POULTRY FOODS 51 



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 fowls 

 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 when the fowls cannot range extensively and 

 whenever there is no available green food owing to 

 climatic or other conditions. 



The green food consumed by fowls or chicks should 

 not to 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 

 different kinds of green foods, that under various cir- 

 cumstances and in different places have been found to be 

 of more or less value for poultry food, are given in the 

 table which appears on the following page. 



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; 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 



