Milford chronicle., 1929-05-03

are urged to read them carefully and
clip them out for future reference.
From somewhere way back in my
third reader days, recall the story
of a miser who tried to feed his
horse shavings. 1t would save the
price of hay, he reasoned, and If the
change was made gradually the
beast would never know the differ
ence. Maybe the horse was fooled,
but Nature most certainly was not.
Long before the diet got to be all
shavings the poor old horse gave up
the ghost.
AS I observe the way great
many people feed their chickens, l
am often reminded of that story. L
don't mean they are stingy, but their
lack of knowledge about feeding is
lust as great. They are expecting the
impossible and wonder greatly why
they are so consistently sdisappolnt-
ed.
The first thing that must be thor
oughly understood is that from the
hens point of view egg laying is a
secondary matter She eats first OF
all to build up and maintain her own
body. If, after enough has been eaten
for that purpose, she can be per
suaded to eat still more of the right
kind of food correctly proportioned,
she will lay eggs. That's all there is
to the theory of scientific poultry
feeding.
The next essential fact to be mas
tered is that different kinds of feeds
produce widely different results.
Grains furnish, for the most part,
substances called carbohydrates
which are transformed into fat for
the fowls body and albumen or egg
whites. Oother substances, known as
proteins, build up the muscles OF the
bird and furnish yolks for eggs. Pro-
teins are usually fed in the form OF
meat scraps, milk, or tankage. There
are some proteins in grains but not
enough for the hens body and eggs
too.
For the egg shells and bones of
the fowl, minerals are required, cal
cium carbonate being the principal
one. For that purpose, crushed oys-
ter shell or limestone is kept before
the fowls at all times.
A certain amount of green food is
also required. 1t helps prevent di-
gestive disorders and contains the
two valuable vitamins, A and ID, so
essential to the proper assimilation
of other food. Without vitamin D, for
example, the minerals in the feed
cannot be made over into bone and
egg shell.
once it is clearly understood that
each different kind of feed has its
own individuel job to do, the very
term. "balanced ration" ceases to
sound quite so much like foreign
language. 1t becomes plain that the
ration must consist of just so much
material containing carbohydrates
and a proportionate amount contain
ing proteins.
An example of what I consider a u
we'll balanced ration is the one given
below, which I have used success
fully for a number of years. For /,
the sake of those not familiar with
this method of feeding, l shall eX-
plain that mashes are customar1ly
put in hoppers and kept constantly
before the hens at all times. The
grains are preferably fed by hand
with the feeds far enough apart so
the hens will eat plenty of mash in ,
between times. The grains are called
scratch feeds, by the way, because
they are usually buried in deep lit
ter. That makes the hens have to
scratch it out, thus getting much
needed exercise.
A BALANCED POULTRY RATION
Scratch Feed
100 lbs. yellow corn.
100 TBS. wheat or heavy oats.
Mash Feed
100 TBS. wheat bran.
100 lbs. middlings.
100 TBS. yellow corn meal.
so TBS. ground oats.
100 Tbs. meat scraps.
5 TBS. common salt.
Plenty of seasonable. green stuff
should accompany this ration. Grit,
charcoal and oyster shell should be
kent before the hens at all times.
And water! Yes, of course. Eggs
are 65 per cent water and a plentl-
full supply of fresh, clean water
should always be on hand to supply
that requirement. 1t is also essen
tial for the health of the flock.
The feeding of balanced ration
will work wonders. There are plenty
of examples of flocks that were fed
all grain rations with only fair. re-
suits. but which doubled or even
trebled their output as soon as a
good mash with the necessary pro-
tein element was added. 1t is not
enough, however, just to feed 30
so mash and scratch feed ration all
the time. The successful poultry
man will study his flock. He Will
know whether they are being fore
ed and producing beyond their nor
NAL capacity, or whether they are
getting too fat and lazy so they are
not laying as much as they should.
If the former, he will cut down on
the mash and feed more grain. If the
latter, he will cut down on the grain
and increase the mash to make
birds consume more protein.
Motel will gladly answer ques-
tions about any phase of poultry
feeding which may be addressed to
me in care of the editor of this
Copyright, 1929
BY DR.. L. D. LEGRAR, V. S.)
Staytonsville