370 AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



the muscles and promotes the most rugged health and vigor; 

 which facts sufficiently explain the reasons for feeding often in 

 small portions. 



Green food, he should have a little of and but a little. Grit 

 and oyster shells he should have in abundance at all times. 



A Good Mash Makes Flesh. A mash helps the bird to 

 acquire flesh, but too much of it overloads the crop and 

 hunger being satisfied, the bird refuses to exercise; conse- 

 quently, it will not eat as much nor can its system assimilate 

 as much. The ingredients of the mash may vary somewhat. 

 Cornmeal and bran may be mixed with a very small quantity 

 of white flour middlings in such a proportion that the mash 

 is a substantial but not a sticky mass. It should be mixed 

 with boiling water, merely hot water does not do. It must 

 cook to get the desired effect. To that end it should be packed 

 closely together and covered for a time. After standing for 

 half an hour, uncover and stir. Allow it to cool until it is 

 warm but not hot ; then you have the food for a meal that the 

 fowls will relish. 



For scratch feed, any of the small grains will do. Oats 

 are very good, so is wheat if you are not using it for a night 

 feed. But the prepared scratch feeds are to be preferred 

 above all, if they are made of good grain, for two reasons : 

 first, for the variety they supply, but principally for the fact 

 that the grains are cracked into small bits, which make the 

 fowls do the maximum amount of work for the minimum 

 amount of food. 



For the final feed at night, nothing compares with wheat 

 of the best quality. This is the main food, but may be alter- 

 nated with barely with good results. For fowls that are 

 inclined to get too fat, barley is preferable to wheat. 



Forcing Immature Birds. Birds that are very immature 

 and that it seems advisable to force along as fast as possible 

 may take a quite different ration from those that are grown 

 or have ampile time to grow. An excellent mash may be made 

 as follows : Put hamburg steak to boil in cold water, allow 

 it to boil until the amount of water is small, and then thicken 

 with cornmeal and a little bran. This may be fed once a day, 

 but not in such quantities that the bird is forced off his feet. 

 This bird should be kept scratching as the others, but he may, 

 if hearty, be fed more heavy grains. A good variety will force 

 a bird along faster than a limited diet. 



A very appetizing meal is made of broken crackers and 

 cornmeal and bran. The birds like this, especially if the 



