THE CHICK BOOK 



57 



has produced too much fat and not enough muscle and flesh. 

 A change of food — the addition of animal protein to the 

 ration — goes to the root of the trouble and in a short time 

 the birds are again "on their feet." 



Animal protein works wonders with fowls, and while it 

 is so plentiful in green bone, dried blood, animal meal and 

 beef scraps, etc., and considering that these foods are so 

 easily obtainable, no breeder of fowls can afford to be with- 

 out a supply. In animal meal and beef scraps there is 

 nearly as much protein as there are carbohydrates and fat. 

 In green bone there is about half as much, and in dried 

 blood there is little else than protein. 



How chickens delight in a little crisp lettuce, grass or 

 clover. Provide it if possible; otherwise cook some carrots, 

 cabbage, turnips, beets or mangels for them, or let them 

 pick away at the raw roots, or a few raw potatoes. Clover 

 is now sold in such convenient forms (both cut and ground) 

 that no breeder should be without it if he has any difficulty 

 in providing green food. Lettuce and clover contain a large 

 proportion of protein. 



Let your chicks have enough food, but do not stuff 

 them. Little chicks will begin to cry for you when they dis- 

 cover that you are their attendant, and if you are at all soft 

 hearted it will be hard to refuse the continued stuffing they 

 cry for. Feed little and often. Chicks are never so happy 

 as when scratching in shallow litter for little crumbs or 

 seeds. WiU they do this if overfed? No. Limit the food 

 and keep them singing, but let them have enough to repay 

 them for their work. 



Some breeders keep one variety of food continually be- 

 fore their chicks and a number of them are successful poul- 

 try raisers. This seems contradictory following immedi- 

 ately after the suggestion to feed little and often, but it is 

 not so strange as it appears at first glance. If one kind of 

 food is kept continually before them, the chicks partake of 

 it only occasionally as they need it. If they have been fed 

 on the plan first suggested — little and often, it is likely 

 they will gorge themselves when first allowed access to 

 large quantities of food, but if they have been used to it, 

 they simply nibble and run, and although their crops are 

 never empty, neither are they overloaded. If such a method 

 be adopted the food to be kept before them must always be 

 of the same variety. Cracked corn is generally used. A 

 change from corn to wheat would be an inducement to over- 

 feed. It would tempt their appetites and Induce them to 

 overload their crops. We do not advocate this method of 

 feeding, but if it is adopted, as it sometimes is for a time- 

 saver, the other food supply should be made up largely of 

 protein. 



Balancing the Bations for Chicks. 



The reader has now been duly impressed with the value 

 of protein and its use in the ration, and we will give an 

 example of balancing the ration so that anybody with any 

 foods will know how to go about it. 



Following along the lines of our argument the ration 

 shall possess about one part protein to two parts carbohy- 

 drates and fat, an1 is intended for newly 'hatched chicks. 



Our first chick food is egg, both white and yolk well 

 beaten. In this the proportion of protein and carbohy- 

 drates is about equal. 



This we mix with bread so as to render it comparatively 

 dry. We will assume that we have a flock of chicks that 

 require about a pound of dry matter each meal. Dry mat- 

 ter is the total bulk of food less water or moisture. In one 

 pound of eggs, that is the edible portion, there is twenty- 

 seven per cent of dry matter that is made up of thirteen 

 per cent protein and twelve per cent fat, in addition to ash, 



etc. In a pound of bread crumbs we find eighty-eight per 

 cent of dry matter made up of eleven per cent protein, 

 seventy-five per cent fat, etc. If we add the total amount 

 of protein and fat contained in the eggs and bread, we find 

 we have twenty-four parts protein and eighty-seven parts 

 fat; that is, about three and a iialf times as much fat as 

 protein, the actual figures being 3:6. The nutritive ratio 

 of this mixture would be 1:.S.6. To make the ration nar- 



4 Shelter That Cea be Opened or Closed, as the Weather Requires. 



rower we might reduce the bread crumbs to three-quarters 

 of a pound, but that would make the mixture too "pasty." 

 We will therefore leave it as before and instead of securing 

 the narrower ration by that means we feed in addition a 

 little meat. Take beef scraps for Instance. These on an 

 average contain about ninety-three per cent dry matter, of 

 which forty-five per cent is protein and forty-seven per cent 

 is carbohydrates. The protein and carbohydrates being 

 about equal it will need only a little beef scraps to bring 

 the nutritive ratio down to 1:2, the ration we have sug- 

 gested before as being a desirable one for chicks. 



We do not advise the use of beef scraps at this early age, 

 but having the analysis before us, we used it as an example. 

 Fresh meat will analyze much the same, so far as protein 

 contents are concerned, and should be used in preference. 

 If a little more bread is necessary to mix with the egg, it 

 may be used. • 



After the chickens are one or two weeks old the egg 

 food will become scarcer or perhaps too expensive and it 

 becomes necessary to have a substitute. We wish to make 

 the change of food without making too great a change in 

 the ratio. In looking around for a suitable food we think 

 of cracked wheat. One pound of cracked wheat contains 

 about eighty-nine per cent dry matter, of which .075 is pro- 

 tein and .700 carbohydrates. Once more we take beef scraps 

 to be fed in conjunction with it. We have given the amount 

 of protein and carbohydrates in beef scraps. Now add the 

 total to that contained in wheat and we have .525 protein 

 and 1.170 carbohydrates and fats. Dividing the latter by 

 the former gives us a ratio of 1:2.2. 



Finely cracked corn may be substituted for the wheat 

 In which case the following result would be attained: 



Dry Matter. Protein. Carbohydrates. 



One pound corn 89 .062 .752 



One pbund beef scraps 93 .45 .47 



.512 1.222 



Nutritive ratio i : 2.4. 



