POULTRY FEEDS AND FEEDING 



wheat are good crops to sow in the fall as they will live 

 through winter in many sections. Kale is the crop used 

 most extensively on the Pacific Coast. All of these feeds 

 may be utilized either by turning the hens into the grow- 

 ing grain or by cutting the grains as soiling crops and 

 chopping them up for the fowls. 



Sprouted Oats. Sprouted oats make a good green feed 

 where other kinds of green feed are not readily secured as 

 oats can be obtained and sprouted at any season of the 

 year. Fowls greatly relish oats .so treated and will readily 

 eat about one square inch of sprouted oats' surface daily. 

 Such oats may be fed at any time after the sprouts are 

 well started, the usual practice being to feed them when 

 the sprouts are from J^ to ij4 inches long. It takes 5 

 to 7 days to sprout oats to this length, the number of 

 days depending largely on the temperature of the place 

 where the oats are sprouted. Oats for sprouting should 

 be soaked over night in water, and then spread out from 

 one to two inches thick on trays having perforated or wire 

 bottoms and put into the oat sprouter. Water the oats 

 thoroughly and turn the trays around once daily to pro- 

 mote even sprouting. The oats should be stirred daily 

 until well sprouted to keep the oats from molding and to 

 help make more even sprouts. 



Artificial heat should be supplied in cool weather either 

 by the use of the kersosene lamp furnishing heat direct to 

 the sprouter or by keeping an open sprouter in a room 

 where the temperature ranges from 50 to 70 degrees. In 

 an incubator cellar or brooder house where the room 



126 



