POULTRT-CRAFT. 101 



greatest danger in using such foods is that they are so cheap when they can 

 be had in quantity that the feeder is tempted to use too large a proportion of 

 them, especially of meats and vegetables, keeping the fowls short on 

 grain to compel them to eat the other stuffs. As far as the effect of slightly 

 damaged food on the health of fowls and the flavors of meat and eggs is con- 

 cerned, if the food is such that a well fed fowl eats it well, no bad effects can 

 be discerned. As a simple matter of fact, the most common unpleasant flavors 

 of eggs and flesh are due to foods (as, say, onions), rightly considered par- 

 ticularly healthy; or (of eggs) to absorption of bad odors after being laid. 



137. A Balanced Ration is a complete ration, containing in proper 

 proportion and in sufficient quantity all necessary food. The food eaten by 

 a fowl goes: to growth, including reproduction, egg production; to 

 'warmth; to strength. Nitrogenous elements are built into the body, 

 replacing worn, and adding new, substance. Carbonaceous elements are 

 burned in the body, giving warmth and energy capacity for muscular 

 action. The needs of the fowl's system are not always the same. It does 

 not always use the different elements in the same proportions. It has in itself 

 limited power to balance its ration, making a surplus of either class of food 

 elements compensate for a deficit of the other. In the foods and combinations 

 of foods used by expert feeders, the food elements are about right for average 

 normal conditions. Observation and experience soon teach a feeder how to 

 vary his ration to meet changes in the weather and apparent changes in the 

 condition of the fowls. The commonest fault in the ration of well fed 

 fowls is an excess of heat and fat producing matter. For this the feeder 

 has an ever present remedy in the power of compelling the fowls to expend 

 it in exercise. 



138. The Need of a Variety of Foods. A ration which is sufficient in 

 quantity, and provides the variety of foods necessary to make it appetizing, 

 will be on the whole a pretty well balanced ration. Such a ration for fowls 

 in confinement would comprise two or more kinds of whole grain : a mash 

 of vegetables or hay corn meal, wheat middlings, bran or mill stuffs 

 equivalent to these in feeding value some kind of meat food, and a little 

 green vegetables a simple diet, yet varied enough to keep the digestive 

 organs in good condition and the appetite normal. When fed grains of which 

 they are fond, under conditions which invite gluttony, hens will over-eat, as 

 they also will of a mash containing too much corn meal. If fed a little short 

 on grain stuffs, fowls that get meat and vegetables regularly may be allowed 

 to let their appetites regulate the quantities of them to be eaten. 



Elaborate compounds of foods are not needed in mashes. In general a 

 mash will be as well balanced as complete as a ration can be, with three 

 or four ingredients. Good feeding is systematic. Large bills of fare make a 

 system too cumbersome. That the fowls may be trained to eat what is given 



