MISTAKES IN FEEDING. 19 



nearly so, and becomes a mere drag on the concern ; while a 

 pampered male bird is lazy and useless at best, and very 

 probably, when the proprietor most requires his services, may 

 be attacked by apoplexy and drop down dead. 



That fow>o cannot be remunerative if starved need scarcely 

 be proved. Ex, nihilo ni/iil JU ; and the almost daily pro- 

 duction of an article so rich in nitrogen as an egg the very 

 essence of animal nourishment must demand an ample and 

 regular supply of adequate food. We say no more upon this 

 point, knowing that the common mistake of nearly all amateur 

 poultry-keepers is upon the other side that of over-feeding. 



The usual plan, where fowls are regularly fed at all, appears 

 to be to give them at each meal as much barley or oats as they 

 will eat and this being done, the owner prides himself upon 

 his liberality, and insists that his at least are properly fed. 

 Yet both in quantity and quality is he mistaken. Grain will 

 do for the regular meals of fowls which live on a farm, or have 

 any other extensive range where they can provide other food 

 for themselves, have abundant exercise, and their digestive 

 organs are kept in vigorous action. But poultry kept in con- 

 finement on such a diet rarely thrive. Their plumage, after 

 a while, begins to fall off, their bowels become affected, and 

 they lose greatly in condition ; and though in summer their eggs 

 may possibly repay the food expended, it will be almost im- 

 possible to obtain any in winter, when they are most valuable. 



Even those who profess to correct such errors are not 

 always safe guides. We remember a work which stood high 

 both in character and price, and was in many respects really 

 valuable, in which, just after a caution against over- feeding, 

 the editor gives five pounds of barley-meal, ten pounds of 

 potatoes, seven pounds of oats, three pounds of rice boiled, and 

 three pounds of scalded bran, as a week's allowance for five 

 hens and a cock "of the larger kinds," it is true. Now, at 

 the lowest ordinary prices the cost of such a scale would 



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