POULTRY. 1075 



some kind. In the colder parts of the country this night feed 

 may be of corn at least two-thirds of the time. 



Meat, or something that will take the place of the bugs and 

 worms that the fowls get in summer, must be given daily. We 

 have followed the plan of hanging a big piece of raw, fresh 

 meat where the fowls could reach it, and we have yet to see any 

 ill effects from feeding meat that way. We get livers and other 

 cheap pieces of meat from the butcher twice a week, and like 

 it much better than the steamed meat that is prepared expressly 

 for fowls. A more economical way of feeding meat would be 

 to boil it and mix it with the morning feed. When plenty of 

 milk can be had, and a little sunflower seed, which is rich in 

 oil, given daily, the meat may be dispensed with. 



Fowls need drink in cold weather, and when water or milk 

 can not be kept by them all the time it should be supplied 

 regularly twice a day. 



Green food is another one of the essentials, and must be 

 supplied regularly every day. The very best green food for 

 fowls of all kinds in winter is oats, grass, and millet, that was 

 cut when young and cured just enough to keep cut fine and 

 soaked in hot water or steamed. If the fowls do n't take kindly 

 to it at first, sprinkle with corn-meal or bran. The next best 

 thing in the way of green food is cabbage ; fasten the heads up 

 where the fowls can reach them, and let them help themselves. 

 Of course, this will not be practicable when the temperature of 

 the house is below the freezing point. When nothing else is 

 available feed chopped apples, potatoes, turnips, and carrots. 



Besides the necessary food and drink, the winter laying 

 fowls must have a supply of gravel and crushed oyster-shells, 

 or lime in some form ; and if you can give a little raw, crushed 

 bone twice or three times a week, it will do more towards fill- 

 ing the egg basket than any or all of the patent "egg foods," 

 and it won't hurt the fowls by over-stimulating them. Get fresh 

 bones right from the butcher, and by some means reduce them 

 to bits of a suitable size. .The old way was to break them up 

 with the head of an old axe, but now the poultry raiser can get 

 hand-mills that will do the work. When given three times a 



