READY-MIXED CHICK FEEDS 



ADVANTAGES OF ITS USE— COMPOSITION-THE MOST ECONOMICAL FEED FOR 

 YOUNG CHICKS— COMPARED IN FEEDING QUALITY WITH OTHER FEEDS-SHOULD 

 BE FREE FROM DUST AND EVERY GRAIN ABSOLUTELY SOUND, SWEET AND DRY 



M. L. CHAPMAN 



I HE proper feeding of poultry is without doubt the 

 most essential factor in the raising of any kind of 

 poultry for profit As this is the largest item of 

 expense in the rimning of a poultry business, it 

 is a subject which every poultryman should study 

 with a considerable amount of original common 

 sense, as there are no hard and fast rules that can 

 be laid down as applicable to every case, — cli- 

 mate, breed, price of grain and general environment all having 

 to be considered in determining the proper rations. 



Considerable advancement in the feeding of poultry has 

 been made in the past few years, especially in the feeding of 

 little chicks. The old way of feeding chicks was to mix up meal 

 and water, or meal and sour milk, making a sort of dough for them . 

 On nearly all the large poultry farms, chicks are now started 

 entirely on some modem, ready-mixed, dry-grain chick feed. 

 In my travels about, however, I find that many farmers 

 who raise quite a lot of poultry, still follow the old system from 

 a false idea of economy, reasoning that if a bag of meal costs 

 $1.25 and a bag of that "new-fangled" chick feed $2.50, that 

 they are a winner by a dollar and a quarter. 



"ONE HUNDRED POUNDS OF CHICK FEED WILL GO TWICE AS FAR AS 

 ONE HUNDRED POUNDS OF MEAL" 



But let us figure a moment and see how it actually works 

 out. In the first place it is almost an impossibility to feed 

 a dough of this sort without wasting a great portion of it, as the 

 hen will scratch it around amongst the dirt and the little fellows 

 will patter it down in the mud. Any that is left is soon soured 

 by the sun, and is then great stuff to place the chicks among 

 the dear departed. Now consider the $2.50 a hundred feed: 

 In the first place it is all ready and can be fed much more quickly. 

 If any should be left on the ground, it is all right for the chicks 

 to pick up an hour or so later, when some of the youngsters be- 

 come hungry again. It is composed of several different kinds 

 of grain, and wiU nourish the chicks properly. I have tried 

 both ways, and can state positively that a hundred pounds of 

 good chick feed will go twice as far as a hundred pounds of meal, 

 it can be fed more conveniently, will start the chicks much 

 faster, and the mortality is much less with it. 



Let us investigate what a first-class chick feed should be 

 composed of to qualify for the best standard. There are a 

 large number of chick feeds on the market varying in price 

 from $2 to $7 per hundred weight. Some of the firms who 

 manufacture chick feed are in the business because they were 

 selling poultry supplies or in some way were in touch with the 

 poultry trade when the demand for balanced rations began to 

 grow. The men in charge know very little about poultry or the 

 grain business, and while their product is undoubtedly better 

 than the old ground grain method, it is not as perfect as is 

 possible for a well-equipped milling plant to produce. Of 

 course, such a plant must have a competent man in charge of 

 the poultry feed department, one with a practical knowledge 

 of poultry and -scientific knowledge of feeding. There are 

 many so-called balanced rations, chick feeds, egg forcers, etc. 

 on the market that are made by parties with little or no knowl- 

 edge of poultry, that it behooves us to be careful that we do 

 not spend our good money for a mess of pottage. 



Every one who buys grain should make a study of the State 

 Experiment Station Report on Foods. Much information about 

 different foods can be obtained, although it miost be remem- 

 bered that the hen does not always analyze food the same as 

 the chemist. 



"EVERY GRAIN IN A BAG OF CHICK FEED SHOULD BE ABSOLUTELY 

 SOUND, SWEET AND DRY" 



Some manufacturers claim that their chick feed contains 

 seventeen or eighteen different ingredients. While some variety 

 is necessary in a perfect chick food, it is not necessary to have 

 as many ingredients as this. It is essential, however, that 

 every seed and every particle of grain in a bag of chick feed 

 should be absolutely sound, sweet and dry; in fact, should look 

 and smell tempting enough to eat. A chick feed that contains 

 in proper portions, com, wheat, oats, rice and millet, will pre- 

 sent suflacient variety to properly nourish any chick. We have 

 seen samples of chick food that contained a large number of 

 different seeds, some of them of doubtful value, the idea seem- 

 ing to be that the greater number of different seeds the food 

 contained, the better it would sell. Now in order to combine 

 so many different seeds in a feed to sell it at anything like the 

 usual price, it is necessary to use a poorer quality of seed through- 

 out, and to introduce many seeds which may or may not be of 

 value to poultry, some of which may be injurious. We doubt 

 if anybody can properly combine a chick food containing twenty 

 different ingredients, and keep them all up to par. 



The com that is used in a chick feed should be two years 

 old, as nearly all com goes through a sort of fermentation the 

 first spring, and does not reach its hardest and most perfect 

 condition the first year. We have seen bags of chick feed that 

 contained quite a large proportion of fine-cracked new com 

 that arrived from the manufacturer so hot that you could not 

 hold your hand in the bag, and the feed had to be spread out 

 on the floor and turned over for several days before being re- 

 sacked and offered for sale by the dealer. Such chick food will 

 quickly place your chicks in the absent column. 



CHICK FEED SHOULD BE FREE FROM DUST AND WASTE 



Some chick feeds are made from a good quality of grain, 

 but are not blown sufficiently clean after cracking, and you will 

 find by running them through a fanning mill, that you can take 

 out about twenty pounds of fine meal to the hundred. Of 

 course, this twenty pounds is an absolute loss, as when the 

 chick feed is scattered on the ground or in litter, the chicks 

 cannot get the dust. Try to buy a chick feed that is practi- 

 cally free from dust and waste. 



We have examined chick feeds offered for sale that actual- 

 ly contained 15 per cent of grit, 10 per cent of fine cracked 

 oyster shells and about 10 per cent of charcoal, although it 

 might not be safe for a manufacturer to put out a, chick feed 

 without some grit in it, as many people cannot be depended 

 upon to furnish their chicks with any kind of grinding material; 

 however, such a large percentage of grit, shells and charcoal as 

 above is nothing short of a roast on the buyer, as these ingredi- 

 ents can be purchased separately for about half a cent per pound. 



Charcoal is a good food for small chicks and they should 

 have it, but when it is combined with chick feed and shipped 



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