RATIONS AND METHODS OF FEEDING 223 



This is one of the simplest and most satisfactory ways of feeding stock birds 

 in summer, to develop frame and muscle and constitution in the young and to 

 keep the adults in good condition. The grain may be scattered in grass several 

 inches high or in brush. The birds will get it all and require no attention 

 from morning until evening. 



7. For fowls in houses -with littered floors. Mash once a day (morning, 

 noon, or night) ; the day's allowance of grain (any common grain or mixture) 

 scattered in the litter at any time of day. Cabbage or mangels before the 

 fowls at all times. 



This is example 6 adapted to winter conditions. In summer the feeding 

 may be done at any time of day, but usually morning and evening are more 

 convenient. In winter it is often an advantage to give the food at noon 

 or in the evening. If the quantity of litter on the floor is sufficient, and 

 the grain is well concealed, there is no objection to giving the grain and mash 

 at the same time. As a rule, the birds will eat the mash first. They may 

 pick up a little of the grain at that time, but most of it is left until they are 

 hungry again. 



8. For brooder chicks. Start the chicks on commercial mixtures, given 

 five or even six times a day in troughs, with occasionally a feed of beef scrap 

 instead. After the first few days, give two or three of the feeds of dry mash 

 (two parts shorts, or mixed feed, to one part corn meal) by measure. After the 

 chicks are three or four weeks old the commercial mixture is discontinued, 

 and the ration consists of dry mash and beef scraps, and a " scratch feed " con- 

 sisting of one part hulled oats, one part cracked wheat, and two parts cracked 

 corn. This, with green food as available, is continued until the chicks are about 

 ten or twelve weeks old. 



This is the ration used by a soft-roaster grower up to the time when his 

 chickens go into the colony houses and are given the ration in example 3. 

 Frequent feeding is advisable when chicks are kept in large numbers under 

 artificial conditions. This is to keep them occupied and to prevent the develop- 

 ment of vices and the soiling of the food (on the floor or in shallow troughs) 

 rather than because (as is commonly supposed) the chicks need feed so often. 

 By feeding often, and feeding a considerable amount of soft foods and concen- 

 trated foods, little chicks grow faster at first, up to about ten or twelve weeks. 

 After that those brought up on three or four meals a day, of which a large per- 

 centage is hard grain, will usually outgrow them, because they have better 

 digestion and greater vitality. The use of commercial mixtures does not always 

 indicate that the feeder regards them as better than corn or than such a mix- 

 ture as he might make himself. Some do prefer certain brands, but it is not 

 unusual for manufacturers to offer inducements to poultry growers of reputa- 

 tion to use some of their feeds, if only a few bags annually. In the above 

 ration, feeding is not reduced to the simplest form, as it is in the rations used 

 by the growers in this section for the weaned chicks. 



9. For laying stock on good range. Mash, corn meal, bran, and beef 

 scrap in varying proportions, from one third to one half of the ground grains 



