Evening star., 1916-01-09
SIMPLE POULTRY FEEDS
ARE BEST ALL AROUND
Home. Grown Grains in Proper Mix
ture Usually Most Profit
able to Use.
Local Conditions Govern Selection of
Ration Best Adapted for
Poultryman's Purpose.

Though the feeding of poultry is a
much debated subject in poultry hus-
bandry. there is no one best feed or
combination of feeds. Results depend
almost as much upon the ability OF the
feeder and the methods of feeding as
on the kinds of grains.
The simplest feed mixtures and home
grown grains should usually be select
ed, the rations varying with changes in
the market price of the grains. 1t is
advisable for most poultry raisers to
mix their own feeds, as in this way
they can control the proportion of the
various ingredients and obtain the pre-
else mixtures that they desire. II, how
ever, one desires to purchase prepared
feeds, information concerning the diff
ferent commercial articles may usually
be secured from the state experiment
station. Most experiment stations will
analyze poultry feeds and report on
the different commercial preparations
sold by dealers In their states.
Five Glasses of Feeds.
venience into five general classes: First,
grains, both whole and cracked: sec
ond, ground grains. fed in the form of
a mash; third, meat feeds: fourth, min
eral feeds, and fifth, green feeds. Corn,
cracked corn. wheat and wheat screen
ings, oats. barley, rye and buckwheat
are the principal grains, while Of the
ground feeds we have cornmeal and
corn chop, corn and cob meal, wheat
bran, middlings. shorts and low grade
flour, oatmeal. oat -four 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 shell and grit make up the min
eral feeds and, with charcoal and green
material.
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 grain and meat-fceds are more
forcing than the whole grains COM
monty used, while the combination of
the whole grains with the ground feeds
makes more economical feed and a
better balanced ration 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 consumption. Ground grains
and beef scrap. in combination. either
wet or dry. make what is called a
mash" These by-products are higher
in protein than most of the common
grains. so that , balanced ration is Sc
cured by combining whole grains with
the mash. Some Of the ground grains,
percentage of bulk to the ration, which
Is beneficial
Animal Feed Necessary.
Animal protein is considered essential
to the best results in feeding Most
poultrymen feed meat in some form.
while suburban poultry keepers feed
either 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 win
ter. Skim milk or buttermilk is avail
able on many farms, and where it is
not it would probably pay most farm
ers 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 food. so that the use of addi-
tiona1 meat feeds is regulated by indi-
fined need more animal feed than those
on a good range, and in a cold climate,
where no bugs or insects are availab bic
during several winter months, more an
imal feed must be supplied than in sec
tions where the winters are mild.
A we'll balanced ration contains the
proper proportion of protein and carbo-
hydrates for its purpose. with the min
eral matter, bulk and palata bility that
are necessary to give good feeding re-
ie hnSf fhn
practical application of science in pou1-
try feeding is TO know about what pro-
portion of these substances gives good
feeding results and then to use roughly
this relative proportion in making
tions or in substituting different feeds.
according to their price and availabil-
ity.
In securing fall and winter eggs the
first essential is to have pullets well
matured before cold weather. which
means Matching birds of tile general
purpose breeds in March and April.
The average farmer matches his chick
ems too late to secure eggs in the fall.
With well matured pullets and i'm
secure more eggs in winter than they
obtain under present conditions.
Well Balanced Ration.
A we'll 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 either scat
tered on the range in summer and in
the litter in the poultry house in win
ter, or fed in the house throughout the
year. 1t should be supplemented with
wet or dry mash of two parts of
cornmea1 and one 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 one quart of
grain daily should be fed to every six
teen Leghorn hens, or to thirteen gen.
eral-purpose hens, such as the Ply
mouth Rocks, with an equal weight of
mash. This amount, however. varies,
and should be regulated by the feeder,
as the hens should be eager for each
meal. Leghorns will eat about nfty-
five pounds of grain and mash in
year, and Plymouth Rocks. or hens of
the general-purpose class, about
seventy-five pounds.