2IO POULTRY CULTURE 



quite as well as the most elaborate plan of feeding that could be 

 devised. This is most likely to be the case when poultry produced 

 for a special purpose is kept under very favorable conditions. Many 

 poultry keepers use somewhat different rations and methods of 

 feeding for birds destined for different uses. Thus, in growing 

 poultry of all kinds, those that are to be killed as soon as fit may 

 be fed without regard to the effects of heavy feeding and lack of 

 exercise, while those that are to be reserved for laying and breed- 

 ing purposes must be managed with care to secure sound constitu- 

 tions and good physical development. Then the hen that is to 

 be used only for egg production, and marketed as soon as she 

 ceases to be a profitable layer, may be fed, after maturity, for heavy 

 egg production at the expense of vitality, while the hen that is to 

 be used for breeding purposes must be fed and handled with due 

 consideration for the maintenance of constitutional vigor. 



Conditions are of more importance in all these cases than the 

 composition of the rations. It is quite a common thing to find 

 poultry keepers who use special rations for special purposes getting 

 from two different rations results just the opposite of those which 

 the rations are designed to produce, — as, for instance, hens kept 

 on a light or " maintenance " ration laying much better than others 

 of the same stock on a " heavy laying " ration. 



Rations for special purposes. Special rations are necessary only 

 when the object can be accomplished within a comparatively short 

 period. A special ration for such use is properly a finishing ration, 

 or a heavy forcing ration, and its profitable use is limited by its 

 tendency to put the birds out of condition, and so, if too long 

 continued, to defeat the purpose for which it is used. Makers of 

 proprietary poultry rations sometimes offer special rations for almost 

 every conceivable purpose, their claim being that each is exactly 

 balanced for its purpose. The good foods of this class (except 

 fattening rations) are merely average balanced rations, and the 

 differences between them are insignificant, if not imaginary. Not 

 infrequendy neither inspection, analysis, nor use will discover any 

 difference in these rations. As the poultryman buys them they are 

 almost invariably more expensive than grains, though the principal 

 ingredient in most of them is corn, the cheapest grain that the 

 poultryman uses. They often contain large percentages of weed 



