PLYMOt'TH ROCK STANDARD AM) HKKKn BOOK 417 



CHAPTER III. 



FEEDING FOR GROWTH. 



There are various methods of feeding growing chicks, 

 many of which are entirely satisfactory. The test is whether 

 or not they produce the desired results. A great many differ- 

 ent food elements are required to nourish properly the differ- 

 ent parts of the chick's body, and unless food is given in 

 reasonable variety the chick usually cannot obtain, from what 

 is given it, enough of all the elements required to make satis- 

 factory growth. Obviously, if too much fat forming material 

 is given and too little of the material that makes the lean 

 meat and muscle, the chick can not develop as it should. A 

 chick on free range can sometimes overcome mistakes in feed- 

 ing by collecting from the range the different food elements 

 which it requires but does not obtain from the food provided. 



In the back yard poultry keeper's little flock of young, this 

 can not be done, and the owner must be careful to furnish a 

 reasonably well balanced ration. 



A good ration for chicks from two weeks to one month old 

 is as follows: 

 ~^y~ 



A mash consisting of three parts each (by weight) of 

 wheat, bran and cornmeal, one part wheat middlings and one 

 part beef scraps, mixed dry and kept before them in hoppers ; 

 a mixture of three parts cracked wheat, two parts finely 

 cracked corn and one part pinhead oatmeal, fed in a litter in 

 order to compel them to scratch for it. During the second 

 month of their lives, the same dry mash may be always avail- 

 able and a mixture of three parts wheat, two parts cracked 

 corn and one part of hulled oats may be given for scratch 

 feed. From the end of that time until they are grown they 

 should have constantly before them in hoppers, a dry mix- 

 ture consisting of three parts wheat bran, three parts wheat 

 middlings, three parts cornmeal, and two parts beef scraps, 

 and a scratch mixture of equal parts of wheat and cracked 

 corn, if they are on free range. If not on free range, the 

 scratch mixture should be given in a litter, to induce exercise, 

 twice a day. The same mash may be mixed with water, or 

 sweet or sour milk, and fed once a day, in addition, to hasten 

 development. 



