INTKODUCTION 



THE weak point in general poultry books has been 

 the scant attention given to the subject of the 

 standard and improved methods of feeding and 

 marketing. The result is that the practical 

 knowledge of these branches of poultry keeping has 

 lagged behind the others. 



Of all live stock, poultry is most often misfed, 

 overfed or underfed. Conditions are artificial, the 

 individuals fed are numerous and their needs not 

 uniform. Most important of all is the need of the 

 same careful rules and experience which guide feeders 

 of cattle, sheep or hogs. It is only in recent years that 

 much attention has been devoted to special study of 

 poultry to make possible a collection of reliable infor- 

 mation on the subject. Given good stock, good feeding 

 is the key to success. 



The subject is approached largely from the side of 

 the best practice and experience, although the under- 

 lying science of feeding has been explained as fully as 

 needful. In the absence of digestion tables applied to 

 fowls and of a sufficient number of feeding trials, the 

 science of feeding poultry has not yet reached a point 

 where the so-called scientific ration can be compounded 

 without large reference to the actual experience of 

 successful feeders. 



The subject has been made to cover all branches, 

 including chickens, broilers, capons, turkeys, waterfowl : 

 how to feed under various conditions and for different 

 purposes. The whole subject of capons and caponizing 



