164 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
If ground oats were found to be too expensive, good middlings 
would make a fair substitute, but it strikes me that under present 
conditions (I am writing when wheat is 80s. per quarter) both 
ground oats and biscuit meal are too expensive for ordinary 
farmers. As a grain feed the same breeder gives one part oats, 
one part wheat, one part dari, one part buckwheat and one part 
kibbled maize. This mixed-grain feed should be well raked in 
the litter to make the birds scratch sufficiently to give them exer- 
cise. Provided all the grain food is bought separately and mixed 
by the farmer, the above grain feed is excellent, but do not purchase 
what is known as mixed grain for chickens. As a rule it is mixed 
with inferior grains, and includes a percentage of dust and other 
rubbish, while it is no cheaper than the best grains if bought separ- 
ately. In mixing wet mash, do not scald the food, unless the birds 
are fat and your object is to reduce the weight. Slightly warm 
water is best for mixing in the winter months, and cold water is 
preferable in the summer. Bulky food is also better for fat birds, 
since they are content with less of it, and the flesh-forming material 
is thereby reduced. Feeding, although somewhat of a science, is 
also largely a matter of experience. After a time every poultry- 
man who studies his birds should know the quantity and quality 
of food that suits them best. If the flock is doing exceptionally 
well, make no experiment, but if results are bad or disappointing 
it is better to try a change of dietary, always with the balanced 
ration in view, even if one does not stick to it tooslavishly. After 
all, science was introduced for the benefit of the birds and the 
birds were not made for science. There are heaps of egg-farmers 
who snap their fingers at the balanced ration and seem to do fairly 
well, for the fowl is a wonderful animal, and, provided the strain 
is a good one, eggs can be produced from the most unlikely-looking 
foods. Some boast that they can get a plentiful supply of eggs 
from a feed of cabbage and bran supplemented by oats for grain. 
No doubt it is possible to get eggs from bred-to-lay birds from this 
Spartan diet, but they would do better still if they were better 
fed. 
