48 POULTRY FOODS 



Canary Seed. The best known balanced ration for 

 cage birds is canary seed; young chicks also enjoy a 

 little of this seed, on which they will thrive when they 

 do not do well on other grains. All waste canary seed 

 should be fed to chicks, but this feed is too costly to 

 use except in an emergency or to save the waste from 

 cage birds. 



Rape Seed. German rape seed, or bird-seed rape, is 

 a better food than millet seed for young chicks. It is 

 a fattening food, rich in protein, and dark or chestnut 

 brown in color. Rape-seed grains are smaller than millet 

 seeds. For ailing or weakly chicks, rape seed is boiled 

 for 5 min., turned into a fine, funnel-shapel sieve, and 

 left to drain overnight. A small quantity of this food 

 is given in the morning and evening. Only the true 

 German rape seed is fit for this use. 



VEGETABLES 



Mangels. Of all the vegetables and roots that are 

 fed to poultry as substitutes for green foods, mangels 

 are the best; they are fine-flavored, sweet, and nutri- 

 tious, and impart these qualities to the meat and eggs 

 of the fowls. No objectionable flavors are introduced 

 into either the flesh or the eggs as a result of feeding 

 mangels liberally. Mangels are rank growers, keep well 

 throughout the winter if protected from frost, are easily 

 fed, and are freely eaten by fowls. 



Beets. There are many kinds of beets, all of which 

 are eaten freely by poultry. If too many raw beets are 

 fed, however, the bowels of the fowls may become so 

 loose that diarrhea will result, especially if the use of 

 beets is long continued. Raw beets should be sparingly 

 fed, but if they are cooked they make a valuable addi- 

 tion to a ration. 



Turnips. As a poultry food, turnips are not so desir- 

 able as beets. If turnips are fed raw, they taint the 

 flavor of the eggs and do not improve the meat of market 



