Mineral Content of Southern Poultry Feeds 
11 
Plant, and were hatched in one electrobator and each lot housed under 
similar conditions using similar oil burning hovers of 100-chick capacity. 
A room with concrete floor, with plenty of light and ventilation, was 
used in which to raise the flock. The birds were confined to runs six 
feet square with smooth galvanized iron for the floor. The hover was 
set in the center of this square. The work was to be carried on in 
periods of seven days each and extending over at least eight periods or 
weeks. At the end of each period the chicks were removed for weighing 
and cleaning the runs. All material which adhered to the feet was 
carefully removed, the floor swept and then scraped, being careful not 
to scrape off any of the metal. The metal floor then made washing possible. 
This was done with distilled water and by the aid of a brush. This 
material was drained into a pan and the material placed in an evaporat¬ 
ing oven and the moisture driven off. There is a possibility that some 
errors may have crept in in these processes, but at every turn our whole 
thought was to be very careful and accurate. Young vigorous chicks 
are very active and we believe that it would be a miracle indeed to 
carry on practical flock experiments without slight errors at the most. 
Young chicks have a habit of throwing out their feed from the feed 
box with their beaks, and, especially if they are not particularly hungry 
and simply looking for something that might be very palatable. In 
order to avoid this wastage, we constructed double boxes shown in 
the accompanying illustration. The clabbered skim milk was given 
in 50 c.c. beakers, and these were set in the ends of the boxes so that they 
could not be turned over and thus lose the milk and injure our records. 
The chick-size limestone grit and the chick-size oyster shell were given 
in petri dishes, and these placed in another container (see c of illustra¬ 
tion) . The dry mash, grain mixture, and the cut green feed, was placed 
in double boxes, b, d, and e, as illustrated in the accompanying cut. 
Figure f of the illustration shows the rape used in the experiments. 
The feed thrown out of these double boxes was caught in the outside 
chamber, and was thus easily recovered. The droppings which were 
deposited in the boxes, after drying, were easily removed by aid of a 
pair of forceps. These birds received no water, the liquid intake being 
milk. 
a. milk containers; b. mash; c. grit and shell; d. grain; c. green cut feed; f. rape. 
