People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1897 — Grains for Poultry [ARTICLE]

Grains for Poultry

The Poultry Keeper is authority for the statement that with the majority of poultry keepers grain constitutes the principal part of their feeding ration, at least in money values, and then goes on to speak instructively of the matter. Of the grain used in this country, probably Indian corn outweighs the rest. It is fed whole, cracked, ground, raw or cooked. Corn contains very little bone forming material, while it is very rich in fat forming and warmth-giving substances. Although corn produces eggs with yolks of dark color and rich flavor, it is not recommended for layers unmixed with other grains. For fattening purposes it cannot be excelled. Oats are a good nerve food cd are not fattening, but their ■ ppiness is an objection to item, as is the amount of waste or useless mattjer on the husks,

especially in poor, light grain. The first objection may be re moved by grinding them very fine, but this is difficult to do. Oatmeal is an excellent food but is rather expensive. If oats are to be fed whole or ground husks and all, the heavier they ars the better. Forty-pound oats contain but little, if any, more weight or husks than twentyeight or thirty-pound oats. Very light or small oats will often not be eaten unless they are soaked and made larger. This does not add to their nour ishment, bnt compels biddies to get out what little there is in them. If hens that should lay are too fat a diet of oats will reduce the fatness. Ground oats and boiled potatoes make an excellent food for producing fertile eggs and vigorous chickens. Wheat aud its by-products, screenings, bran and middlings, may form a part of an economical ration in many parts of our country. If screenings are used they should be fed raw.so that fowls should not be compjelled to eat the dust, poisonous seed and other foulness contained in them. Moistened bran is apt to produce scours, especially during the winter, and if fed at all should be alternated with whole grain. Though wheat is rich in material for growth, easy of digestion and stimulates egg production, it should be fed less freely than coiffi, as too much of it produces diarrhoea. —Farmers Voice.