TURKEY CLASS— Bronze, Narragansett, Buff, Slate, White, Black, 

 and Bourbon Red. 



FEEDS AND FEEDING 



If you are running a machine, the quality and quantity of your output 

 must depend very much upon three points: the kind of machine you use, 

 the quality and quantity of raw material which goes into the machine, and 

 the kind of a man you have to run it. In this connection the domestic 



fowl may be compared to the machine. 

 The feed is the raw material which goes 

 into the machine and it must be balanced 

 correctly to produce eggs or meat — which- 

 ever you are trying to obtain. The man 

 in charge should know his business, not 

 only to correctly feed the machine, but to 

 properly care for it, repair it, and keep it 

 in working order. It sounds easy, but every 

 poultryman knows it is a problem worthy 

 of much study and attention. 



The first thing is to realize a few facts 

 regarding the domesticating and training of 

 what was originally a wild fowl in the 

 Illustration No. 16. jungles of India. Nature made her lay 



Leghcrri-Med.terranean. ^^^ ^^^j^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^^^ ^„j ^j^^^^ ^^,y j^ 



proper season. We have trained her to lay 160 eggs a year and at all seasons 

 and, while many people who do not know, tell you to follow nature, don't 

 attempt it, for it is a hindrance to the poultryman instead of a help. In 

 this day of advancement a poultryman must follow science instead of 

 nature. It is dead against the nature of a fowl to lay an egg in winter, and 

 that is when we demand them because we can secure high prices then. We 

 must have our feeds very much better, and easier to assimilate, than nature 

 contemplated, and we must give more warmth and care than nature pro- 

 vided. , We are demanding very unnatural results under very unnatural con- 

 ditions and must make up the difference. 



A certain percentage of the failures that poultrymen have met with is 

 directly due to the matter of feeding and an entire flock can be ruined in a 

 very short time by improper and careless feeding. 



To maintain perfect health and vigor in your fowls you must consider 

 for what purpose you are feeding, and give them a balanced ration, which 

 means a supply of food containing every element necessary to properly 

 supply all that you demand and at the same time insuring the health of the 

 fowl under forced confinement and unnatural conditions. You should un- 

 derstand the value of foods and supply them intelligently. 



We might go into the question of special feeding for different purposes; 

 feeding the little chicks ; feeding for broilers ; for roasters, etc., etc., all 

 of which require special consideration. But, in the limits of this little book, 

 we can only touch the subject lightly here and there and give you a fair 

 i^ ;a as to general requirements. While we will do our best to give such 

 hints as our space will permit, we wish to impress you with the fact that 

 there is a deep study coming to the man who wishes to succeed : that it is 

 not guess-work or hap-hazard chance, but a subject for thought and serious 

 attention of the man who has his money invested. 



In poultry journal items, and in scientific treatises on feeding, an ordi- 

 nary man runs up against a lot of terms which he does not usually under- 

 stand, and, even when he becomes familiar with them by seeing them often, 



17 



