INSTRUCTION IN FEEDING POULTRY 



BY C. A. ROGERS 



I can best present my present conception of giving instruction in 

 "Feeding Poultry" by describing my impressions as a student in Poultry 

 and telling how later experiences have altered the original impression. 



A good part of the time was devoted to the study of balancing rations. 

 Individual grains and food products were studied principally from their 

 analytical value. Their physical properties also were considered. Later, 

 when the body needs of the fowl were sufficiently understood, these 

 different grains and food products were studied collectively with the object 

 of balancing them; so that, for example, if the ration is for the laying hen, 

 it should provide her with food of such quantity and quality that her diges- 

 tive system can dispose of it with least effort, giving to her body sufficient 

 nourishment to keep it in healthy physical condition and at the same time 

 giving a surplus of food in a form which the fowl will dispose of in eggs 

 rather than in surplus body fat. 



The impression of the importance of balancing rations is enhanced by the 

 fact that one gets this work at some length in at least two courses, Animal 

 Husbandry and Poultry Husbandry. In each course much time is given 

 to this study and it naturally takes correspondingly proportionate import- 

 ance in one's mind. 



The physical properties of the food are also involved in balancing the 

 ration. Experience has shown how easy it is to formulate a ration having 

 the desired nutritive ratio only to discover that its bulk would make it 

 impossible for the fowl to pass enough through her system to supply even 

 her body needs. It is equally inefficient and even dangerous to have the 

 ration too rich or too sticky. The amount and regularity of succulent food 

 also must be carefully proportioned. 



Some study was given to the manner of feeding these foods, the time of 

 feeding, amount to be given, etc. However, the full importance of how to 

 feed, was never made so prominent as what to feed. Experience and the 

 observation of the results of others, have done vastly more to impress me 

 with the need of knowing how to feed properly balanced rations. 



It is common to find two poultrymen using the same ration under 

 very similar conditions, one obtaining successful results, the other experi- 

 encing failure. We assign this difference in results to the personality of 

 the feeder. This is usually the true reason. This difference in personality, 

 however, shows itself in the way in which the ration is fed. It would 



