iiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiSiii ■'^-mx'^mgg^iiuil&'i'''^ w» ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York State Colleges OF Agriculture and Home Economics AT Cornell University the gift of Paul Pomeroy Ives 2d in memory of Paul Pomeroy Ives Cornell University Library SF 494.M12 Common sense 'owl nutrition The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003120395 C. H. M.INTIRE A POULTKYiMAX SINCE CHILDHOOD Ten Ye;ir-i' Research on Their FEEDIXC Two Yriirs' Calling upon the POILTRYMEX and FEED MAXTFACTURERS COMMON SENSE FOWL NUTRITION BY C. H. McINTIRE PRICE, DELIVERED BY PARCEL POST, ANYWHERE IN THE U. S. . . . $1.00 IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES . . . $1.25 DAWSON, ILLS. MCMXV Hf-f E 6551 Copyrighted, 1915 by C. H. McINTIRE PREFACE I 've explained here, just what ten years ' research has taught ; Though 'tis simple, 'tis all scientific — To gain it, many tli?couragin'» times I have fought. (Follow i) 'Twill make your hens more prolific. Not only you can get a lot more of eggs — Less labor, less fret, less toil : Old hens in the molt, won 't have those weak legs ; Their voidings, not so good for the soil. The heart breaking sight of dead chicks in the shell "Will now be a thing of the past. Pine-flavored eggs, that will readily sell At top price, to the classiest class. Forget all your old hobbies, you will see then at last ; "With vitality your principal thirst. Old-time theories will soon be a thing of the past — Make your motto right now— STAMINA FIRST ! COMMON SENSE FOWL NUTRITION MR. POULTRYMAN, Mr. Farmer and Mr. Stockman: Are you desirous of reducing the High Cost of Living and do you want to be healthier and have your days lengthened? If so, I want you to put your time up against my money and I will prove to you that this can be done by eating eggs laid by hens that have been fed the proper kind of foods from which these eggs are made. Read every word in this book, from cover to cover and, although there are many things that you never heard of, if the whole thing doesn't spell common sense, all it has cost you is your time. I ask that you read it carefully, not passing up a single clause without thoroughly grasping its meaning, and then if you don't see your way clear to have $1.00 invested in it, there will not be one word said upon its return, but your money will be cheerfully refunded. I will ask, as a special favor, that you be as careful as possible, and not soil the book. I have written in sueh language as can be understood by any one who can understand the language of the daily newspaper, not hesitating to boost anything that I know to be right. I want you to read and just imagine that I were in your Common Sense Fowl Niitritio} office telling you these things, or in your home, right by your own fireside, and that many of them were replies to questions you were asking. I don't know how to thank the hundreds of poultrymen whom I have met and into whose homes I have been invited, and with whom I have gone into their poultry houses where there were sometimes a con- tinual cackle and song, other times a droopy lot of down-and-outs that were hardly able to move out of our way. How well I would like to pay them, every one, a return visit! I remember how about 95% of them would argue out their theories, then finally say : "I have a great lot of trouble with chicks dying in the shell ; my eggs are running most unfertile ; my hens are dying in the summer from overfat ; I can- not raise June-hatched chicks ; I used to think that the males were responsible for the sore spots on the combs, but find that they still continue when males are away; many of them die and when I dissect them, I find a very much enlarged liver, nearly covered with little white or yellow spots; many hens are dying during the molt." And there are dozens of other things that they may say. The whole thing points to improper feeding, which has resulted in the loss of stamina. I have not tried to cover the whole subject of Poultry Culture, but only what pertains to the feed- ing directly. I claim that disease can practically be eliminated by proper nutrition, but don't attain the idea that I mean to say that if your chickens Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 9 get sick, just apply faith to my theories and formulae and expect them to get well, for it will take several generations of this Common Sense Feeding to get their stamina to such a height that they will overpower the diseases peculiar to them and now common among them. However, this can be done, and can be done by you. In remedies, I am not posted well enough to advise, so 'twill be necessary for you to seek other advice, should your fowls become sick. From the fancy point of view, I can give no advice other than to say that feathers come from food, and stamina and Proper Feed are most essential and should be the first thought in their production. Buy a Standard of Perfection ! Mr. Stockman, you cannot afford to let this book go by you, for 'twill lend you many thoughts that will help you in the feeding of your animals. Body tissues are all made up from the same elements of food, to be sure, in different propor- tions, according to what is required of the animal. A horse that is working hard, wants energy-forming foods as well as protein and phosphorus for the rebuilding of the muscular tissues he is breaking down in his strenuous duties. And, if you will thoroughly study the rudiments of this book and then try a few experiments, as I have with the chickens, I am sure you will be as well pleased with your purchase as the poultryman is with his. It is not mv intention nor desire to attack the 10 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition advocates of certain theories for the sake of argu- ment, but I am going to give you facts as I have proven them and then appeal to your judgment and ask you, does it sound reasonable? I am going to tell you the situation as it actually exists in the feed game today. How the stockman and poultryman are being faked, and hum-bugged by misleading, profuse, inconsistent, unscientific literature. How some of the manufacturers are spending half their gross profits in putting out this "dope," claiming all sorts of miraculous results from their stuff, when