive and a dangerous feed. The hull in ground feeds, 

 beyond a very small amount, is highly irritating to the in- 

 testines of poultry, and dangerously so in young poultry. 

 On the other hand, good ground oats, reasonably free 

 from hulls, are a desirable and valuable feed to use either 

 separately or in mixtures. So the intelligent and econom- 

 ical use of oats is a question of obtaining a good article 

 at an appropriate price. Rolled oats and oatmeal are 

 widely recommended as superior feeds for young chick- 

 ens. They are good feeds when not stale, but whether 

 they are the best feeds to use in any case depends uporu 

 the quality and prices of other available chick feeds, and! 

 especially upon whether the corn obtainable is good and 

 safe to feed. 



Barley and Barley Products 



Barley as a poultry feed occupies a place between 

 wheat and oats, as to its palatability, but is much less 

 generally available than the other grains so far considered. 

 Nowhere but on the Pacific Coast, where the bulk of our 

 crop of barley is grown, is it regularly available for poul- 

 try feeding. In the markets throughout the rest of the 

 country the supplies of barley are irregular and the prices 

 compared with those of the grains to be had in abundance 

 are inclined to be erratic. This last feature is probably 

 due to the readiness of poultry keepers to pay a premium 

 for a grain that is rather scarce, thinking that they can 

 afford to do so for the sake of giving variety to the 



ONE OF THE COLONY HOUSES ON FARM OF 

 H. D. SMITH 



