58 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT. 



poultry plant of the Maine Station considerable attention has 

 been given to this matter of supplying green and succulent food 

 and as a result of experience extending now over a number of 

 years, a satisfactory scheme of furnishing this necessary part 

 of the ration under our conditions has been worked out. 



To be satisfactory not only must the green food given to 

 poultry be of the proper kind to give good results in egg pro- 

 duction, but also it must be something which can be produced 

 and handled at small cost Furthermore a factor which is fre- 

 quently lost sight of is that fowls need something besides suc- 

 culence in their so-called "green" food. There is a distinction 

 between a succulent fodder and a "green food" in the strict 

 sense. One can supply succulence in the form of root crops 

 such as mangolds. A careful consideration of the case, however, 

 indicates that apparently the fundamental need of the fowls is 

 not for succulence as such, but rather for the tonic effect which 

 is produced by green plants, probably primarily because of the 

 presence of chlorophyll. In feeding fowls for high egg produc- 

 tion it is necessary that they be given a ration rich in protein. 

 Only fowls of strong constitution, and with thoroughly sound 

 digestive systems, can handle the heavy laying rations carrying 

 meat scrap and other protein concentrates, which are now 

 so widely used by poultrymen for egg production with success- 

 ful results. On these heavy rations there is always a tendency 

 for the birds' livers to become impaired in function, and ulti- 

 mately to become enlarged and diseased. As the matter has 

 been studied here it would appear that one of the chief func- 

 tions of green food in the ration is to counteract this tendency 

 of the digestive system, and especially the liver, to break down 

 under the strain of handling heavy laying rations over a long 

 period of time. It would appear that the green food given to 

 poultry acts primarily rather as a mild tonic than as a food in 

 the proper sense There seems to be very little of this tonic 

 effect produced from succulent non-green foods like mangolds. 



The practical problem then becomes to devise a system which 

 shall insure a supply of green food for the birds at all seasons 

 of the year. The following system of rotation in the green 

 food supply has been in use for several years on the poultry 

 plant here with satisfactory results. It should be said that, 

 owing to the small area of ground available for the poultry 



