OATS 



189 



in small bulk and in a form that the birds can readily see. It 

 is used extensively in fattening poultry for market, and is suitable 

 for use in wet mashes during the finishing periods. Rolled or 

 crushed oats with hulls may take its place; but if hulls are present, 

 the advantage is entirely with 

 the purer oat meal. 



Sprouted Oats. The feed- 

 ing of sprouted oats when they 

 are from four to six inches high 

 is a very economical method 

 of supplying green feed to all 

 classes of poultry. The cost 

 is slight, the time required for 

 growth short, and the amount 

 of succulent material is very 

 large. The following method 

 is generally followed in the 

 sprouting of grain, the idea 

 being to incorporate as much 

 water into them as possible 

 during the sprouting period. 



Manner of Sprouting. 

 Only the best grade of plump, 

 heavyfeed oats should be used, 

 and handled in such a manner 

 that they will reach maximum 

 growth quickly. Six quarts of 

 clean oats are placed in a ten- 

 quart galvanized pail, which is 

 then filled with water at a 

 temperature of not over 100 

 F., to which are added ten 

 drops of formalin to prevent 



mold. The oats are allowed to soak in this in a warm room for 

 forty-eight hours, during which time they will swell and fill the pail, 

 having absorbed all the water. Next they are poured on a flat box 

 or tray of the sprouting rack to a thickness of one inch. The sprout- 

 ing rack used can be home made. It is built seven feet high and 

 two feet square, equipped with seven trays, one for each day in the 

 week, each tray being about two feet square. Figure 115 shows such 



FIG. 115. Rack for sprouting oats; large 

 enough to provide five hundred laying hens 

 with a continuous supply of succulent food. 



