Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1918-01-10
Sprouted Oats
For Poultry

POultry. DIVISION, state COllege OF
Washington has contributed to the
Washington State Experiment Stat
ion, Pullman, Washington, the foil.
owing information on sprouted oats
as a poultry feed: ).
Western POultrymen for years
have used three grains for poultry
feeding, wheat oats and cOarn, witt
wheat fifty per cent of the total
grain fed. Forced now to adopt {
wheatless ration, or nearly so. what
shall be the substitute 70 r what?
Recent quotations are not given ii
ion lots as the supply is decidedly
limited at any figure. Corn is quot.
ed from $50 to $50 per ton with sup,
ply, uncertain. and quality more So.
believe where pumps, heavy oats
are available at from$50 to $50 pei
ton they are the,best and logical sub.
stitute for wheat. The objection L
to oats as a. poultryfood lies in the
high per cent fibre and it's a we'll
known fact that laying hen doe
not satisfactorily handle over -fiSf
per cent of crude fibre in her. rat,
ion. But if whole, dry oats arc
replaced by sprouted oats the OBJ,
jectionable hulls will have been soft,
en- to such an extent that the hen car
discard them as waste with the least
digestive energy. Further, the gra.
in is rendered much more -palatable,
and probably in the terminating
process the protein of the oat vii.
have been resolved to the,less COM:
form which is not. only more readily
but more fully digested then thai
Of the whole dry oat. Finally the.
temperature of which the. oat sprout
makes Of it a warm Feed fact not tc
be overlooked on winter mornings
or evenings. =.
Many poultrymen are familiar
with sprouted oats only thru adver-
tisements in which they are pictured
with green blades from two to six
inches in lenth in which form they
serve only as a very expensive and
not very efficient green food. The
sprouted oats recommend are not
at all to replace the regular succul-
ent green food in the ration but to
form from twenty-five to fifty per
cent Of the grain ration an dare to
be fed when the shoot that would gr-
ow into the blades of the oat is alb
out one eight in length.
IA Simple Effective Mome-Made Dat
Sprouter
The form of oat sprouter that
have found most effective is not un-
like; bureau with six drawers,
which drawers unlike those in the.
bureau slide in and out at the end
instead of the front. To sprout an
ample supply of oats for 500 hens
the drawers or trays should be .abont
4 feet long, 80 inches wide and aat
least inches deep. l would use
one center board partition crosswise
in trays of this size. The bot
toms OF the trays should be of hard
ware cloth IS inch mesh or of gal
vanized iron with rows of perfor-
atoms not less then inches apart
over the entire bottom. No rough
edges or wires should be left inside
the trays may be made of 2x4's
boarded on these sides with ship lap
with a removable cover of the same.
The fourth side would be the end
where the trays are removed and it
should be fitted with hinged door
that can be tightly fastened when
closed. The top of the sprouter is
made removable in order that it can
be lifted: to increase ventilation
when necessary. The 2x4's of the
frame will serve to hold the cleats'
on which on which the trays slide
in and out These cleatsshould be
wide enought to allow plenty of lee
way for the siding of the trays &
which will swell with sprinkling of