Feeding Little Chickens 229 



vegetable sources, but supplemented by skim milk 

 curd."* 



Experiments have demonstrated clearly that 

 the ordinary grain foods, as usually fed, do not 

 contain sufficient ash to permit the most rapid 

 development of the young. The following briefly 

 states the results of somewhat extended experi- 

 ments at the New York Agricultural Experiment 

 Station:f "Of two rations which contained prac- 

 tically the same proportions of the ordinarily con- 

 sidered groups of constituents, but different amounts 

 of mineral matter, the one wholly of vegetable origin 

 proved much inferior for growing chicks to the 

 other ration, higher in ash content, containing 

 animal food. When the deficiency of mineral matter 

 was made good by the addition of bone ash, the vege- 

 table food ration for chicks equaled or somewhat 

 surpassed in. efficiency the corresponding ration 

 in which three-eighths of the protein was derived 

 from animal food." 



Hard-boiled eggs mixed with ground grain, and 

 perhaps a little milk, make a most excellent food. 

 This is frequently fed with satisfactory results dur- 

 ing the first few days of the chick's existence. Infer- 

 tile eggs which are taken out of the incubator when- 

 ever the eggs are tested, if properly prepared, will 

 furnish an excellent food for little chickens. These 



*Bulletin No. 149, New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 

 tSummary of Bulletin No. 171. 



