COMMON POULTRY FOODS 245 



to grow for winter forage. Here it grows to perfection, 

 and an acre may be made to produce 40 tons of green forage. 

 For winter green food, kale is transplanted in July from 

 seed sown in May or June. For summer forage it is planted 

 early in the season. It is possible in western Oregon to 

 have green kale the year round. For a flock of one hundred 

 hens, about two hundred plants will furnish green food 

 enough for a year where the soil has plenty of fertility and 

 moisture. The plants should average 20 pounds each. 

 The chickens will eat about half the weight of the plant, 

 the balance being stalk which they do not use. Cattle will 

 eat most of the stalk. Planted in July, the kale may be 

 fed from October to April. Planted early in the spring 

 from seed sown in the fall, it will be ready for use in the 

 summer. In the early part of the season the lower leaves 

 may be stripped off and the rest of the plant will continue 

 to grow. 



The plants are set about 3 feet apart each way. A very 

 small piece of ground, therefore, will grow enough kale 

 (or one hundred hens. A strip of good land 16 feet wide 

 and 100 feet long should furnish enough green feed in the 

 form of kale for one hundred hens. At that rate, an acre 

 of kale will furnish green food for 2,000 hens throughout 

 the year. Kale may also be utilized for shade for fowls. 

 Where fowls are yarded, by having double yards, it is 

 possible where kale grows the year around to make it 

 furnish the green food and shade all the year. Kale will 

 keep the yards in sanitary condition, turning the manure 

 and filth into a revenue. 



Vetch and Oats. This makes a good combination for 

 early spring green feed in sections where vetch grows well. 

 Vetch is a leguminous crop, like clover and alfalfa. 



Beets. Sugar beets and mangel-wurzels are used by 

 many poultrymen for green food. The tops may be fed 



