PRACTICAL FEEDING OF POULTRY 



day to prevent the fowls from eating so much feed and 

 becoming too fat to produce eggs profitably. 



QUALITY OF FEED 



Grains of good quality and in good condition should 

 be used in feeding poultry. Fowls and chickens are very 

 quickly affected by spoiled feeds and such feeds frequently 

 cause diarrhea and stop the hens from laying for several 

 weeks. Chicks fed such feeds are prevented from grow- 

 ing steadily. Any change or condition of feed which 

 temporarily stops egg production or which stops the 

 normal growth of chicks produces serious results as it 

 takes considerable time to get hens back into good laying 

 condition while chickens whose growth has been tem- 

 porarily stopped will never make as good chickens as those 

 which have grown steadily throughout the season. 



Grains which are small or somewhat shriveled up, but 

 which are not damaged enough to make them unfit for 

 poultry feeds may often be used for poultry advantage- 

 ously if they can be bought at a price considerably under 

 the market price for good feeds. The slightly damaged 

 and shrunken feeds are often sold at prices only a little 

 under the price of good feeds thereby making them poor 

 rather than good investments. Badly musty or mouldy 

 feeds should not be fed to any kind of poultry as their 

 use is apt to put the whole flock in bad condition and may 

 result in considerable mortality in the fowls. Feeds 

 which are only slightly musty may be fed if used with 

 care but should be dried as thoroughly as possible by 



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