THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



that the sorts of food most easily digested by 

 fowls are those of which they eat the greatest 

 quantity. They evidently become soonest tired 

 of, and least partial to rye. 



It has also been found that there is consid- 

 erable economy in feeding with wheat, corn, 

 und barley, well boiled, as the grain is thus in- 

 creased in bulk at least one-fourth, and the same 

 bulk seems to satisfy them ; but there is no sav- 

 ing by boiling oats, buckwheat, or rye. 



It has been ascertained by actual experiment 

 that, in the months of January and February, 

 a common sized fowl will consume, when at 

 command, of corn, wheat, barley or buckwheat, 

 about one gill per day. I was curious to ascer- 

 tain the quantity of each sort of grain which a 

 given number of fowls when abundantly sup- 

 plied would consume ; and for that purpose I 

 confined one cock and seven hens of the Poland 

 variety. The first feed I gave them was one 

 peck of corn, which they consumed in eleven 

 days. I then gave one peck of barley, which 

 they ate in seven days. The next feed was 

 the same quantity of oats, which they devour- 

 ed in six days. The like quantity of millet 

 lasted them eight days. The same measure 

 of wheat served them ten days ; and the like 

 amount of wheat screenings they devoured in 

 seven days. During these trials they had no 

 other food, except a few boiled potatoes. 



M. Reaumur instituted a series of experi- 

 ments to ascertain the quantity of each sort of 

 grain which a fowl would consume, when abund- 

 antly supplied therewith during the day ; and 

 in the course of his experiments he discovered 

 many interesting particulars of importance to 

 be known to all those who keep poultry for prof- 

 it. He found that individual fowls vary very 

 much in the quantity of food which they con- 

 sume there being little and great eaters among 

 them, most commonly indicated by the size of 

 the body; that two Bantams might be kept on 

 the same amount of food as one of the largest 

 breed. Even among fowls of the same size and 

 kind, there are individuals which require more 

 food than others, a circumstance that can be 

 only ascertained by trial. 



For the purpose of ascertaining the quantities 

 of food consumed, M. Reaumur confined fowls 



separately under basket coops; and others in 

 hutches inclosed with wooden gratings, where 

 they had more convenience, even so much as to 

 lay eggs there in the same way as if they had 

 been at liberty. To the hens in each hutch 

 he put a cock, in order that nothing might be 

 wanting to the completeness of his experiments. 

 In some hutches he placed as many as seven 

 hens, and in others as few as two. For several 

 days together, he gave both to the fowls in the 

 basket coops, and to those that lived in compa- 

 ny with those in the hutches, the same quan- 

 tity of grain, measured so as to be more than 

 would fill their crops ; and care was taken that 

 the box into which the grain was put for them 

 should never be empty. This box was longer 

 than broad, with a bottom, and a piece of board 

 on each side, projecting about five or six inch- 

 es, so fixed as to prevent the chance of its being 

 upset by the fowls hopping upon it, while the 

 sides were sufficiently high not to allow them to 

 scrape the grain out of the box precautions in- 

 dispensable to the accuracy of the experiments, 

 as in this way every grain of corn could be ac- 

 counted for. Gravel was also spread upon the 

 bottom of the hutches and coops, and some 

 was placed in a separate vessel, as being judged 

 indispensable to promote digestion. 



Nearly the same measure of grain was found 

 sufficient for a fowl every day, whether it con- 

 sisted of oats, buckwheat, or barley ; and hence 

 whichever of these three is cheapest at any time 

 may be given without regard to other consid- 

 erations. Variations in the appetite of the 

 fowls may, perhaps, be occasioned by difference 

 of seasons, and they may require rather more 

 at one period than another ; but it was ascer- 

 tained that in the months of January and Feb- 

 ruary a common barn-yard fowl, that has al- 

 ways, from morning till night, grain of one of 

 .these three sorts at command, will eat of it dai- 

 ly about a fourth part of a pint measure. This 

 is even rather more than an ordinary sized fowl 

 will eat, for when a quart was given to a large 

 cock and Spanish hen, to two hens of a middle 

 size, and to three of the ordinary size, it was 

 not all eaten. Some very voracious fowls of 

 the largest size, however, will consume daily 

 about the third of a pint measure. 



