FEEDING POULTRY 339 



Crude Fiber. This is the coarse, woody material in the feed; 

 the seed coats of the different grains, the stems of clover, alfalfa, 

 and hay and straw are high in fiber. It is only slightly digestible 

 and has practically no nutritive value for poultry, but it is a very 

 essential part of a ration because it adds bulk and performs the 

 mechanical function of keeping the feed in the digestive organs loose 

 and spongy so that the digestive fluids can easily penetrate to and 

 act on every part. In the absence of such coarse, fibrous material, 

 the sticky and more concentrated feeds would form a hard, muci- 

 laginous mass in the digestive organs which the digestive juices 

 would not readily penetrate. Digestion would be checked, un- 

 healthy fermentation of the partially digested materials arise and 

 indigestion follow. Fine-cut alfalfa and bran added to a mixture 

 of flour and corn meal make a porous, crumbly, wet mash. Without 

 the alfalfa and bran, the flour and corn meal would form a sticky, 

 lumpy and unpalatable mass when mixed and moistened. A mod- 

 erate amount of bulky material is always essential to a well-balanced, 

 nourishing ration, but too much of such material is detrimental 

 because it compels the fowl to pass through its body large amounts 

 of useless, indigestible materials. 



Feeding standards have not been worked out for poultry to 

 the extent which they have for other kinds of farm livestock. With 

 the larger livestock, standard amounts of feed eaten per day for 

 animals of different ages and used for different purposes have been 

 quite accurately determined but with poultry this has yet to be done. 

 To date the general statement to "feed all the fowls will eat up 

 clean " and nutritive ratios for different purposes represent the 

 extent of our standards for poultry. Undoubtedly curves of feed 

 consumption for different types of poultry, for poultry of different 

 ages, and for poultry used for meat or egg production will eventu- 

 ally be worked out and such curves will prove of inestimable 

 value in more definitely guiding the inexperienced feeder than the 

 above general statement can and in throwing greater light on pro- 

 duction and maintenance costs. 



'Nutritive Ratio Standards for Poultry of Different Ages 



Birds Nutritive Ratio 



Growing stock 1 :3J-4.0 



Broilers and Fryers (finishing) 1 : 4.0-4.6 



Laying and Breeding Stock (4y 2 -8 Ibs.) 1 : 4.2-4.6 



Laying and Breeding Stock (3-4y 2 Ibs.) 1 :4.6 



Adult stock fattened for market 1 : 5.5-6.5 



Capons 1 : 5.5-6.5 



Crate Fattening 1 : 4.0-5.0 



