FIRST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 11 



A Few Good Sample Rations. 



Having learned something of common food stuffs and their properties, we are ready to begin 

 to feed fowls intelligently; that is, with some appreciation of the reasons for doing things in 

 the way we do them. The reader should keep it clearly in mind all the time that while there 

 are many possible rations that will give good results, there are also many combinations possible 

 that will not give good results, and the way for the beginner to avoid a bad combination is to 

 follow some one approved method, not attempting, as many do, to improve on the experts by 

 combining features of different rations that have given good results. The sample rations given 

 will cover all ordinary conditions, and the reader working by these lessons is advised to select 

 that which suits him best, and follow it as closely as he can, departing from it only when he is 

 absolutely sure that the change he makes cannot affect his results for the worse. 



Let us take up first a few rations including a mash. As has been stated, it makes no differ- 

 ence to the fowls when the mash is fed. The feeder may time it to suit his convenience. The 

 time of feeding the mash may, however, make a difference in the other meals. 



Taking for our first illustration one of the most common rations in use, we have: 

 Ration I. Morning. Mash of corn meal, bran, and beef scrap. 

 Noon. Wheat, barley, oats, or millet. 

 Evening. Cracked corn. 



Cabbage supplied practically all the time. 

 Grit and shell always before the fowls. 



In this ration the morning and evening feeds are " full feeds; " that is, the fowls are given 

 all they will eat. The noon feed is a light feed, say half as much as the evening feed of grain. 

 The grains are fed scattered in litter spread over the floor of the house, so that the fowls have 

 to scratch for them. 



If now, one using the ingredients in this ration wished to feed the mash in the evening, he 

 could simply transpose the morning and evening meals, making his system : 



Ration II. Morning. Cracked corn. 



Noon. Wheat, barley, oats, or millet. 



Evening. Mash of corn meal, bran, and beef scrap. 



Cabbage, etc., as in Ration I. 



But if he wanted to feed the mash at noon it might be necessary to make some changes. 

 For instance, in either of the rations given above, millet or oats, both light feeds, and not 

 eaten freely by fowls, can be used to good advantage at noon when, with full feeds morning 

 and evening, only a light feed is needed. But if the mash is given at noon, and made a light 

 feed, both the other feeds must be full feeds, and neither oats nor millet is suitable for regular 

 use as a full feed. So the ration with a noon mash must be like this : 



Ration III. Morning. Wheat or barley. 



Noon. Mash of corn meal, bran, and beef scraps. 

 Evening. Cracked corn. 



Cabbage, etc., as in Ration I. 



In this ration (a) the morning and evening feeds of grain should be full feeds, and the mash 

 at noon a light feed or half feed, that is, about half wheat, the fowls will eat freely ; or (b) all 

 three feeds should be rather scant feeds. I would advise beginners not to use the noon mash 

 unless for special and urgent reasons, for I think it is more difficult to keep fowls' appetites 

 steady when the mash is fed at noon. 



Instead of feeding one grain at a time, several grains may be mixed together, and the mix- 

 ture fed once or twice a day. Suppose we make this change in each of the rations given, 

 designating our substitutes by the same numbers with the letter A added. Then we have: 



Ration I. A. Morning. Mash as in Ration I. 



Noon. Mixture cracked corn and wheat, equal parts, (a half feed). 

 Evening. Cracked corn and wheat, equal parts, (a full feed). 

 Cabbage, etc., as in Ration I. 



