CHAPTBE V 

 SPECIAL FOODS 



OWING to high prices of grain, which make large 

 inroads into the receipts of poultry keepers who 

 must buy a large proportion of the feed, the 

 question has often been asked if something could 

 not be used in place of so much grain. The hen has 

 a small crop and cannot make use of a great amount 

 of coarse, bulky foods as can cows and other ruminants. 

 The grain ration can be advantageously cut down one- 

 fourth or more by the liberal use of clover and vegeta- 

 bles, but where this is done a large proportion of the 

 wheat bran, which is also bulky food, should be left out. 

 Very finely cut clover or alfalfa, or clover meal, can 

 be steamed and mixed with the mash, or the noon ration 

 may consist of steamed clover to which is added some 

 wheat middlings and corn meal. Vegetables can be 

 fed either green or boiled and mixed with the mash. 

 Corn silage makes an occasional relish and is very cheap. 

 Wliole grain should bo fed at least once a day. Barley 

 is sometimes one of the most economical feeds to buy 

 and is very good fed either ground or whole. Meat 

 scraps or green cut bone are cheap considering the 

 matter which they contain. 



Anim,al Matter — It is well known that poultry 

 ■when allowed to range at will eat considerable quanti- 

 ties of animal matter in the form of insects, worms, etc. 

 How necessary this animal matter is to the health 

 of fowls, and especially ducks, was strikingly brought 

 out by experiments at the New York state experiment 

 , station. Two lots each of chickens and ducks, as nearly 

 alike as possible, were used in these experiments. One 



