Oxford Democrat., 1906-11-13
Feeding Meat to the Flock.

II
PROBLEM ARISING FROM UNNATURAL
METHODS OF REARING POULTRY.
| Either excess or lack in meat feeding
! is a danger-both are common. 1t il
my own opinion that much of the in
explicable difficulty in the flocks OF
those who are limited as to space arises
from overfeeding meat. 1t does moi
necessarily follow that meat in goodly
quantity is bad thing for fowls, but the
dried meat supplied in the market is al
most universally the refuse from the
packing houses or side line with fer.
tilizer manufacturers. If the meat fur
nished the people of the country is open
to such grave question as to quality, II
goes without saying that that furnished
for the insignificant hen will be worse,
on the average. DIR. Sanbcrn, one of the
leading surgeons who write concerning
poultry diseases for the especial poultry
public, says that spoiled commercial
animal foods have been directly responsi.
BILE for some of the cases of climber
neck" reported to him. This disease is
a manifestation of ptomaine poisoning,
and may as easily arise from spoiled bag
ged meat as from spoiled dead chick
out on the range.
With birds nearing maturity, which
are likely to be fed highly of meat to
promote feathering and induce early
laying, catarrh and roup are very CON-
mon. Exposure adds to their suscepti-
bility, but meat in excess always inter-
feres with digestion and weakens the
resistant power of the animal, large
stock or small. The y ray and the in
Vulnerable experiments of our day, by
means of stomach pump, diet tests, ETC.,
are showing pretty clearly that some Of
our common diseases may fairly be call
ed .'meat diseases" Prominent among
these is rheumatism. The advance
though. and experiment of the day
affirms that those who do not eat meat
freely will seldom have rheumatic diff
culties. 1t is found that older fowls fol-
low the same rule. If fed meat to ex-
cess, they are prone to rheumatism and
kindred diseases.
If dried scrap meats are fed every day
the fowls get very tired of them, and in
many cases they will not eat a full ra-
ton. For this reason l think 1t is bet
ter, when feeding meat with the mash,
to use it only on alternate days. Many
persons fail to feed sufficient coarse food
with the meat, and the concentration
causes trouble.
On the other hand, if birds are raised
without good meat producing range,
they are dependent on their feeders to
balance the ration so that they shall
have enough proteine to give them the
proper muscle and feather, etc., aud
enough fat to plump them and furnish
heat when needed. Those who have
made careful experiments say that the
proteine needs to be furnished in part by
meat, though We can get it in quantity
in wastes from which the starch has
been extracted, like gluten, hominy
meal, etc. Birds feather rapidly on a
meat diet, and they produce eggs freely
on this diet, if in good general condition.
Meat seems to the average experienced
poultry keeper to be one OF the things
he can least get along without.
But experience everywhere agrees
that the chicks which get a suffiency OF
varied food, including meat, in natures
way, are Individually the best chicks.
Ii is possible to raise chicks by the
forcing method that look all right, and
begin work early, but they are apt to 60
to pieces under the continued strain.
Hopper feeding comes in, with its
offer to keep the birds little near
er natures method by supplying them
with a continuous ration, so that they
may take a little at time, as they
list, and also so that they may balance
the ration to suit themselves. When
people first try this plan they are likely
to report that the fowls will not eat GER
tain articles, if they have not been ac-
customed to them, or if they have some
thing they like better. This may be
true at first. They will even neglect
green food to which they are not &C
cuStomed. But every good food which
is left before them, in shape so that it is
not trampled or fouled, they will in time
learn to eat Thus, at the first, the hop
per method may not seem good, but
persistence for a mouth will, | think,
turn most OF the objectors into advo-
Gates of it. Many who have adopted it
report that roup, before prevalent, d.
minished at once, and soon disappeared.
II is my own belief that We shall not
have conditions which will keep the
digestive organs of confined fowls In
continuous good order till We can fur
nish the food in the natural way, leaving
them fairly free to make their own
selections. Hopper feeding is the near
est we can come to this at present. The
automatic feeders add a factor not pres
ent in other hopper feeding, because
some exercise is necessary in order to
obtain the food. A good mixture of
grains in an automatic feeder, with a
hopper of meat to be partaken OF at
will, might 90 far tn solve some OF the
puzzles. In summer, with farm range,
these puzzles do not often appear. In
winter the farm and the town plot are
alike restricted by reason of weather
conditions.
The loss, or sickness, or failure to
thrive of one or two birds in flock,
the rest doing well, may be regarded as
an individual matter, and no more to be
wondered at than the feebleness Of one
member of family when the others are
robust But if numbers Of the fowls or
chicks are un,hrifty or show tendency
to sickness, we may be very sure some
thing is wrong with the conditions.
Sometimes roosting habits alone will
account for lack of thrift in growing or
maturing chicks. A fright or some ab-
normality may drive several broods to-
gether, so that they can crowd and
trample each other. They will never
thrive till this condition is overcome.
Sometimes simply moving them to
new place will overcome such bad
habit. in Tribune Farmer.