FIRST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 9 



he should, one grain will do, and if only one grain is used, cracked corn is to be preferred both 

 for its feeding value at this season, and on the score of economy. If wheat or barley can be 

 had at little more than the price of corn, one adds to his variety without materially increasing 

 the cost of feeding, by using one or both, either with the cracked corn in a mixture or separately 

 as one meal, preferably the noon meal. 



For green food he should have either cabbage or cut hay, (clover or alfalfa), and consider 

 one of these necessary. Such other vegetables as he can get at a right price should be used in 

 addition. 



For meat food, one article is enough if it can be had in constant supply, but because of the 

 general variableness of supply of green bone, and the frequent occasions when it is incon- 

 venient to prepare it, it is good policy to keep a supply of beef scrap or meat meal on hand for 

 such emergencies. 



Then of the accessories, shell is necessary, absolutely. The consensus of opinion among 

 poultry keepers is that it is best to have grit and charcoal also constantly before the fowls. 



To sum up. The necessaries of life, when a mash is used, are corn chop or meal, bran, 

 middlings, cracked corn, cabbage, or hay, (clover or alfalfa), one article of meat food, shell, 

 grit, charcoal, and water. 



To these may be added such other articles as are available for economical use. 



flethods of Feeding. 



Methods of feeding poultry may be classified as follows: 



(1). The Mash System, in which a wet, scalded, or cooked mash is fed once each day, grain 

 being given once or twice. 

 The mash may be given : 



(a) In the morning the common way. 



(b) In the evening as an important minority prefer. 



(c) At noon the practice of a very few. 



There is no evidence that the time of feeding mash makes any difference to the hens. 

 It is a matter of the convenience of the keeper. 

 (2). Dry Feed Systems. 



(a) Dry mash, (ingredients same as in a wet mash), and grains. 



(b) All dry grains. 



Dry feeding is used by many regularly where it is inconvenient to make and feed a wet 

 mash, or when results from the use of mashes have been bad or unsatisfactory, as they 

 often are when badly prepared, or ill balanced mashes are used, or when something in 

 the rest of the ration does not work well with a mash. It might be used by many more 

 occasionally to good advantage; as on an extremely cold day when a wet mash would 

 freeze as soon as put down, or for a flock with mild chronic diarrhea. 

 The limits and scope of this lesson do not admit of a full discussion of feeding systems in the 



course of which it is necessary to consider the relations of the method of feeding to each and 



all of the many points affecting the welfare and productiveness of fowls, but the following 



condensed statement of the subject may aid the reader to decide what method will best suit 



him and his circumstances: 



Advantages of the flash. 

 The use of a mash serves these important purposes : 



(1). As is indicated by the list of ground grains given, and as will appear more fully when 

 recipes for mashes are given, the mash contains a variety of ingredients, and the propor- 

 tions of these can be varied greatly, and the consistency of the mash also varied some- 

 what, thus making it possible to give considerable variety to the ration, as a whole, while 

 using but one or two grains for the other meals. 



(2). The mash being fed in troughs the feeder can gauge the quantities of it, and also of the 

 other grains fed by the appetite the fowls show for the mash more accurately than in any 

 other way. 



(3). Through the mash the bulk of the ration may be increased, and the concentrated feed 

 stuffs used diluted, (with hay and bran), and so rich foods used safely in larger quantities 

 than if taken into the system undiluted. 



