48 POULTRY FOODS 



of market poultry. The rutabaga is the best variety 

 of turnip for poultry, but even this turnip will taint the 

 eggs if fed to any extent. Turnips, parsnips, and 

 carrots, when boiled to a pulp and mixed with the mash 

 feeds, make good rations for all kinds of poultry. A 

 very little salt should be put in the water in which 

 the vegetables are boiled. Too much salt will kill 

 poultry; fowls require much less salt than men. 



Potatoes. When they are plentiful and cheap, potatoes 

 are used as poultry food; 5 Ib. of potatoes is about 

 equal in feeding value to 1 Ib. of corn meal. Potatoes fed 

 to laying hens are thoroughly boiled, drained, and mixed 

 with wheat bran, middlings, and ground oats; the 

 same mixture will do for growing chicks, but if it is to 

 be used for fattening purposes some corn meal is added 

 to this ration. Meal that is made from small potatoes 

 is used as a fattening food; this meal contains all the 

 solid food of the potato and only a small percentage 

 of the original moisture. The meal is an easily digested 

 food, and it is used where potatoes are more plentiful 

 than grain. Raw potatoes are not fit food for poultry. 



Onions. Although onions are wholesome food for all 

 kinds of fowls, their flavor is imparted to the eggs 

 and meat of the fowls that eat them; for this reason 

 onions should not be used when their flavor will prove 

 objectionable. Turnips, onions, and potatoes may be 

 boiled together and used in mash food for all kinds 

 of poultry without harm, provided none of the mixture 

 is fed for 2 wk. before killing the fowls for market 

 or selling their eggs for food. All of these vegetables 

 can be safely used for hens when their eggs are to be 

 used for hatching and not for food. 



Cabbage. Although not the best thing for them, 

 cabbage is a favorite food of fowls, and is often quite 

 liberally fed. Cabbages are laxative, especially when 

 they have been frozen. They also impart an odor to 

 eggs that detracts from their quality. If cabbages are 

 permitted to freeze and are carelessly fed they may 

 reduce the egg yield materially, and may also cause 



