2 26 POULTRY CULTURE 



12. For young chickens in brooders. Same as above, except that the first 

 mash for the chicks is compounded as follows : 



Parts by 

 weight 



Wheat bran . . ... . .4 



Corn meal . . . . • • 3^ 



Linseed meal . ... . . . . \ 



Beef scrap . ... . . . 2 



Alfalfa meal . . . i 



To this mixture when scalded is added one part of rolled oats to three parts of 

 the mixture, the oats being added after scalding, to prevent the sogginess pro- 

 duced when rolled oats are scalded in the mixture. This mash and the grains 

 as in ration lo are fed until the chicks are about three weeks old, when the 

 following mash is used until the chicks are from six to eight weeks old : 



Parts by 

 weight 



Wheat bran . . . . 2 



Corn meal . . . . ... 3 



Linseed meal . . . . \ 



Daisy flour ... . \ 



Beef scrap . . i 



Ration 12 is preferred at the Maine station. If the criticism on the con- 

 centrated nature of the mash in ration 10 is sound, a ration preferred to it in 

 practice must be less concentrated. The first mash used in ration 12 has in 

 the dry mixture four elevenths of wheat bran and one eleventh of alfalfa meal, 

 a still more bulky article. The rolled oats, introduced after scalding, still 

 further lightens the mixture, so that this mash, as fed, is only about half as 

 concentrated as that in ration 10. 



1 3. Foryoutig chickens in brooders. Same as above, fed later in the season, 

 when the chicks could get out on the ground. The mixture of grains described 

 in 10 and the mash described at 11 (fed dry in troughs) always before them. 



As reported, this worked well except in bad weather, when the chicks 

 remained under cover and, it is stated, '' would hang around the troughs and 

 overeat, would grow rapidly for a few days, then commence to go lame, eat 

 litde, and seek the warm hover never to recover." Such a result is in accord- 

 ance with what was said (p. 220) of the dangers of dry mashes rich in concen- 

 trated foods. With food of the right composition and consistency, overfeeding 

 healthy chickens on a good range is practically an impossibility.^ In this case 

 the range was not large enough to furnish full supplies of green and of animal 

 food. It did not afford the full advantages of a range. 



1 I think that it will be found, on close investigation, that this applies to chicks 

 under all conditions. That it applies to natural conditions is certain. I have 

 not, in recent years, been so situated that I could test its application to arti- 

 ficial conditions. An adequate test of this point would require experiments more 

 extensive and elaborate than an individual poultry keeper can make. 



