OATS 189 
readily see. It is used extensively in fattening poultry for market, 
and is suitable for use in wet mashes during the finishing periods. 
Rolled or crushed oats with hulls may take its place; but if hulls 
are present, the advantage is entirely with the purer oat meal. Oat 
meal should be used in chick 
rations in small quantities. 
Sprouted Oats.—The feed- 
ing of sprouted oats when they 
are from four to six inches high 
is a very economical method 
of supplying green feed to all 
classes of poultry. The cost 
is slight, the time required for 
growth short, and the amount 
of succulent material is very 
large. The following method 
is generally followed in the 
sprouting of grain, the idea 
being to incorporate as much 
water into them as possible 
during the sprouting period. 
Manner of Sprouting.— 
Only the best grade of plump, 
heavy feed oats should be used, 
and handled in such a manner 
that they will reach maximum 
growth quickly. Six quarts of 
clean oats are placed in a ten- 
quart galvanized pail, which is 
then filled with water at a — 
temperature of not over 100° gnourk’ io provile, five hundred laving hens 
F., to which are added ten _ with acontinuous supply of succulent food.* 
drops of formalin to prevent 
mold. The oats are allowed to soak in this in a warm room for forty- 
eight hours. Next they are poured on a tray of the sprouting rack 
to a thickness of one inch. The sprouting rack used can be home 
made. It is built seven feet high and two feet square, with seven 
trays, each being about two feet square. Figure 115 shows such 
*The sprouting of oats for poultry was early recommended by the Maine 
Experiment Station. The Cornell Poultry Department was the first to devise 
the use of a home-made rack with wooden draws for the oats. 
