i86 



POULTRY CULTURE 



Table IL Composition and Values of Corn and Corn 

 Products 



poultry keepers consider hard (flint) corn a better food than soft 

 (dent) corn, but in common practice no difference is observed. 

 Sweet corn and pop corn are practically the same in feeding value 

 as field corn but are not generally available for poultry feeding. 

 Because whole corn may be eaten so rapidly that a full meal is 

 quickly secured without exercise, the practice of feeding cracked 

 corn has become general. Cracked corn, when fresh, does not 

 differ in composition from the whole corn of which it was made, 

 but after being cracked it may deteriorate rapidly, especially in 

 warm weather. It is peculiarly subject to heating and to molds, 

 and when stale or moldy is a most unsafe food, particularly for 

 young stock. It is usually cracked in two sizes, — coarse, for general 

 use, and fine, for small chicks. Com is the most easily digested of 

 the common grains. Because of this and its heating properties, the 

 free use of corn for fowls in close confinement and not plentifully 

 supplied with green food is usually followed, in hot weather, by 

 digestive disorders. With due attention to exercise, and with abun- 

 dant supplies of green food and the less concentrated animal foods 

 (insects, milk), good results may be obtained from a diet in which 

 corn is the only grain fed. In extreme cold weather it may be fed 

 more freely. 



Corn meal. Corn meal is the foundation of most mashes for 

 poultry. Coarse, unbolted meal is to be preferred, and if mashes 

 are cooked or given time to swell after mixing, the coarser com chop 



