The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-12-25

istand for two or three hours. or over l night. When the poultryman is ready te i feed this material to the flock he should ] first drain off the water and then mix ! the hay into the mash, allowing the hay ! to constitute about one-half the bulk of | the feed Althoiigh clover hay is best
 adapted for serving in this manner, ai- most any kind of hay is valuable Ts, ! feeder must be careful not to supply lco ! much bulky feed to the hens, as these i fowls have small crops and cannot handle
 Ia great amount of roughage as can cows,
 and other animals which ruminate tneIr i feed
 l Grit is essetial to the health of the | fowls and to economy in feeding, as it takes the place of teeth in preparing the | feed for further digestion, and it is re-
 Quired for the proper manipulation of the ] feed in the gizzard. A box of grit should i be provided in every pen or yard, a S this material is an essential part of the menu. i It supplies the fowls with strong bone and bright plumase Similarly, the ac- i possibility to oyster shells or old mortar
 and fine gravel are also desirable as these materials provide the hen with lime, from which egg shells are formed Plenty of fresh water should always be accessible to the hens. If supplied irreg ulary sthey are likely to drink too much at a time. The water should not be ex- posed to the suns rays in summer, nor should it be allowed to freeze in winter In very frosty weather it is often worth while to supply the hens with slightly warm water two or three times a day rather than to permit them to drink ice cold water. A flock of 30 hens in good laying condition will drink four to six quarts of water day.
 When properly fed, milk makes an eX- cellent winter feed for poultry. Tn feed-
 
 feeder must excersise care not to induce digestive disorders Skim milk is an eN-
 tremely economical feed. In slkimming the food constituents most valuable for egg production-the nitrogenous sub. stances-are left in the skim milk. Not only does skim milk contain much nutri7 tive material, but 1t also carries it in 2 form which, as rule, is easily digested. Skim milk may often be advantageousiy substituted in part for meat. Milk may
 be used in preparing soft feed, or it may be given to the fowls to drink in addition
 to their water
 Extensive investigations have convinced specialists of the bureau of chemistery that undrawn poultry contrary to C9e general impression, keeps better iu cold storage and in passing through trade channels than does drawn poultry The experiments revealed that the drawing or Ipcultry as practiced commercially always resulted in the bird becoming contami- mated with bacteria, which caused spoi- age.
 These bacteria multiply rapidly Their, growth is checked by cold storage but IS not entirely stopped. If it were practi- cable 10 draw poultry with the same pre- cautions used by surgeon in perform ing and rubber globes, and under strictly scientific and sanitary condtions so that there would be no bacterial contamina- tion-the drawn poultry would be prefer able to the undrawp. However it is not regarded as practicable under ordinary commercial conditions to adopt such safe guards.