94 PO UL TR T- CRAFT. 



only when there can be no doubt of the advantage of using the lot in question. 

 In wheat the food elements are combined in very nearly the proportions 

 required by the system of the fowl. Under conditions of moderate temper- 

 ature and exercise, it may be made almost an exclusive diet for a long 

 time without perceptible harm to the fowls.* 



In cold weather and cold quarters wheat alone fails to keep up the heat of 

 the body. Fed freely without exercise, in warm and moderate weather, it 

 fattens quite rapidly. It is good food for chicks at any age, and should form 

 one-fifth to one-third of their diet whenever purchasable at a price that allows 

 of feeding it with profit. f 



WHEAT BRAN is used in nearly all mashes, the proportion of bran to 

 other ingredients varying with the composition of the bran. Weight is a 

 fairly reliable index of quality. Light bran is bran nothing else. Heavy 

 bran contains more or less middlings. Bran alone is rarely fed to fowls, 

 though some poultry keepers give their fowls free access to a dish of bran, 

 wet or dry, and think it an advantage to supplement the regular meals of 

 heavy laying hens in this way. The price of wheat bran seldom goes so high 

 that there is anything to gain by using substitutes. 



MIDDLINGS and SHORTS are names for practically the same substance, the 

 mill product between flour and bran. Quality varies as in bran. Both these 

 by-products depend for quality on the processes used in the mills from which 

 they come. Being rich in glutinous matter, middlings are most valuable to 

 use with corn meal, and in the mashes of all rations containing much corn. 

 A mash made largely of middlings is doughy, sticky, and not relished by 

 fowls". One-fourth to one-third is the proportion of middlings commonly 

 used. 



117. Oats. WHOLE OATS contain nutritious matter in nearly the 

 same proportions as wheat, but because of their coarse indigestible husk are 

 not as well liked by fowls. The husk constitutes about one-tenth of the bulk 

 in good oats, and in poor oats much more. It is commonly thought that 

 heavy weight oats are the best. Analyses have shown that the contrary is 

 true. \ 



When buying oats the quality may be tested accurately enough by hulling 

 a few sample grains. An ordinary inspection does not detect poor quality in 



* NOTE. The experiment was made with laying hens, (Brown Leghorns), and a sixty 

 per cent egg yield secured in a month from hens fed whole wheat three times daily in 

 close confinement, with very little exercise. 



t NOTE. Just how much more a poultryman can afford to pay for wheat than for corn, 

 is an open question. Experiments with cattle indicate that the feeding value of wheat is 

 not enough greater to justify the usual difference in prices of corn and the various grades 

 of wheat on sale for poultry food. The results of these experiments give wheat a cash 

 feeding value one-tenth to one-fourth above that of corn. 



U. S. Government Bulletin. 



