The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-05-06
ACCESSORIES ARE NECESSARY
FOR FOWLS PROPER FEEDING
Some Fanciers Starve Flocks
in the Midst of Plenty
Value of Grit.

(eY ROBERT ARMSTRONG,
Expert PouItryman and Writer)
So far as quantity is concerned
most of us feed literally enough. in
fact, some feed too literally. There
is seldom any serious objection
raised on quality. But how about
varieties? How about the Access
series to the bill OF fare--the
greens, grits and grubs? These
are the elements which are too
often neglected, and without which
fowls suffer.
There is a difference between feeding
chickens and simply supplying them
with food. To feed intelligently means
most economical manner. To give the
flock food usually means to throw out
grain and other products regardless
of the character of the food and its
relation to the demands OF the fowls
No single grain or form of food is a
complete ration for man or beast. An
animal may subsist for Il time on one,
but sooner or later it will cease to
thrive. and eventually it will perish by
disease or tarvation-induced by mall
nutrition. The bodies of all creatures
positively demand certain elements. and
without them they cannot survive.
When diet or ration is made UP in
such a manner as to supply a suffi-
ents. it is called a balanced ration.
In the limits of a single article it Is
impossible to discuss at any length
the principles of nutrition and feeding.
Most poultry raisers feed sufficient
grains. therefore they provide enough
carbonaceous matter, since most grains
are rich in this element: it is also likely
that they feed considerable protein,
which is another term for heterogeneous
matter; but their rations are probably
deficient in mineral substances. which
we have termed the accessories to the
regular bill of fare.
Furnish Fowls With Grindstones.
Most animals are provided with teeth
TO enable them to masticate their food
and thus prepare it for the action Of
organic secretions, and its ultimate
assimilation. Hens teeth are proverbi-
ally scarce, though they have been
endowed with an equally good substi-
tute in the form of a gizzard. This is
quite a remarkable organ; it is tough
and muscular. capable of strong rotary
action, and so situated that all food
passing from the crop must enter the
SizZard, where it is ground up previous
TO entering the intestines for the final
digestive processes.
In chickens the food is first received
IN the crop, where it remains for a
time and is acted upon by a secretion
similar to the saliva in the mouth Of
an animal, which softcns it to a great
extent. When the food has absorbed a
sufflclent amount Of this secretion, il
gradually passes into the Eizzard
thence to the intestinal section, where
the available nutrients are separated
from the waste, and assimilated by the
blood
II supplied with the necessary grind
Ing material the gizZard will perform
Its work thoroughly. and the fowl will
be maintained in healthy condition.
But. il this grinding material Is not
available, or il 1t is OF improper char
acter, husks and the harder portions
OF the food will defy the action of the
glzLard, accumulate, cause a stoppagc,
and as a result the fowl becomes crop
bound, which is Il form of indigestion.
Lack OF sharp grit will also cause
sour crop, diarrhoca and liver troubles.
and sometimes the gall sack will over
flow. or burst, and result in the birds
death.
Just as a person with poor teeth de-
rives little enjoyment and less nour-
ishment, from his food, and is fire.
quently troubled with indigestion, so
will fowl be unable to properly digest
go A'S' ''i'i' % til' S!LEblu Is itTONlutI
with "molars sharp grit at all times,
Grit Must Be sharp-AnguIar.
Don't assume that because fowls are
given freedom to roam about a field
that they Will pick up sufficient grit.
Unless the hen yard is adjacent to a
the pebbles picked up on the
average farm are of little value as
grit They are not sharp enough. 4
round pebble in fowls giz-
zard is of no miore use than an axe
handle would be for splitting wood
To be effective grits must have sharp,
angular corners; like grindstones. they
must have biting edges.
Oyster shells are fed in addition to
grit, for the lime and other mineral
that they contain. 1t is
astonishing how much of these shells
are consumed by a flock Of hens during
the laying season. and how little during
the unproductive months, which is the
strongest kind of testimony as to their
usefulness.
Grit to grind the food, charcoal to