Farmer,

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1183, 26 September 1885, Page 6

Farmer,

Feeding and Watering Ponltry.

Fewmxh iind watering poalfiry are (says Mr. Henry Sewart) generally much neaJfroteQ fey those who keep' fowl?. 3k* aeUva f orajfiHtf of fowls, and their patient and urcomplanwig kfebits, tend to encour&pß n<g>ct on the put of their owner?, and th&y consKqaea'Ur suC:r move Jtori this caus° fhaa from any ortK-r to whiih they are ci! ia ted.- Fawfs possess a very active piiyt=i at wg&nisftttrofl. Th«ir digestive apparatus works with Burndaingi rapidity. Kn ounce of corn ia swallowed early in the merning, and in twe hrara tha crop, whitfh ia a part of the stomach, is empty, and tho food is in process of cormrsiflß. into an eggVbicbis laid mtbiii 24 bouts. Tbe -Pgg product of a good hen in a year— and the most of it is laid in the bi'x sprirg and Rummer months— amounts to oßout 17 Iba., or thrae tiiaes the weight of the fowl. To perform all thi« a hen requires a high and vigorous or- ' g&nieation, and this she naturally possesses, tot tbe temperature of a bird's blood runs from 1C 3 deg. to 110 deg., which i 3 about 10 leg. ri-.ore than that of any quadruped. This excessive temperature and great activity of tha reproductive organs causes a correspondingly large consumption of food, ana water is i; : iuded in the term food. iThe rapid digestion of food m a fowl's' ■temach calls for an almost continuous Supply. Regularity of supply ia of the greatest importance when the consumption is so r&pid. If the supply is not regular there is a great loss. There ia not only waste of energy but a wasta of time in rsatoriog this waete of power, and it is on this account that 80 many fowls merely live along and do not produce eggs aa freely as is expected, although the quantity of food is supposed to be quite liberal. The system of sending the fowls to roost with a full belly and^ keeping them all day hungering and thirsting for food, is to blame for much of the shortcomings of the hens. The quantriy ef fsod required by an 'animal I is estimated as ahout 8 per cent, of the live ! weight daily. This merely supports life ; all { increase of weight, or any prbd-act whatever, souet be Bupplisd by an extra allowance, so that 20 hens weighing 100 pounds would seed three pints of solid nutritious food daily to live, and do no more. This is equal ! to three-twentieths of a pint for a hen. \Two- { twentieths, or one-tonth of a pint, or about one and one-half ounce of food, is, then, required every day for the production of eggs, the total daily food requjreraenta being onefourth of a pint, and this is the established rule, fipm long experience, among poultry Keeper?. One quart of corn or other grain far eight hens is the regular daily allowance given m at least two meals, and it h&s been "found that a flock of hens, when supplied with a eonst&nt provision of grain before them, will eonenme this quantity and no ! more, in Sddi6on to what small things in the - shape of flies and other insects, graae, &C, they may pJok xsg. But it has been observed by all feeders _of animate that net only ia tbe necessary healthial appetite for food maintained, but digestion ! and assimilation — which is conversion oi food into blood, flesh, and animal products — are greatly aided by a diversity of food, and, morecver, that a certain ratio must exist between the carbonaceous elements of the food, as starch and fat, and the nitrogenous elements, as albumen, gluten, &c. This ratio should be j about five of the former to one of the latter, and there are few foods which are made op • preoisely in these proportions. Indian corn, for instance, contains too muoh starch and oil, while flesh oontains too muoh albumen and fibrin. Wheat, on the other hand, contains almest the identical elements that blood and flesh'contain, with the needed carbon to aastaon ths animal heat, bo that if onto grain food he selected it should be wheat. This, however, woald be open to the other objection that one Bingle food soon becomes distasteful and the appetite is cloyed. Moreover, leathers and eggs contain much sulphur, and the egg Shells are made of lime, and these, of course, must be supplied in the food. It is, therefore, necessary to be more parti-—^or>y-wiuoi' mmliaitf, uuu*ftiej? tmlum rifovg-figp* great a diversity »f it. Indian corn, wheat, barley, oats, buckwheat, tarnfps, eabbaga, animal flesh, broken bones, grass, clover, all need to be supplied ; while insects, feeds of weeds, and particularly mustard and rape, or other foods which are rioh in sulphur, are all required in order to supply the indispensable needs of a flock of hens that are expected to lay eggs. And the daily allowance should be bo regulated that at least one-quarter of a pint of the grain should be given every M hours. Finally, as 75 per cent, of a hen, or an egg, is vater, and as the hen grinds her own food in the gizzard (a part at her multiple stomach) by the help of coarse gravel, an abundant supply of pure water and of gravel must be provided for her, or ehe cannot properly perfont her natural functions and satisfy her owner.