PROPERTIES AND COMPOSITION OF POULTRY FEEDS 



13 



A FAMILY OF WHITE TURKEY'S FORAGING ON A RHODE ISLAND FARM 

 Turkfvs are methodical feeders, and specialists in the extermination of buss destructive to grass and grain crops. 



long observation to judge each of the numerous grades at 

 about its actual feeding value. 



It is usually, though not always possible to get corn 

 products of good quality, if purchasers insist upon having 

 no other and return inferior goods when such are de- 

 livered to them. There occasionally are seasons when 

 early frosts stop the growth of corn throughout large 

 sections before it is thoroughly ripe, and after such a 

 season little corn of really good quality may be available 

 for stock feeding. 



Corn and cob meal is not a common commercial pro- 

 duct. Its use appears to be of most interest to poultry 

 keepers who raise considerable quantities of corn, and 

 who suppose that corn and cob meal would make a suit- 

 able substitute for a mixture of corn meal with wheat 

 bran. As ground at home it is usually so coarse and so 

 overloaded with fiber that poultry will eat very little of it. 

 As occasionally found on the market it is much finer, 

 and appears to be a mixture of corn chop and corn bran 

 w-ith not much, if any, of the cob in it. In general it is 

 very poor economy to try to use the home-ground article, 

 and the commercial product is valuable only for limited use 

 with high concentrates. 



Corn bran is the coarse outer covering of the grain 

 separated from the meal. Corn feed meal is a mixture of 

 coarse meal and bran separated from fine table meal. 

 Corn gluten meal, corn gluten feed, and corn germ meal 



are by-products of the manufacture of starch and glucose. 

 Their comparative feed values are indicated by the state- 

 ments of percentages of the various feed elements which 

 they contain, as given in the table on page 23. 



Wheat and Wheat Products 



Wheat is commonly rated the best grain for poultry. 

 Its superiority is not due to greater feeding value, but to 

 better keeping qualities and an almost complete absence 

 of risk in feeding. Cases of sickness from the use of 

 damaged wheat, while not unknown, are by no means 

 common. Large quantities of wheat that have been 

 damaged by water are dried and sold as poultry feed. 

 Where the. damage is slight and the wheat in fair con- 

 dition, about as good results may be obtained as from 

 sound wheat. Where the damage is great, as when wjieat 

 is badly scorched, it does not seem to injure poultry, but 

 because of its unpalatability they will not eat it freely 

 enough to thrive or lay well on it. Wheat of good milling 

 quality is rarely offered for poultry feed except in wheat- 

 growing sections where it may be the cheapest of the 

 grains available, or in small lots by growers in sections 

 where so little is grown that there are not facilities for 

 milling or transporting it to mills. The feed wheat on 

 the market generally is of a grade not desirable for mil- 

 ling, but as good as any for feeding purposes. Shrunken, 

 shrivelled, and frozen wheat, and ordinary wheat screen- 



DUCKS ON THE MARGIN OF A LONG ISLAND RIVER ATLANTIC DUCK FARM, SPEONK 

 Ducks are often grown in dry yards, but the work is much lighter 'when they have water runs. 



