8o 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



The quantity of grain to be given any flock of fowls must be 

 determined by trial and observation. The grain should not be 

 fed in troughs from which the birds can eat it very quickly, 

 but scattered in the litter on the floor, so that the fowls will 

 take exercise scratching it out, and eat slowly. There is an ad- 

 vantage in giving some soft and quickly digested food, but if 

 too much of the food can be eaten quickly, the birds do not 

 take exercise enough. When there is grass in the poultry yard, 

 it is a good plan to scatter the grain in the grass sometimes 



FIG. 78. Flock of Barred Plymouth Rocks 



in fine weather. The hens will find it all, and in scratching it 

 out will bring up the dead grass, and a better sod will grow 

 afterward. 



A dozen medium-sized fowls, if fed in the morning with the 

 mash described above, would probably need a little over a pint 

 of grain in the middle of the day and about a quart toward even- 

 ing. An experienced feeder can usually tell by the eagerness 

 of the fowls for their food whether to increase or diminish the 

 quantity ; but the most expert poultry keeper does not rely 

 upon this kind of observation alone. Occasionally, before giv- 

 ing food, he looks in the litter to see if there is grain left 



