The Poultry Run.

Waikato Times, Volume 87, Issue 13245, 29 July 1916, Page 7

The Poultry Run.

ADVANTAGES OF VARIED DIET. A point often overlooked by poultry, keepers, but which is nevertheless of the greatest importance, is that fowls appreciate and thrive better upon a judiciously varied dietary than when they are given the same kind of food day after day, world without end. Poul-try-keepers would naturally protest if they had mutton for dinner every day for a month, but to many of them it never seems to occur that the birds might like a change of food now and and then. The food given may be very good of its kind, but even fowls may have too much of a good thing. Mixtures and Mash.

Too much attention cannot be given to the subject of feeding. The good poultry keeper studies bis bird-, and keeps them under constant observation. The redness of comb, the general activity, and the handling condition of the birds are to fiim infallible indications of their condition, and out of his experience he feeds accordingly. Some successful rearers never give two consecutive feeds alike There is variety enough to choose from, for every meal and every cereal except vetches is suitable for poultry. The most convenient way, of course, is to go in for dry feeding, since the mixtures contain so much variation. 1 hey are composed of the best known chicken foods, and if the mixtures arc supplemented by one or two leects of mash, with green food given separately, you have a system which should produce good resuHs. Yarietv versus Monotony.

The beneficial results of a varied dietary may b-e seen by comparing chickens reared on suo a system with those brought up on little else but wheat Now wheat, as everybody knows, is a very good food indeed, bin to give wheat, wheat, and always wheat, is very bad. The birds lose their zest for food, and arc inferior in size and general activity to the birds which are constantly expecting and getting, something fresh for dinner. Wheat as a basis for a dietary may not be so bad for the lucky chickens which live on a farm, and have acres of land upon which to forage and pick up natural foods and necessary elements from the soil. In that way they get the variety which to poultry, as to poultrykeepers, is the spice of life. The small man, however, who cannot turn ins fowls into fields and pastures, will do well to feed them upon some such system as I have indicated. Feeding and Laving. He will find that variety pays. He will get better value ou: of his birds. For laying hens and breeding stock a varied diet is of the utmost importance. Many a pullet which appears not to be fulfilling the purpose for which it was born, that of laying eggs industriously for its owner, would respond quickly to a change of feeding. The influence of feeding is not long in making itself felt in a fowl's system, and in this connection it may be mentioned that by a variation in food, pay ing due attention to the constituents, a pullet may be held back from laying until the desired time Altogether it would be a good thing if the ordinary poultry-keeper would give his serious attention to the question of food elements, so as to be able to vary the diet of his birds to the best advantage Importance of Prosphates. •

In discussing the feeding of the fowls the importance of phosphates should not be lost sight of. Few poultrykeepers realise their value in the for. mation of bone and sinew, and also in egg-procruction. The most usual me thod of feeding phosphates is to give the growing birds green bone and bone meal. It is not satisfactory, however, because it makes top strong a demand upon the digestive organs, and loses much of its value owing to the fact that it cannot be properly assimilated. To get only a little nutriment value from it, the birds have to eat a great deal, and a lorfe course of this impairs their digestive powers. Unsatisfactory as it is, many poultry-keepers cannot obtain green bone, and they seem to think that a plentiful supply of flint grit is all that is necessary. The grit, of course, is of very great use, and should not be neglected, but in the matter of phosphates its value is only small. Still, phosphates must be given; that is a fact that every poultry-keeper should ftalise. Fortunately, they can now be jpkrehased in liquid form at a reasonfcble cost.