1160 



Notes ox Poultry Keeping. 



[Mab., 



in cold weather. If the litter in the brooder is kept clean a 

 small quantity of this mixture may be scattered on the floor 

 once or twice daily, and this will keep the birds actively 

 employed when they have to take shelter from bad weather. 



Various methods of feeding chickens are adopted by poultry 

 keepers with equal success, and there is little justification for 

 srating that any one system is the best. Probably the system 

 which includes the use of dry chick feed, a dry mash, and a 

 wet mash is as good as any. A suitable dry mash may be 

 made up as follows: — 



2 lb. Bran. 



2 lb. Middlings. 



1 lb. Sussex Ground Oats. 



1 lb. Maize Meal. 



g lb. Fish Meal. 



To this mixture some poultry keepers add 4 per cent, of fine 

 charcoal. Good wet mashes may be made up of: — 



1. Boiled Rice and Middlings in equal parts by weight. 



2. Biscuit Meal „ ,. , 



3. Middlings 2 parts, Sussex Ground Oats 1 part, Maize Meal 1 part, 



with the addition of 10 per cent, of meat or fish meal after the 

 chicks are a fortnight old. The wet mash should be made up 

 with boiling water and given in a crumbly condition. 



The dry mash should be fed in a shallow hopper which can 

 be opened or shut by the poultry keeper according to the 

 periods when he desires the chickens to take this food. 



A simple system of feeding is to give the birds a meal of 

 the wet mash as early in the morning as practicable. About 

 10 o'clock a little dry chick feed may be scattered amongst the 

 bedding. At mid-day the dry mash hopper may be opened . 

 for the remainder of the day and in the mid-afternoon a little 

 more dry feed may be scattered in the bedding. If desired a 

 further feed of wet mash may be given for the last meal at 

 night, but this is not necessary. Very young chicks require 

 to he fed at frequent intervals, the object beeng to keep 

 the birds active, bright and thriving. As they grow older the 

 number of meals should be reduced, but the poultry keeper 

 should bear in mind that the less the chicks are kept under 

 hot-house conditions the better, and that provided they have 

 access to a warm dry brooder whenever they require it, the 

 more they are encouraged to take exercise in the open air, even 

 in the early season, the better they will thrive. 



