Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 239, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 October 1915 — ALL CHICKENS NEED BALANCEDRATIONS [ARTICLE]

ALL CHICKENS NEED BALANCEDRATIONS

Practical Poultrykeepers Discovered Value of Variety Before Chemist Investigated Before the man-of science made any investigations In his laboratory to determine a proper feed and a balanced ration for poultry, the observing and practical poultry keeper had learned that he did not get the best results when corn or wheat or any other one grain alone was fed to his poultry. From practical experience and observation he had learned some things about proper feed and balanced rations. He knew the effect or result, but could not tell you the cause or reason, and if you should have asked him the reason why a mixed ration of grain and millstuff gave better results than corn or wheat fed alone, his answer probably would have been: “Because it is a better feed.” He knew the result, but not the cause of the result. Now, when the man of science—the chemist, if you please—made the proper investigations and analysis in high laboratory, he was able to give us both the cause and the effect, and to some extent, made the feeding of poultry an exact science. First, he took ah egg into his laboratory. He found that the average egg weighed 875 grains, of which the shell and inner membrane weighed 93.7 grains, the whie 529.8 grains and the yojk 22.5 grains; that the shell and membrane are composed almost entirely of lime and a little magnesia and animal matter. More accurately, it is composed in a hundred parts, as follows: Carbonate of lime 89.0 Carbonate of magnesia 00.6 Phosphate of lime 4.6 Phosphate of magnesia 0.9 Animal matter - 4.7 Applying deductive reasoning, he said: *‘A hen, to lay well and to maintain her vigor, must be given food which when assimilated will produce carbonate of lime, carbonate of magnesia, phosphate of lime, phosphate of magnesia and animal matter, and as far as producing the shell and inner membrance, the above element should be in the food in the same proportion as the same appears in the shell and inner membrane.” The chemist next took the contents of the egg—the white and yolk. His analysis shewed that the eatable part of the egg was as follows: Water, 65.7; ash, 12.2; protein, 11.4; carbohydrates, 8.9. In a pullet’s egg there Is 1 per cent more fat than in a hen’s egg, and .4 per cent less protein and .6 per cent less ash. Then he took the body of a hen and found it was composed of the following elements: Water, 54.8; ash, 3.8; protein, 21.6; carbohydrates, 17. Analysis of eggs and the bodies of hens will vary, and all tables do not agree exactly with the above. The age and bodily condition of a hen may change the result of an analysis. An egg produced by a hen on free range in the summer time, without any feed furnished her by her owner, living by her own efforts by foraging (her food being mostly grass and green stuff, a few bugs and worms), will run from 72 to 81 per cent water. Such eggs are much inferior to eggs produced by a flock fed on proper balanced rations. -The same conditions exist between such eggs as exist between the corn-fattened steer and the steer from the range. The several elements making up the body of the hen and the egg having been determined and their percentage to each other, it was a natural deduction that the food supply for laying hens should contain the same elements in the same or similar ratio. The next step was to ascertain the several elements contained in grains of various kinds. Under the above table it will be seen that no one grain of feed stuff, consisting of bnly one article or element, made a balanced ration tor poultry, and to make a balanced ration it took a combination of several kinds of grains, feed stuff, with meat or fish scraps. A formula was prepared by mixing the several kinds of grains, mill stuff, and meat, along exact and scientific lines, by the college men, for a balanced ration. He had done his work and done it well, but It was not completed and needed testing by the expert and practical poultrymen of the several experiment stations in the country. It was found that while rye was rich in several elements of food stuff, a hen would not eat rye if she could find most any other food. Cotton seed meal was rich in protein and fats, yet poultry did not like It as a ration, and foiled to assimilate a large part of it The formula had to be tested outand recast by the experts at the experiment stations. Poultry keepers, through the poultry journals and official bulletins, are given the results of such investigations and experiments, whlth most poultrymen do not have the time and money or equipment to make for themselves. Large milling and feed companies h»r° been organised to manufacture artti sell balanced rations for poultry, prepared from formulas Issued by the investigators, and tested out by the experiment stations. In purchasing such balanced rations, be sure to patronize firms which have the proper eeulpment, skill and knowledge to properly prepare a balanced ration along scientific lines. Some small feed and other persons have dumped together cheap and inferiour grains ■nd mill stuff, without any knowledge f what constitutes a balanced ration.

St placed foe foflf • ® foarfcot careful about «M purchase St such food. You may say that bens fed on all era or wheat will lay eggs, and that such grains do not constitute a balanced ration, yet you received good results, which is true. But the same hens, fed on a proper balanced ration would lay more and better eggs. When a hen is fed a non-balanced ration she mn»t balance the ration herself. If she Is given her choice of several feeds and grains she will by instinct choose a reasonably balanced ration. If the hen is allowed only one kind of grain, then she has no choice and ran not balance her ration, and it is left to her digestive organs and nature to make the balance the best that can be made of the feed furnished. The result Is a poor egg yield, less vigor and not as good growth or condition aS if furnished with proper food. If furnished an unbalanced ration she must consume more, and the elements not required to make a balanced ration are not assimilated, and are only thrown off in the droppings and become a loss, or makes unnecessary flesh, whereby the hen becomes too fat When a completely balanced ration is fed hens of the proper age and in proper condition will turn the surplus into eggs Instead of fat, and the more feed you can get them to eat the more eggs they will lay. The food which a fowl eats has several functions: First, to develop and maintain its organic structure; second, jto keep it warm—to keep heat in the 1 body; third, to furnish the strength (energy) which is expended In every I movement; fourth, furnish elements and material for the manufacture of eggs In a laying fowl.