POULTRY FOR PROFIT 155 



HYGIENIC FEEDING 



Sanitation looks to the external conditions which 

 surround the bird; hygiene to internal conditions; 

 and when we refer to internal conditions we usually 

 mean conditions affecting the digestion, for the 

 fowl's digestive tract, like man's, is "where he lives." 



There are six essentials to hygienic feeding : 



1. PURE FOOD. — Don't buy moldy corn or ground 

 grain because it is cheap. It may prove to be very 

 dear. Don't buy beef scrap without knowing whether 

 it is made of hoofs and horns or of something more 

 digestible. If grain gets wet and molds on your 

 hands, don't feed it. The fowls may be able to eat 

 it without suffering, and they may not. 



Don't feed moldy bread or spoiled table scraps, 

 and be particularly careful about spoiled meat and 

 putrefying fowls and animals. Every bird that dies 

 about the place should be buried deep or burned. 

 Limberneck and ptomaine poisoning result from the 

 fowls getting this kind of food. 



2. Clean Water. — Water has been called the 

 cheapest of poultry foods, and fowls drink a great 

 deal when it is clean and cool. Never set water be- 

 fore your fowls that you would not drink yourself. 



3. Clean Fountains and Feed Troughs. — 

 Crocks and pans should be scalded once a week and 

 rinsed every day. They should also stand on a table 

 or platform where the fowls cannot scratch filth into 

 them. A galvanized iron pan is more easily kept 

 clean than the porcelain crocks which are often used. 



Troughs or pans in which wet mash is fed should 

 be scraped clean every time they are used, and 

 washed often. Never leave wet mash standing be- 

 fore the fowls. It molds quickly and then becomes 

 unfit for food. 



4. Clean Scratching Litter. — Moldy scratch- 



