HOW AND WHAT TO FEED

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1682, 25 May 1904, Page 71 (Supplement)

HOW AND WHAT TO FEED

Be regular And cleanly. Deed tlie best. Give plenty, but Do not overfeed them. Appetite governs the quantity.' Common sense beats science. Correct feeding is everything. Vary the ration occasionally. Fat hens will not lay too well. Buy your feed from our advertisers. Now is the time to feed green-cut bone. Summer and winter, give a good warm mash every day. Bemember, re costs as much (or more) to feed a mongrel as a thoroughbred. Fowls that are yarded should always be compelled to dig and scratch for their grain food (says “The Feather); they should either be compelled to dig and hunt in the ground or litter out in their runways or yards, or within the house as convenient. Green, food, grit, and fresh water are always in order. The box for shell, grit, and small cnarcoal should never be empty, and fowls should have all the green food they will eat and a full supply of water continually. VVe have recently seen, big flocks ot farm fowls that have never seen any food but corn—that is supplied food—and yet give big egg returns and a good market carcase. These are kept in Nature’s way, however, with abundant range and natural food. In short, Nature supplies the balanced ration that the owner Has tjT - give where the birds are kept in coqhnement. Make a staple food of the grain that is cheapest in your locality, whether corn, oats, wheat, barley, millet, or anything else. Then study its composition, and make up its deficiencies with something else. All grains have a certain food value,, and, to speak broadly, all are good for the fowls, but none are perfect, and while any would make a good basis for a paying ration, none will make a ration in itself. Have you never, in company, been too plentifully served, and, to appear ‘at home,” eaten rather more than was comfortable or good for you? If so, you will understand that biddy, if continually helped too liberally, will at times overgorge herself. Thus it is well to take particular notice of the amount she eats, and give just: about that much at a meal. If it is greedily eaten and- she still looks hungry, give her a little; moreif, on the contrary, gome is left; remove it at once and give less next time*