Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-10-24

= . 4.
feather producing stun to help heT
grow . new coat? Most certainly. The
shrewdest poultryman is the one VINO
understands his hens and knows to
nicely just what to feed at every stage
Of the game. He doesn't wait for the
critical moment, but takes his hens IN
hand before she gets sick. He is aware
OF the fact that 50 per cent OF his sue
cess Is due to proper feeding and is
always prepared with a new diet when
necessity demands it.
Do Not Feed oil Meal.
There Is a good deal Of difference
of opinion as to what is an ideal food
during the melting period. Starving
for a week or more as preamble
preparatory to reading the first chap
ter, is often recommended, and to cap
the climax, then feed oil malls. Cor
rectly defined heaping abuse on top OF
cruelty. Such nonsense; let's digest II.
For an example we will take a man,
thoroughly overworked. He needs rest.
new blood, new tissue, almost a new
coat. Shall we place him in hospital
minister laxative pills? What a pitihui
specimen we should have and man is
better able to withstand starvation
than a fowl. Any adult living being
can stand q certain amount OF starVa-
ton, but when it comes to taking some
thing to induce laxity on top of 1T, 1t is
time to draw the line.
Starving bird we are told. Will
make the efathers drop. Again more
theoretical than practical. The feathers
will drop as surely as the leaves OF a
tree will drop without assistance but
what is required Is something to help
produce new feathers; the old ones
will take care of themselves. But they
will remain just as long as nature Is
in doubt as to whether there is another
new one behind it. If a concentrated
oil Coil meal is the same thing in pow
dered form) is so highly essential to
successful mott, why not make a quick
work of 1t and administer quarter
of an ounce, or whatever is the correct
amount each day thru the throat with
an eye dropper or a spoon?
The reason is obvious; we know 1T is
a laxative, but we do not know the
exact proportion that would be safe.
The hen knows, but she can not speak.
If she had her voice in the matter she
would say, none, because she does not
like it. Therefore we keep on in our
ignorance adding oil meal to our mash
without knowing what IL the rignt
proportion, and the poor hen eats II
blindly until she Is so weak from the
laxative that 1t takes her nearly until
spring to get back to laying. Ask a half
dozen breeders what proportion of oil
meal to use and you get as many dlf-
feernt answers. A mistake in any other
ingredient would not be half so vital.
Add too much Of it and yet get your
hens into chaos that is often not 1or
a long time and sometimes never over
come. Add too much to the food OF
young chicks, and death Is the result.
Young chicks are often ruined with Oil
meal and could not possibly exist II 1t
were not for the abnormally large
amount Of charcoal =, consumed to
counterfeit it.
When you see flock Of chickens de-
vouring immense quantities OF char-
coal make up your mind that they are
critically near the danger point. Tney
are exhausting every effort to counter
act your poor judgment of their re-
uuirements. BY all means cut out the
oil meal. :.
Few breeders may realize it, but oil
meal Is directly responsible for thou
sands Of chicks born with. White
dtarrhoea. Not until we entirely cut
out this food do we succeed In stamp
ing out this dreadful disease on our
plant. The only use for oil meal on a
poultry plant is as laxative. ano
only when sunflower seeds are feo
sparingly and the ration otherwise only
reasonably well proportional there Will
be no occasion to use it.
sunflower Seeds Help.
Strangely enough one Of our fore
most poultry papers recently contra
dicted the wisdom of feeding sunf1ower
seeds, claiming the kernel contains
only a trivial amount of oil and the
she'll or hull is mostly made of tough
fibrous matter and indigestible. To all
bird life which partially grind their
food in the crop by the aid OF stones
and rocks, an oily seed Is very essen
tial. It is this peculiar digestive sys-
tenn that enables them to extract the
food value from such a kernel as
sunflower seed. The fiber matter OF
coarse elements, they are capable OF
passing off just as they are able to
extract the lime from cut clover. 1t was
never intended that birds be fed con-
centrated or condensed oil or oil meal
What oil they require they are per-
fectly able to extract from the crude
seed with the hull left on. During the
Noting period just make 1t q point TO
watch her scratch for these seeds. we
have seen hens let wheat lay during
this period, but never a sunfioWer
seed. Expensive they are to be sure
but In feeding chickens bulk Is taken
as a basis and not weight and in bulk
.,...- got your moneys worth, in sun
flower seeds the same as you do in
tvs