The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1909-09-03


must be given some food, especially
of the kinds that they are not able to
find for themselves. The most plenti-
full food on the average farm and the
one that the birds are most likely to
get is corn. Corn is a heating food
and is not suited for laying hens or
growing chickens if fed alone. Some
oats can be used for the older fowls,
but this feed is not suited for young
chickens unless ground. Oats are an
especially good food for laying hens.
One of the best grain feeds is wheat.
1t is usually too expensive to be fed
very extensively, but it may often be
used for part of the ration. Wheat
either whole or cracked, makes a
splendid FEED for young chicks. A
mixture of wheat and oats grown to-
gether makes an excellent feed for
all kinds of stock as well as poultry
Milling byproducts, such as shorts,
bran and oilmeal, can be mixed In
small quantities with the other feeds
and fed to advantage.
Succulent Food Necessary.
One Of the greatest needs Of poultry
An winter Is some kind of succulent
feed. This can be provided by storing
away quantity of cabbage, turnips,
mangels and pumpkins. These can be
Chopped up during the winter and fed
with other feeds or given alone. The
fowls will relish them very much and
make liberal response at the egg bas-
ket If there is a silO on the place
some silage may be fed to the fowls to
advantage. 1t is cheap and appetizing
Glover and alfalfa hay chopped fine in
feed cutter make good roughage. If
soaked in hot water before feeding the
hens will eat large amounts. Either
bran or cut alfalfa may be mixed in
the mash feeds In the proportion Of
one-Quarter to three-quarters of the
grain.
Value Of Animal Food.
When allowed free range fowls OBJ
tain large amounts of animal food in
the form Of insects. Some feed of this
kind is essential If the best results
are to be secured. Beef scrap is a
packing house byproduct that can be
purchased at reasonable price. 1t is
a very valuable feed for growing
chickens and laying hens. The most
common animal food on the farm is
skirnmilk. This is a valuable feed for
all classes of fowls. At the Virginia
experiment station it was found that
skinmilk is worth dollar hundred
as a food for laying hens. Buttermilk
is also a good feed. If you have many
laying hens and can get plenty Of
fresh bones from the butcher 1t will
pay to get bone cutter and make lib
eral use of cut bone as a food. 1t Is
high In protein and also contains q
large amount of the mineral foods so
badly needed by the laying hens.
Mineral foods form an important
part Of the ration. OF the dry matter
of the egg 1916 per cent is composed
of mineral matter Crushed oyster or
clam shells, plaster and slaked lime
are the best sources OF minerals.
Fowls also need grit to assist in
grinding their food. A pile of sharp
sand in the poultry yard is one Of the
best means of supplying this. Charcoal
is good preventive of intestinal trou-
bles. A box Of 1t should be kept
where they can get at 1t at all times.
A little salt mixed with this charcoal
h beneficial.
Feeding Young Chicks.
There are three especially important
feeding problems that confront the
poultry raiser-feeding young chicks,
feeding for egg production and fatten-
ing The greatest source Of loss In
poultry raising is improper feeding Of
young chickens. The newly hatched
chicks should not receive any feed at
all until they are forty-eight hours old.