FEEDING PRACTICES AND APPLIANCES 383 



20 parts wheat 6 parts com 



15 parts oats 10 parts grit 



5 parts millet S parts charcoal 



2 parts rice 5 parts bone meal 



"The grit and charcoal are added to the chick feed, as 

 the babies cannot at first be depended upon to visit the 

 grit trough regularly, but the trough is placed in the run 

 to teach them to acquire the habit for the future. 



' "Toward the end of the second week it will be well to add 

 a little cracked wheat and steel-cut oats to the above mix- 

 ture, gradually increasing the amount until it finally replaces 

 the chick feed. Then begin gradually to add whole wheat 

 to the cracked until at the end of the sixth or seventh week 

 they are having only whole wheat and cracked corn. The 

 steel-cut oats are too expensive for long use and the unprepared 

 article is not safe on account of the husks. 



"A mash may be used about the eighth to the tenth day. 

 This may be fed dry or wet. By 'wet' is never meant a 

 sloppy mass, but one which is just sufficiently moistened to 

 make it adhere in lumps or appear crumbly. The difference 

 of opinion in regard to the advantages of these two mashes 

 may be due to the fact that a careless feeder can produce 

 bad results in his chicks by cramming them with mash 

 that is soft and sloppy and handled with difficulty by the 

 digestive apparatus. If moistened with skim milk the mash 

 will be more palatable as well as more nourishing. 



"The mash can be made from various materials, and the 

 two presented below are offered as samples of many that may 

 be equally good: 



I. II. 



3 parts bran 4 parts bran 



2 parts shorts 2 parts alfalfa meal 



1 part coarse corn meal 1 part com meal 



1 part oat meal i part meat meal 



i part meat meal i part bone meal 



J part bone meal J part charcoal 

 i part charcoal 



"One teaspoonful of salt should be added to each couple 

 of gallons of this mixture. The meat meal and alfalfa meal 

 should be sifted so that no coarse particles remain. 



