PRAIRIE FARMER'S POULTRY BOOK 



sumption will be greater in extremely cold weather than in 

 mild weather. Consumption will be greater in the spring when 

 the whole flock is busy in egg-production than in the fall when 

 few are laying. Here is where the personal equation enters, 

 and the attendant must win or lose according to the judgment 

 he uses. 



Cleanliness 



This is one of the cardinal principles of good feeding. A 

 clean feeding place is vital. Damp and moldy litter is danger- 

 ous. A feeding floor covered with the dropping of diseased 

 chicks means speedy ruin to the whole brood. When the op- 

 pressive days of summer come it is no pleasant task to clean 

 out the brooder or the colony house and replenish the litter, 

 but it must be done promptly and regularly or failure will fol- 

 low. Watering vessels can be kept clean by placing them on 

 elevated platforms. The same is true of hoppers and self 

 feeders for grit, charcoal and mashes. 



Exercise and Feeding 



As far as possible feed should be given so as to encourage 

 exercise. Even the mash can be placed so that the fowl must 

 use some physicial exercise to get it. 



The grain mixture should be fed in moderately deep litter 

 six to eight inches in depth. Care should be used in selecting 

 the litter. For young chicks short-cut alfalfa, alsike clover, 

 or short-cut rye straw will be found safe. Wheat and oat straw 

 often bear the spores of mold and smut and rust, which fre- 

 quently produce fatal disease. 



Rye straw is usually bright and clean and if run through 

 the silo cutter will make a very fine litter. Chaff gathered 

 around the threshing machine is usually dusty, and is unsafe 

 to use. If the floor of the scratch pen is inclined to be damp 

 the litter should be shallow to allow the dampness to dry out. 

 The fowls in the pen with damp litter are the ones to get out 

 of condition. The litter should be changed monthly while the 

 flock is in winter quarters. 



How to Feed 



There are about as many systems of feeding as there are 

 poultry keepers. Every farmer's wife has her own system, and 

 she generally wins average success. The systems given below 



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