COMMON POULTRY FOODS 241 



demand for food of this character. It has been observed 

 to give a glossy and attractive appearance to the plumage. 



Animal Foods. The hen is a meat eater. Animal food 

 of some kind is necessary for fowls to maintain their health 

 and vigor, and to make them productive either in meat or 

 eggs. A knowledge of this fact has done more to increase 

 the poultryman's profits than any other one thing in poul- 

 try feeding. The scarcity of eggs in winter is largely due 

 to a lack of animal food. The fact that chickens when 

 given the liberty of the fields in summer find animal food 

 in the form of bugs, angleworms, grasshoppers, etc., escapes 

 the notice of the farmer, and in winter he does not see the 

 necessity of feeding it. In most parts of the country, dur- 

 ing the winter, chickens are unable to obtain animal food in 

 the fields, especially in sections where snow covers the 

 ground. In sections with mild and open winters, they find 

 many angleworms, especially during the rainy season. 

 But in most sections, if not in all, fowls must be liberally 

 fed with some kind of animal food to obtain best results. 

 , There are a number of forms in which animal food may 

 be fed. Fresh, lean meat is undoubtedly the best kind of 

 animal food. It is the lean meat that furnishes the protein, 

 but there is no objection to having the lean mixed with a 

 little fat ; this may be an advantage at times. Fresh meat 

 scraps or cut "bone from the butchers' stalls are an ex- 

 cellent egg-maker. Some butchers keep a bone cutter and 

 sell the meat and bones all ready ground or cut up. When 

 one has a sufficient number of hens, say 25 or more, it 

 will pay to buy a good bone cutter and cut the bones. The 

 scraps contain a large proportion of bone, and the fowls 

 eat these very greedily, as well as the meat. They furnish 

 the mineral matter necessary for bone making and for egg- 

 shell making. 



Skim milk will take the place of animal food if fed 



