Various Kinds of Grain. 
29 
With regard to grain, we prefer heavy large buckwheat as a staple to any other. All fowls 
become very fond of it as soon as they get to recognise its strange colour ; and the fact that the 
French, who send such immense quantities of eggs and even poultry to the English market, use 
buckwheat almost exclusively both to feed and to fatten, is alone sufficient testimony to its cheap- 
ness and good qualities. Next to buckwheat in value stands good old wheat. This used to be 
too dear, but is now not so. It is capital food, but swells so easily that care must be taken not to 
give too much at a time, or the crop will be distended. Then we have good barley — such, we mean, 
as is used for malting — not inferior, husky, foreign samples. Then comes heavy white oats, thirty- 
six to forty pounds per bushel. Any of these may be changed for each other occasionally with 
advantage. Maize must be used, if at all, very sparingly indeed, on account of its tendency to 
make fat We lay great stress on this caution, because it is a cheap food, and the birds eat it 
greedily. Light-framed breeds, such as Spanish or Hamburghs, may have it in moderation, espe- 
cially if at large ; but Asiatic breeds, especially if kept in confinement, should not be regularly fed 
upon it, or fat and liver disease, instead of eggs, will be the almost invariable result. Another 
excellent grain, especially for chickens, is that known as dari, dourra, or Indian millet, a roundish 
white grain somewhat resembling pearl barley in appearance. All fowls eat it eagerly, and it 
never swells in the crop ; it is not very nourishing, but is most useful as part of the diet. Do not 
use “mixtures ” of grain, often so “ strongly recommended” by advertisers. If all the grains be 
mixed, no change of diet becomes at all possible ; therefore give each by itself, changing 
the sort at discretion. Sweepings or damaged corn, unless the damage be very slight indeed, 
will inevitably prove a losing speculation, besides occasionally poisoning the fowls ; but if 
really sound “ tail ” or small wheat can be procured, it is cheap and valuable food, and pro- 
motes laying much. 
Small white peas may be given occasionally with great benefit, provided the fowls will eat 
them, which they will generally but not always do. For an occasional change, barley may be 
steeped in water and left till it has sprouted a little, in which state it is greedily devoured by the 
fowls ; but this must not be continued very long. It is sometimes said that much barley may be 
saved by leaving it in water to swell : but water is not food ; and if the birds, as we insist, are only 
allowed the handful they really require— not as much as they will eat — to substitute water for part 
of their allowance is no economy. Brewers’ grains, if fresh and good, may be given with advantage 
once or twice a week in winter, rather sparingly, as a mid-day feed. 
Merely to keep adult fowls in health and good condition, they do not even in confinement 
require animal food ; but if a regular supply of eggs be desired, birds penned up must have this. 
It is not to be made a regular meal of, and in ordinary households the kitchen scraps will furnish 
ample supply, as already hinted. If this be not sufficient, bullock’s liver well boiled, chopped up 
and slightly seasoned with pepper and salt, will be the cheapest and best material generally, but 
in some localities sheep’s pluck, or other parts of various animals, may be obtained at a less rate. 
The quantity to each hen should be about a cubic inch daily, in winter; in summer less, or it may 
be even discontinued, with little loss, at that time. The broth obtained from boiling the meat 
should always be used, so far as it will go, in mixing the food. Some meat thus given even every 
other day will make a considerable difference to the number of eggs in winter time, and in getting 
birds through the moult. Tallow-makers’ greaves are often advertised, but we would give a 
caution never to use them in their entire state for fowls, as they cause loss of condition and a rank- 
taste to the flesh when killed.* Fowls with good range need no animal food whatever, except in 
* The proper use of greaves in getting fowls into “ condition ” for show will be mentioned in a subsequent chapter. 
