St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1916-02-23
FEEps FOR PoULTRY
Use Simple Mixtures and Home Grown
Grains-COnditiOns Govern Sc
lection Of Best Ration.

lection of Best Ration.
Though the feeding of poultry is
much debated subject in poultry hus-
bandry. there is no one best feed or
combination of feeds Results de-
pend almost as much upon the ability
of the feeder and the methods of feed
ing as on the kinds of grains. says the
Weekly News Letter of the Depart
ment of Agriculture.
The simplest feed-mixtures and
home grown grains should usually be
selected. the rations varying with
changes in the market price of the
grains. 1t is advisable for most poul-
try raisers to mix their own feeds, as
in this way they can control the pro-
portion of the various ingredients and
obtain the precise mixture that they
desire If, however, one desires to
purchase prepared feeds. information
concerning the different commercial
articles may usually be secured from
the State experiment station. Most
experiment stations will analyze poul-
try feeds and report on the different
commercial preparations sold by deal
ers in their States.
Poultry feeds may be divided for
convenience into five general classes:
First, grains, both whole and crack
ed; second, ground grains. fed in the
form of a mash; third, meat feeds;
fourth, mineral feeds; and fifth,
green feeds Corn, cracked corn,
wheat and wheat screenings, oats,
barley. rye. and buckwheat are the
principal grains, while of the ground
feeds we have corn meal and corn
chop, corn and cob meal, wheat bran,
middlings, shorts and low-grade flour,
oatmeal, oat flour and ground or
crushed oats. and mixed feeds. In
the meat feeds, or feeds supplying
animal protein, are beef scrap, meat
meal, ground green bone, and various
forms Of milk; while bone meal, dry
bone, oyster shells, and grit make up
the mineral feeds and, with charcoal
and green feeds. complete the COM
mon feeding materials.
Many ground feeds. which are by
products of the common grains, are
used to good advantage in feeding, in
combination with grain and beef
scrap. Ground grains and meat feeds
are more forcing than the whole
grains commonly used, while the com
bination of the whole grains with the
ground feeds makes a more economi-
Cc~A AOOo anu d OSblCI Od1ducSO
than the whole grains alone The
feed elements are usually cheaper in
the ground than in the whole grains
as the former are by-products of many
of the grains used for human con-
sumption. Ground grains and beef
scrap, in combination, either wet or
dry. make what is called a "mash."
These by-products are higher in pro-
tein than most of the common grains.
so that balanced ration is secured
by combining whole grains with the
mash. Some of the ground grains.
such as bran and middlings, add a
large percentage of bulk to the ra-
ton, which is beneficial.
Animal protein is considered essen
t1al to the best results in feeding.
Most poultrymen feed meat in some
form,> while suburban poultry keepers
either feed this product or table
scraps; but few farmers buy any meat
feed. Some form of feed containing
animal protein must be supplied if
any eggs are to be obtained in the
fall and winter. Skim milk or butter
milk is available on many farms. and
where it is not it would probably nav
most farmers to buy beef scrap or
some other meat feed. Fowls on free
range on the farms pick up bugs and
insects during part of the year, which
furnish this protein feed, so that the
use Of additional meat feeds is regu-
lated by individual conditions. Fowls
closely confined need more animal
feed than those on a good range; and
in a cold climate, where no bugs or
insects are available during several
winter months, more animal feed
ct he ez1rrl faI
where the winters are mild.
A well-balanced ration contains the
proper proportion of protein and car
bohydrates for its purpose with the
mineral matter. bulk, and palatability
that are necessary to give good feeding
results. There is no best ration. and
the practical application of science in
poultry feeding is to know about what
proportion of these substances gives
good feeding results and then to use
roughly this relative proportion in
making rations or in substituting Diff
ferent feeds, according to their price
and availability
In securing fall and winter eggs the
first essential is to have pullets well
matured before cold weather, which
means Matching birds of the general
purpose breeds in March and April.
The average farmer matches his
chickens too late to secure eggs in the
fall With well-matured pullets and
improved feeding methods farmers
could secure more eggs in winter than
they obtain under present conditions.
A well-balanced simple ration may
be made of equal parts, by weight, of
wheat, cracked corn, and oats fed
twice daily, usually in the morning
and at night. The grain may be eth
er scattered on the range in summer
and in the litter in the poultry house
in winter, or fed in the house through
out the year. 1t should be supplement-
ed with wet or dry mash of 2 parts
of corn meal and 1 part each of wheat
bran, middlings, and beef scrap. One
feed of mash may be fed at any time
during the day and the grain fed for
the other two meals. Regulate the
proportions of grain and mash so that
the hen will consume about equal
parts of each. About 1 quart of grain
daily should be fed to every 16 Leg
horn hens, or to 13 generaI-purpose
hens, such as the Plymouth Rocks.
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