POULTRY FEEDS AND FEEDING 



constituents in 196 pounds of corn meal the composition 

 as given in the table is divided by 100 to get the amount 

 in I pound of corn meal and this is then multiplied by 

 196. A similar process is gone through in the case of the 

 meat scrap, bran, and middlings. The amount of con- 

 stituents in the corn, wheat, and oats are the same as in 

 Table II, since exactly 100 pounds of each of these feeds 

 is used in this example. 



The fat, 32.5, is multiplied by two and a fourth, giving 

 73.1, which is added to the carbohydrates, 333.0, making 

 a total of 406.1. This, divided by the protein, 82.8 gives 

 a nutritive ratio of I to 4.9 for this ration. 



The value of a nutritive ratio in actual poultry practice 

 is limited but it has some value where new feeds are being 

 used to make a combination which approximates the mix- 

 tures ordinarily advised or which have been used success- 

 fully. It has never been determined just what nutritive 

 ratio is best for egg laying, for fattening, or for growth 

 and different rations having considerable variation in 

 nutritive ratios have given good results in every line of 

 feeding work. The nutritive ratio for laying rations 

 should be about I to 4^ or 5, and a growing ration should 

 have about this same proportion or it may be a slightly 

 wider, that is, I to 4^/2 or 6. The fattening ration should 

 be still wider, the ratio being about i to 7. In figuring 

 nutritive ratio the proportion of scratch mixture and mash 

 used for poultry is very important as ordinarily the mash 

 has a low nutritive ratio and the scratch mixture a wide 

 ratio. The nutritive ratios in this book are figured on the 



