156 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
fowl with free range will pick up heaps of vegetable food, especially 
grass, and in addition it will rout out all sorts of grubs and insects 
from the ground. It will clear wire-worm from the field, eat the 
young of field-mice and the eggs of several pests not unknown to 
farmers. It is possible that this “ natural” food is best of all for 
the well-being of the birds, and it is certain that when a plentiful 
supply of insect life of all kinds can be obtained the fowl is usually 
in the full flush of health and vigour. There is, however, only a 
limited supply of “natural” food to be found, and one has to eke 
it out with grains and foods made from cereals, as well as a pro- 
portion of meat, fish or other protein-supplying substances. One 
may obtain a balanced ration from pulse alone, but it has been 
discovered by experiment that while birds can live and thrive on 
certain meals plus vegetables, they do better when animal food 
is added. Nothing can entirely take the place of a certain 
proportion of animal food. 
For most purposes a fowl requires a food approximately made 
up of 15 per cent. albuminoids and 66 per cent carbohydrates ; in 
other words, a proportion of 1 to 44. 
The food of afowl has to fulfil a threefold purpose. It is neces- 
sary to replace wasted tissue ; it is necessary to enable the young 
bird to make bone, flesh and feathers, and in the older fowl to make 
eggs ; while in the third place it is necessary to maintain the heat 
and vital energy of the bird. The blood temperature of a fowl 
is 104° F., and it of course consumes a large amount of fuel to 
provide the heat. 
If one would study the whole well-being of the fowl it is neces- 
sary to supply those food-stuffs that go to make up the chemical 
composition of the fowl’s body as well as the composition of the 
egg. The body of a fowl is nitrogenous substances together with 
oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, sulphur, phosphorus, calcium and a 
few other substances in smaller proportions. The first three are 
used in supplying energy and heat, but the most important of all 
is the nitrogen, which is vital to all animals. The more active the 
fowl the more nitrogenous food it requires. An egg contains 
roughly 13 per cent. of albuminoid, 10 per cent. of fat, and 75 per 
