AMERICAN POULTRY CULTURE 



or such a matter before feeding. The birds not 

 only relish the grains more when treated in this 

 way, but the size of the grains is also increased and 

 the feed will go further. Fill any ordinary pail, 

 kettle or tub three-quarters full of grain and thor- 

 oughly cover with water, letting stand about twelve 

 hours before feeding. 



Sprouted Grains. One time, while soaking 

 some wheat in this way, I accidentally overlooked 

 one pail of feed, and two or three days later, when 

 it was discovered, a great deal of the wheat had 

 begun to sprout. This was fed to the birds, and 

 the extreme relish with which they ate it seemed 

 significant. After that we did considerable experi- 

 menting with sprouted grains for poultry, not only 

 wheat, but also oats. As a result of this I have 

 continued using sprouted grains for poultry down 

 to this day, and will continue doing so, as the results 

 have always made the extra work profitable. 



There is nothing better to cause young stock to 

 eat large quantities of food, and there is no surer 

 way of improving the palatability of oats so that 

 the old fowls' diet may be composed almost, if not 

 quite, entirely of that grain without the fowls ob- 

 jecting to it; also, where fowls are kept in close 

 confinement, the sprouts go a long way toward 

 solving the green-food problem, as the birds like 

 the sprouts better than any other kind of green 

 stuff that can be supplied. In fact, I consider and 



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