RATIONS AND METHODS OF FEEDING 209 



value to many methods of feeding which are supposed by those 

 using them to have peculiar merit. 



The condition of most importance in relation to nutrition is 

 exercise. In a state of nature poultry of all kinds feed, as a rule, 

 slowly and continuously for periods which are long or short accord- 

 ing to the abundance and variety of food. Thus, in feeding they 

 take a great deal of exercise, using up physical energy and the 

 surplus carbohydrates and fats in the food. Under such conditions 

 poultry rarely accumulate fat to such a degree that vitality or any 

 function is impaired. If fed with grain strewn thickly on bare 

 ground, or grain or moist mash in troughs, the birds can eat in a 

 few minutes, and with no effort except for the taking of the food, 

 as much as they would ordinarily secure by foraging for several 

 hours. The result is that fat is stored in the body until finally it 

 interferes with many functions, and at the same time, through 

 lack of use, the muscular system deteriorates and the bird becomes 

 debilitated. 



In every continuous line of poultry culture, exercise is necessary 

 to maintain the physical vigor of the stock. Were the bird a mere 

 machine, it might be possible to keep it in working order by limit- 

 ing the quantities of fat-producing foods consumed. But poultry 

 (and especially the gallinaceous birds) are organisms of a very ac- 

 tive habit, requiring a great deal of physical exercise to keep them 

 in condition, and even when all the food they consume is given 

 them, it is usually found better to supply energy-producing foods 

 freely, and have the birds keep themselves in condition by exercise. 

 This practice has the further advantage of being more economical, 

 for the non-nitrogenous elements are, on the whole, less costly, and 

 a supply of them ample for all purposes insures conservation of 

 the more costly nitrogenous elements in the ration. 



The common method of providing exercise for birds (particularly 

 fowls) in restricted quarters is to feed the whole or cracked grains 

 in a litter of straw, leaves, or other suitable material, from which 

 they can get it only by scratching. 



Objects of feeding have a direct bearing on the selection of ra- 

 tions and methods only when the object is a special one requiring 

 a special ration, — and not always in such cases, for occasionally it 

 happens that the cheapest food and the simplest method will serve 



