POULTRY ON THE GENERAL FARM 
answers the purpose fairly well, but it is advisable to feed 
some leafy vegetable, as kale or lettuce. The chicks should 
be gotten on some growing green crop as soon as possible. 
Chickens are not by nature vegetarians. They require 
some meat to thrive. It has been proven in several experi- 
ments that young chickens with an allowance of meat foods 
make much better growth than chickens with a vegetable 
diet, even when the chemical constituents and the variety of 
the two rations are practically the same. 
Very few farmers feed any meat whatever. They rely on 
insects to supply the deficiency. This would be all right if 
the insects were plentiful and lasted throughout the year, but 
as conditions are it will pay the farmer to supplement this 
source of food with the commercial meat foods. 
Fresh bone, cut by bone-cutters, is an excellent source of 
the meat and mineral matter needed by growing chicks. If 
one is handy to a butcher shop that will agree to furnish 
fresh bones at little or no cost, it will pay to get a bone-mill, 
but the cost of the mill and labor of grinding are consider- 
able items, and unless the supply of bones is reliable and con- 
venient this source of meat foods is not to be depended upon. 
The best way to feed ‘beef-scrap is to keep a supply in the 
hopper so the chickens may help themselves. In case meat 
food is given, bone-meal, fed in small quantities, will form a 
valuable addition to their ration. Infertile eggs from incu- 
bators, as well as by-products of the dairy, can be used to 
help out in the animal-food portion of the ration. Chickens 
may be given all the milk they will drink. It is generally 
recommended that this be given clabbered. 
Feeding Laying Hens. 
The food requirements of a laying hen are very like those 
of a growing chicken. One addition to the list is, however, 
required for egg production, which is lime, of which the shell 
of the egg is formed. In the summer-time hens on the range 
will find sufficient lime to supply their needs. in the winter- 
time they should be supplied with more lime than the food 
contains. Crushed oyster shell answers the purpose admira- 
bly. 
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