RATIONS AND METHODS OF FEEDING 207 



to secure the advantages of soft food and yet avoid the digestive 

 disorders which may result from using it too freely. 



A balanced ration is an average ration. From the nature of 

 the case it is impossible for the feeder to make the adjustment 

 of a ration to requirements accurate. The requirements of a crea- 

 ture vary from season to season and from day to day. Different 

 lots of the same food article differ in composition. It is not 

 possible to exactly determine the requirements of a creature at 

 any point of time, nor is it practicable to analyse foods as used ; 

 but as average requirements of creatures can be determined from 

 observations covering long periods of time, as the average of 

 analyses of many samples of a food gives approximately the com- 

 position of ordinary lots of that food, and as experience has taught 

 the right general proportions of concentrated and bulky, hard and 

 soft, dry and wet foods for rations for different kinds of poultry 

 and for different purposes, a ration balanced according to average 

 analyses gives an average ration which will serve as a standard, 

 and which, properly used, should give good results in every case, 

 though in many cases some modification of it would give better 

 results. Such modifications of standard, balanced rations can be 

 made only by each feeder on personal knowledge of the results 

 of using the standard ration in any case, and with an understand- 

 ing of the properties of foods and of the probable results of 

 making changes in the ration. 



In practice, such an adjustment of rations to requirements of 

 poultry is a much simpler matter than it seems when stated ; for, 

 as far as opportunity is given them, the birds select their food to 

 meet their physiological needs, and hence nice judgment in feeding 

 is not needed except to get results which, however profitable to 

 the poultry keeper, and however necessary for his purpose, are 

 inimical to the physical welfare of the birds- (as in feeding young 

 chickens for very rapid growth, or hens for great egg production, 

 or in fattening poultry of any kind). In reality, in such cases the 

 feeder's object is not to feed a balanced ration but to get as 

 far as possible from it in a particular direction. Thus, in feeding 

 for rapid growth, development of the body may be secured at the 

 expense of vitality, while in fattening, the rations are so rich in 

 fats and non-nitrogenous matter that many birds cannot stand 



