PRINCIPLES OF FEEDING POULTRY 



sisting largely of phosphate of lime. Potassium and iron 

 are two other essential mineral elements, the former being 

 found especially in the cell walls, muscles, and blood, 

 and the latter in the red coloring matter of the blood. 



The feeding tests which have been tried with animals 

 usually show sufficient minerals in their normal feed, 

 but animals are fed largely on forage crops and all such 

 plants containing a considerable amount of minerals. 

 Many poultry, especially those kept confined, are fed more 

 largely on grain with a very limited amount of green or 

 forage crops, and therefore the relative importance of sup- 

 plying mineral matter is much greater with poultry than 

 with animals. Common salt (sodium chloride), ground 

 bone (phosphate of lime), oyster shell (carbonate of 

 lime), are the mineral matters commonly supplied directly 

 to the fowls. Milk, meat scrap containing bone, and green 

 feeds all contain considerable mineral matter and are ex- 

 cellent constituents of a poultry ration. 



ANATOMY OF THE FOWL 



The digestive process of poultry is rather similar to that 

 of animals with some minor exceptions. Fowls have a 

 beak but no teeth, so have to swallow grains whole, but 

 can tear some kinds of feeds into fragments. The 

 esophagus or gullet is large and can be greatly expanded. 

 Fowls have a distinct reservoir or crop attached to and 

 acting as a part of the esophagus while ducks and geese 

 have no distinct crop but are provided with a dilated sec- 

 tion of the esophagus. The food passes directly into the 



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