POULTRY FOODS 49 



poultry. The rutabaga is the best variety of turnip for 

 poultry, but even this turnip will taint the eggs if fed 

 freely. 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 are 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 easly 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 objec- 

 tionable. 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 hatch- 

 ing and not for food. 



Cabbage. Although not the best thing for them, cab- 

 bage 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 



