FEEDING: TWO OR THREE MEALS A DAY?

Otago Witness, Issue 2397, 8 February 1900, Page 43

FEEDING : TWO OR THREE MEALS A DAY?

So far as I can recollect I have invariably advocated the giving of only two meals a clay — a warm mash in the morning and grain at night. lam now inclined to think that, as a rule, better results will be derived where a third meal is given, providing, of course, all is eaten each throw. As an Oamaru fancier remarked to me, " When you come to think of it, from morning to night is a long time to wait for a satisfying feed. I have heard," he added, "that some farmers only give one feed a day, and that at night. They say that the birds, having the freedom of the farm, pick up plenty of food by foraging about. Such may be the ease, but I think that to get best re-ults in eggs or plump birds, they want ' contenting ' at regular intervals." I had a long talk with this fancier and with others on the subject, and after comparing notes find a pretty general agreement on the subject. Because a limited number of fowls on one farm can do well with one meal a day owing t j the fact that by foraging they can get grain, grubs, roots, etc., in abundance, it does not follow that a large number of birds could forage to equal advantage on the same ground. Consequently, even on farms it is quite possible that birds might get very poor on one or even two meals a day. Where, however, fowls are confined in runs, I am convinced that a mid-day meal should be given, even though it be only a light one, and something soon diges cd. GRASS RUNS FOR FOWLS. Rf-nk heresy as it ' maj' sound to the orthodox, I am of opinion that more evil than good emanates from the grass run. I have seen well-bred birds looking in anything but tip-top condition, notwithstanding that they had imlimited grass runs, and I have seen other* in tho pink of condition confined in small enclosures where not a blade of grass was visible. I have come to the conclusion that though a feed of grass daily is a good thing, it is a greater mistake to leave that kind of feed before them all day than it is to leave a surplus of pollard or grain of any kind. I have in my mind's eye one run in Dunedin, and one that I saw in Christchurch, where the birds, immediately they leave the roost, step on to lawn grass. How must this feel and operate on cold mornings when the dew lies thick and heavy? Far from comfortable, and anything but strengthening, surely. Then again, considering the enormous quantity of dung dropped in a season by a pen of birds, and which cannot be removed when on grass, can it be as conducive to health for birds to eat any green stuff thus polluticl and manured as it would be to eat similar food grown beyond reach of their contamination and thrown to- them occasionally? My idea is that fowls should only be allowed on to a grass run for a short interval of half an hour or so a clay. In that space of time they would get as much green stuff, and sweet at that, as was good for thorn, and would be all the healthier for being during the rest of the day on dry ground. Next week I will describe systems of housing adopted by Mr Edwin Reilly, of Willow Bank, Stuclholme Junction. Whether from the farmer's or fancier's standpoint, I think I shall be able to show that in respect to both economy and adaptability Mr Reilly's methods would be difficult to improve upon.