POULTRY FOODS 49 



so much looseness of the bowels of the fowls that their 

 health will be injured. Kale and Swiss chard can be 

 used in the same way as cabbages. 



GREEN FOODS 



Green, or growing, plants are valuable as food for 

 poultry on account of the natural juices they contain. 

 The tender blades of grass and other forage plants 

 impart new life to fowls that feed on them in the spring. 

 Chicks can be grown and fowls sustained without green 

 food, but the difference between those that have it in 

 abundance and those that do not is so marked that 

 all question of its value is removed. 



Green food is at its best when gathered by the fowla 

 from the field where it grows, but good results may be 

 obtained by substituting clover hay or other dried 

 forage for the green portion of the ration. This practice 

 is necessary where the fowls cannot range extensively 

 and whenever there is no available green food owing 

 to climatic or other conditions. Fowls must have a 

 constant supply of green food. 



The green food consumed by fowls or chicks should 

 not be considered as a regular portion of the nutritive 

 ration, but rather as a supplement to the grain and 

 animal food. The composition and nutritive ratio of 

 green food is given in the accompanying table. 



Vegetable Tops. Poultry relish the tops of vegetables 

 as green food. Trimmings from vegetables and the 

 waste from fruit, cabbage, and roots, cut into small 

 pieces, boiled to a pulp, and mixed into a mash of meal, 

 make an excellent food for all kinds of fowls, both old 

 and young. 



Grass. Nearly everywhere grass of many kinds 

 grows naturally or is "cultivated for feeding, grazing, and 

 hay making, and none of the green foods is better for 

 poultry. Where grass is naturally abundant, a supply 

 of green food is always at hand during the growing 

 season. But green food for winter use must be grown 



