84 



RHODE ISLAND REDS 



board 6 inches high and 14 inches wide which serves to form 

 end of the trough and support the removable top board. 

 The top board or cover is of heavy inch stock 10 inches wide 

 and about 3 feet, 10 inches long, so that it will form a mov- 

 able cover that is not easily shaken or jarred out of position. 

 The whole makes a practical feeding device which keeps the 

 food clean and prevents waste. There is a little more than 

 a 3-inch clear open space for the feeding fowls between the 

 top of sides of trough and the cover or lid. This trough is 

 clearly shown in the illustration on this page. 



At the time of our visit the daily allowance for 25 fowls 

 supplied in this trough at one feeding was a little less than 

 3 pints of moist mash and about 2J quarts of dry grain mix- 

 ture. The birds are fed rather liberally, as Mr. Almy does 

 not believe that there is any profit to be had from a scant 

 ration. We made the morning rounds with him feeding up 

 the laying stock, and found the birds with good appetites 

 but not crowding or rushing to meet the food wagon. For 

 the most part they staid close by their respective houses and 



RED FEATHER FARM COLONY FOOD TROUGH 



The entire day's supply of food, mash on one side and dry grain on the other, is placed in 

 this trough. The pieces required for construction are: 

 4 posts 1 by 1 inch, 12 inch long. 



1 bottom board notched at comers for posts, 12 inches wide by 3^ feet long. 



2 side boards 3 inches wide by 3i^ feet long. 

 2 end pieces 6 inches wide .by 14 inches long. 

 1 center partition 2 inches wide by 12 inches long. 

 1 top board 10 inches wide by 8 feet 10 inches long. 



there was no crowding or tumbling over one another about 

 the food trough. 



The feeding on this plant is done by wagon drawn by 

 one horse. A low, flat wagon similar to a stone bogie is used 

 and on this the mash food is loaded in a good-sized box, the 

 mixed grain is carried in sacks, and the water in common 

 8 J quart milk cans placed in a rack to prevent jarring and 

 spilling. Some plants use a water barrel with spigot attach- 

 ed, but Mr. Almy finds the milk cans much more convenient 

 and more suited to rapid work. He can feed and water the 

 flocks in two or three houses while a man would be waiting 

 to fill one water pail at a spigot. Wooden stoppers are used 

 in these milk cans to prevent slopping and wasting the water. 

 In feeding by wagon the fields are not always entered at the 

 same gate, so that the fowls never know just where to expect 

 the daily supply. This plan has been adopted to avoid any 

 tendency of the fowls to bunch at one point to wait for the 

 food supply. The plan proves particularly satisfactory in 

 feeding young chickens and growing stock, as these younger 

 birds are much more liable to follow the food wagon about 

 or to lay in wait for it. 



The Daily Mash 



The daily mash used on this plant varies somewhat ac- 

 cording to season. At the time of our visit, late in July, 

 some of the fowls were beginning to molt and a heavily 

 nitrogenous ration was being fed, with a view to stimulating 

 the birds and keeping them in good condition during the 

 molt. This mash is prepared in a large cast iron cook kettle 



capable of holding about 60 gallons, and for the morning 

 supply about 5i pails (capacity each about 14 quarts) of 

 cracked corn are first placed in the cooker with about 15 

 per cent corn meal and thoroughly boiled, being allowed to 

 cook until the cracked corn is quite soft. To this is added 

 about 5i pails of wheat bran, 2 quarts of old process linseed 

 meal, one quart of fine ground oyster shell, about 3 pints of 

 fine ground raw bone meal, and about 12 per cent good high 

 protein beef scrap. 'These last ingredients are not added 

 until the corn has been well cooked, and the mixing is usually 

 finished either just before or just after supper time. The 

 mash is thoroughly worked over in the kettle with a post 

 hole shovel having an iron shod handle. To mix this mash 

 to fairly firm consistency, well blended, requires the exercise 

 of considerable muscle. After it is thoroughly mixed the 

 kettle is covered and the mash allowed to cook in its own 

 heat until morning feeding time. Even in severe winter 

 weather the mash comes out of this kettle piping hot in the 

 morning. 



The mixed grain is usually a 

 mixture of cracked corn, whole corn, 

 wheat and oats, the mixture being 

 about 50 per cent corn in the summer 

 season and a considerably larger per- 

 centage of corn in cold weather. 

 The growing chicks, after they are 

 old enough to eat cracked corn, re- 

 ceive the same morning mash ration 

 as the laying stock. In spring time 

 when plenty of refuse fish from the fish- 

 eries at Tiverton can be had for 25 

 cents a barrel, it is extensively used in 

 the mash in, place of the beef scrap, 

 almost exclusively in the case of mash 

 used for young stock, but with laying 

 fowls care is taken not to feed a sufiic- 

 ient amount of fish to taste the eggs. 

 Fresh waste fish well cooked is consid- 

 ered especially desirable as a .food for 

 growing chickens. When fish is used 

 it is thoroughly cooked by boiling before the grain is 

 added. 



The winter mash for laying stopk varies according to the 

 available grain supply, but is usually made up about as 

 follows: Bran and ground oats or oat feed, equal parts; with 

 sufficient coarse corn meal or fine cracked corn to make the 

 mash dry and crumbly. From 12 to 20 per cent beef scrap 

 is added and from 40 to 50 per cent cooked cut clover or 

 vegetables are added. Green food or vegetables are not fed 

 in the mash in the summer season when the fowls have free 

 range on grass land. , 



Feeding the Chickens 1 



The little chicks on this plant are started on a mixtiire 

 of "chick" or fine cracked corn, cracked wheat, shorts, grit 

 and charcoal. This is kept before them all the time and 

 water is supplied in shallow cast iron pans that are readily 

 cleaned and that are not easily tipped over. As soon as the 

 youngsters are large enough to take whole grain they get the 

 same ration as the laying hens. 



In addition to the regular morning ration given at the 

 same time the laying stock is fed, the growing chickens re- 

 ceive a noon feeding of scalded mash and a supply of mixed 

 grain or of cracked corn fed in trough in a similar manner 

 to that employed in feeding the laying stock. The noon 

 mash is made of about equal parts bran and cracked corn, 

 with 10 to 12 per cent beef scrap, the whole well scalded in 

 the cooker. A sufficient supply of food is given in the 

 troughs at this feeding to last the chicks until bedtime. 



