Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 138, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1918 — SUCCULENT FEED BEST FOR FOWLS [ARTICLE]

SUCCULENT FEED BEST FOR FOWLS

Poultry Keepers Should Make Preparations for Winter Supply of Green Feed. GRAIN RATION IS LIGHTENED Rye Is Particularly Good Because of Hardiness and Furnishes Excellent Spring Pasture—Other Crops Suggested. The time has arrived when poultry keepers shbuld begin making provision for a supply of winter green feeds. While such feeds contain only a comparatively small percentage of actual food nutrients, they are Important because of their succulence and bulk which lighten the grain ration and assist In keeping the birds in good, condition. By taking thought far enough ahead many back-yard poultry keepers even can produce most of the green feed needed and thus avoid a considerable expense. Double-Yard System. If you have enough ground the double-yard system Is advisable for supplying green feed during the growing season. By this system the birds are confined In one of the yards while the other Is planted to some quickgrowing green feed Into which the hens are turned when it attains a height of three or four Inches. This system, not only furnishes green feed for the birds but freshens and purifies the yard. Among the best crops for this purpose are rape, rye, oats and barley. Rye is regarded as particularly good because. In most sections, it will live through the winter and furnish’ an excellent early spring pasture. There are various other crops adapted to different sections. The proper sea-, son for planting varies according to the locality. Feeds for Storage. Of stored feeds, cabbages, mangel wurzels, clover and alfalfa are the feeds most commonly used during the winter. Cabbages and mangels may be either grown at home or bought in the fall when prices are low and stored in the cellar. Cabbages do not keep as well in ordinary cellars as mangel wurzels, and where both of these feeds are available the cabbages should be fed first. The best method of feeding is to suspend the cabbages In reach of the birds. Mangel wurzels should be split and stuck on nails on the wall or fence. Clover and alfalfa may be fed as hay, cut In the lengths of an inch or less, or they may be bought In the form of meal. For use as poultry green feed, clover and alfalfa should be cut while slightly immature. This Is one of the points that the poultrykeeper will need to look to In making provision for a supply of winter green feed. Sprouted oats constitute an unfailing source of winter green feed when no other feed is available, but Involve more labor and expense in preparing and feeding them the vegetables or hay. They should not be relied upon exclusively. Oats may be sprouted at any time of the year and are therefore a dependable reserve. Importance of Green Feeds. Too much emphasis cannot be placed upon the Importance of growing some green feeds at home. If there is not enough space in your own lot, both to keep the flock and grow a few cabbages, an arrangement might be made with a neighbor who keeps no fowls to allow the use of a bit of ground for late planted cabbages. For use as poultry feed, it If not necessary that ,the cabbages reach full maturity or that the heads be as perfect as for table use. Even when a cabbage plant is composed almost wholly of the large green leaves that would have to be thrown away If used for table purposes it makes good poultry

feed. The poultry branch of the bureau of animal Industry, United States department of agriculture, has devoted a great deal of attention to winter green feeds for poultry, and asserts that a full measure of success cannot be attained with hens unless adequate provision is made in this regard. Where only a few hens are kept the kitchen waste will largely take the place of green feed even in winter.

Infertile Eggs for Market. The loss in the United States from improper methods of producing and handling eggs amounts to millions of dollars a year. Probably one-third of this loss is due to the partial hatching of fertile eggs which have been allowed to become warm enough to incubate. This annual loss of good food can be prevented by separating the* hens from the male birds after the hatching season is over. The male bird serves no useful purpose in the flock during summer, fall and winter and should be cooked, sold or confined Immediately after the hatching season is over. Teach How to Preserve Eggs. To teach city people how to preserve eggs with water glass, extension workers of the poultry division of the United States department of agriculture are holding demonstrations in large department stores in a number of cities. Demonstrations have been held in Washington, Chicago and New Orleans, and the plan is to extend the work to other large cities. Similar demonstrations have been held in rural schools and at meetings attended by farmers.

Record for Hauling' Eggs. The first commercial truck load of eggs from Vineland and Millville, N. J., into New York city—about 140 miles —arrived recently with not one egg broken. Delivery from the shipper to the wholesaler was made In 15 hours, which Is faster time than that made by express shipments, and establishes a record for motor haul of eggs, according to the bureau of markets of the United States department of agriculture which arranged for the demonstration. The five-ton truck carried 150 crates of eggs weighing nearly four tons, the rest, of the load being made up of crated glass. It left Vineland at about 11 a. m., and arrived in the wholesale district of New York city at two o’clock the next morning.

Poultry Wheattess Rations. Wheatless rations for commercial or coop fleshing of young chickens for market offers to commercial feeders singularly efficient and economical rations for rapid gains In weight In tests conducted by specialists of the United States department of agriculture, a report of which has been public bed in a professional paper, Bulletin 657, a ration composed of cornmeal and fresh buttermilk, fed again and again throughout the whole feeding season, produced In 14 days* coop feeding an average gain of a pound for every 888 pounds of wet feed consumed. Still better results were obtained with distillers' grains. In the tests the highest and cheapest gains were made by birds having an initial weight of two pounds or less.

Some of the heavy breeds of fowls are very hard to break of sitting when they once get “in the notion,” and extreme measures are often practiced upon the poor erring ones.