RATIONS AND METHODS OF FEEDING 21 1 



seeds, which the birds do not eat, and are sometimes heavily 

 adulterated with grit.^ 



The sole advantage in using these mixtures is that the corn that 

 they contain has been carefully selected and kiln dried, and is, there- 

 fore, when the food is reasonably fresh, a safer food than much of 

 the cracked corn found on the market during spring and summer. 



As a rule, a ration adapted to contimtons use for any purpose 

 for one kind of poultry is adapted to continuous use for that kind 

 of poultry for all purposes. The only difference ^ in the require- 

 ments of the growing chicken and of the laying hen are that the 

 hen needs more lime, which is fed separately. The only difference 

 in the requirements of the laying hen and of the molting hen is that 

 the latter needs less lime. Between the requirements of the molting 

 hen and those of the growing chick there is no difference requiring 

 variation in rations. Even fattening (as will be shown when details 

 of feeding are given) can often be done very quickly, with the 

 ration slightly modified, by simply changing the conditions so that 

 all the fat-forming food consumed goes to fat. 



Different rations are needed for different kinds of poultry. Yet, 

 as natural rations are similar at many points, the feeding of several 

 different kinds of poultry does not require that every feed be dif- 

 ferent. In the use of mashes especially, the same mash may^ 

 serve for all the common kinds of poultry, the variations necessary 

 in the ration as a whole being made in other foods. This point 

 is of no particular importance to specialists growing only one kind 

 of poultry for one purpose. As a rule, the great majority of poultry 

 keepers find it more profitable to keep several kinds and a small 

 stock of each, and they save considerable labor by making parts 

 of the various rations identical. Comparisons of specimen rations 

 will show how far this may be done. 



' Between 30 and 40 per cent of grit has been found in mixtures of grain for 

 small chicks. Nearly all mixtures contain some grit (usually from 5 to 10 or 12 per 

 cent), though the chicks do not need it at all. 



2 That is, difference which in the present state of knowledge of the science of 

 poultry feeding can be considered in balancing rations. 



' The conspicuous exception to this is that a few of the first feeds of mash for 

 young waterfowl, and an occasional feed for a week or more, should have coarse 

 sand or fine grit mixed with the mash. I am inclined to think that in this case 

 the benefit is due to the supply of mineral matter rather than to that of a 

 grinding substance. 



