FOODS AND FEEDING 
food. Poultry have no teeth, but do all the grind- 
ing of their food in the gizzard. Grit, in the 
form of pebbles, gravel and sand, may usually be 
Grits, Shells found in sufficiency by fowls having 
and Charcoal free range, but in confinement it is very 
essential to provide a supply so that the birds may 
keep their gizzards constantly supplied with mill- 
stones. 
Oyster Shells. Laying hens call for extra large 
amounts of carbonate of lime for making egg 
shells, which may be supplied in crushed oyster 
shells. The shells will also furnish grit, but not 
enough to suffice, as they are soluble. 
Charcoal contains no nourishment, but is one of 
the best poultry ‘ correctors’? known, having a 
healthy influence, especially in cases of indigestion 
or improper feeding. It may be fed in granulated 
form, like grit, or in powdered form and added to 
the mash. If you want to avoid bowel disorders 
among your fowls, use plenty of charcoal. We 
keep it in hoppers before our fowls all the time. 
In order to stimulate young stock to eat large 
quantities of food, so that they might make more 
Improving rapid growth, or to make oats more 
Palatability attractive to old fowls, so that we 
of Grain Feed might feed larger quantities of that 
grain than of any other in order to avoid fattening 
the birds, I have often resorted to the practice of 
soaking the grain in water for twenty-four hours 
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