the fact of the thing is that many of the biggest advertisers are the worst kind of feed adulterators, using innumerable fillers of little or no feeding value, mildewed, dry- rot, burnt and scorched grains, and seeds of poison- ous weeds that will inoculate your farms and poison your soil. I want to assist you to help yourself, by telling you these things, that I believe there is no other man in the Middle West in a position to know as I do. I want you to learn to exercise your judgment and learn to recognize a feasible argument when put forth, and to recognize quality of grain when you look at it, and be able to say for yourself, is it good or bad. Don't read a book full of this "bunco" and then say : "Well, it's a big company and it must be true." That is no significance of quality whatever. Perhaps if they sold quality their profits wouldn't be so big, and consequently THEY wouldn't be so big. I sincerely advise buying Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 11 from the manufacturer, for he can buy large quan- tities when grains are low in price, much cheaper than you can buy them in small quantities. He also has better facilities for mixing, which is very essential in Dry-Mash making. There are mixing machines that are guaranteed to so perfectly mix mashes that two samples taken from the same batch will analyze within I/2 of 1% of each other. A mash improperly mixed may cause an awful lot of distress in your flock, so, above all, if you persist in mixing at home, do it most thoroughly. The first thing you should do whenever you con- template buying prepared feed — Poultry, Horse, Cow or Hog — that has marked on the bag "balanced ration," is to find out if the manufac- turer himself can define a balanced ration, and if he can't tell you what he means by it, I think that you will be pretty well convinced that he is very care- less how he handles the truth. (The term ready RATION will, in the near future, appeal to more people than balanced ration. ) I have been in hundreds of mills and I want to tell you that I think it about time to expose some of this humbug. I had one manufacturer tell me that he could not allow me to visit the entire plant, as they had a secret process of manipulating their feeds that made them more nutritious than others. Don't swallow such, tommy-rot. Don't patronize the man who will not gladly show you through his plant, tell you just what his ingredients are and allow the inspection of each of his raw materials. 12 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition There are no people under the sun who have been more humbugged than the poultryman with the continual flow of how to make hens lay, coming from every corner of the globe. In two years' calling upon the manufacturers, I can recall but few instances where one of their first questions was not, "Will your stuff make hens lay?" and you, as well as they, will look yourselves blind for this GOLDEN EGG if YOU don't cut out your promiscuous feeding and breed, as well as feed, some vitality into your birds. You have been the victim of much graft, and are today, but I have not the liberty to tell you all I would like to, and just who is Avho. Therefore, the only thing I can do is to teach you to take your own part, by learning to detect right from wrong. There is much food that is very desirable, going to waste right on your farm, that might be carried away in the egg basket, and still have your hens in better physical condition than they are today while feeding your dopes and stimu- lants. I can safely say that 99% of the people I have met are most eager to better their condition. The other 1% are neither making any progress, nor giving any one else credit for progressiveness. If they didn't find out a thing first, they were envious, and wanted to call it "rot." One party wrote me (regarding an article that I had written in a poul- try publication), attacking my theories, that he was about to give up hatching one spring, because the shells were so resistant that the chicks were unable Common Scn$e Fowl Nutrition 13 to penetvate, and that The Pctaluiiia People told Iiim about applying moisture and it saved the day. I wrote hiiu that I was sorry that some twelve- year-old schoolboy didn't come along and tell him to remove the caiise, when he knew so well what was to blame. I wish to emphasize that, should any of this kind of people get hold of this book, send it back at once, as I don't want their money. I want it in the hands of only those who are open to conviction; who realize that the world is improving all the while and who are willing to advance with it. I want you to test my theories, and the more rigid the test, the better both of us will be pleased. There are a lot of things to take into consideration when making a thorough test of any system, but I assure you, that if you will follow the teachings herein, you will not have to wait a 3'ear, to decide whether I am right or not. Don't understand me to say that there is no other system hy which chickens can be reared profitably, but I do say that there is no other system by which they can be raised at as little expense ; to have the steady growth ; to produce the health and stamina, and to produce eggs as highly nutritious. All I ask is that you give my system a fair and impartial test and I will prove to you that you will not only raise your chickens cheaper, but with less labor, more stamina, more rapid and steady growth, less disease in both old and young stock; and, last and best, more eggs of a higher nutritive 14 Common Sense Fo wl Nutrition value for human consumption than with the old- time theories. I have been making research along these lines for ten years; and yet, well do I realize that I am in the infancy of my knowledge. All the poultrymen I have met have urged me to write this, but if, after you have read it, you don't think you have gotten your money's worth, return it and I will refund your money. This book is guaranteed to please you, and you must be satisfied. The reading of poultry publications has caused more than a few to get visionary, and in a good many ways. Some will get the idea that they will be a judge, attain a national reputation and have the whole Avorld amazed at their decisions. Others have an immense egg farm in their visions. And the one that tops them all, is the one who wants to be a professor. He may not have enough brains to tell a chicken from a jaybird, but he is the pet of the family, and his father will send him to one of our poultry schools; he will stay there a year, and come home with a little vandyke and a prefix to his name. He is now ready to start his mammoth plant, where he will get all his work done by students that it will pay him to get to do it. There are also a lot of professors, trying to teach poultry culture in with other courses in some of our schools, who know absolutely nothing about chickens, but will ask questions from some books or bulletins, and if the answer corresponds, all well ; and if not, they will tell the pupil that he is wrong. Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 15 regardless of what argument he may put forth. This term "professor" has misled many people, as they naturally think that because a man has attained such a position, he must be authority, when in reality he knows very little. There is quite a difference in the deliverance of the man who can read, observe from an economical viewpoint, experiment, and who is inventive and will at once grasp a logical argument when put forth, from the one who only has the ability to memorize every book he has read and can answer any question in its language only. There is too much politics and other graft executed in the selection of the edu- cators of our schools today. I know of a certain agricultural professor, who told a farmer to keep his cow in the lot away from a neighbor's cow that had the milk fever, lest she might catch it. If this be true, it may be well to quarantine a man with appendicitis. It is not the man who is standing back to see what his neighbor is going to do before he acts who is winning in this day and age, but it is the man who is a good observer and a good listener; who can look over a big field, then incorporate the better ideas and systems of all. I once heard a farmer say, when asked if he had planted his corn yet : "No ; I usually wait until some of the leading farmers start before I do." If every man were just like he — What kind of a world would this world be 1 Too many people will say "I can't." Did you 16 Common Sense Foicl 'Nu trition ever think how easy it is to say that and give up? Failure after long perseverance is much grander, than never to have had a striving good enough to be called a failure. If it is a difficult role, so much greater is the revv^ard, if you perform it w^ell. This book is small, 'tis true, but 1 have told you the things that you wanted to know and have not padded it (so to speak) one bit. I have given you for fl.OO, information that cost me hundreds. There is no use for me to repeat the same old story you have read every time you ever picked up a poultry publication. I have given you no statistics as to the extent of the poultry business, but will assure you that there is absolutely no danger of the market being overstocked, and that there is a keener market, growing every day, and especially for quality stuff. No farmer would think of marketing his hogs without fattening; so why not fatten your chickens? If the large fattening plants over the country can afford to erect expensive buildings on high-priced city land, buy your chickens, buy the feed and milk and hire men to fatten them, why don't you do it, when yon couldn't be doing anything else, and reap the benefit of this excess price that they realize for this Avell-finished stuff? There is a demand for this stuff in every city, and you won't have to run after them, to get them to buy it either. I have come to the conclusion, that to make a Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 17 success of anything, a man must become a crank in the estimation of the public. Being a lover of chickens since childhood, and with the knowledge that the cattle ranges of the West were rapidly growing smaller, and the farmer and dairyman were selling many of their veal, that the only thing to replace the meat food shortage that was growing more rapidly each year, was the chicken, and, as the research being made by most men was more along the line of fancy, rather than utility, I took up the study of the utility side of the game. I find that poultrymen are about the most gen- erous people there are. I never found one who had any secrets. They are proud of their success, but will always tell how they did it. I many times think that their generosity is more injurious than beneficial. That is, taken as a whole. So many will have good results with a certain method for a short while, and get so enthusiastic, that they want to tell others at once and help them along likewise. They write a long article and submit it to some magazine for publication ; time rolls along and soon their hens cease to respond to the usual treatment ; then they get the "blues.^-' The whole secret of it is, that the reaction has come on after the stimu- lants have created all their exciting ability. You will notice throughout this book that I am strictly against the use of anything stimulating. I want to see the hen lay to her capacity, but I want to cause her to do it by giving her the proper care, housing, sanitation, food, etc. 18 Common Bensr. Fowl 'Nutrition The first thing, we all agree, is to get the right kind to start with. This, however, is a very diffi- cult question, that I won't attempt to answer, as 'twould he getting somewhat away from the sub- ject of nutrition and into the fancy line. But after you have solved this and have your foundation stock, the next thing is to keep them right and cause them to produce chicks as good as they are. To do this you will have to learn to breed, as well as to feed, which, when properly done, will cause them to be more prolific. Food is the source of all energy, and without the proper food you cannot expect to keep up the stamina of your birds. Chicks that are stunted will never make good layers, however good their parents may be. So much more than is ordinarily contemplated, depends upon the start the little fel- lows get in the world. ( See Chick Feeding. ) When a mechanic starts to repair a machine that he knows nothing about, he first studies the con- struction of the machine, how it should work and where the weakness is, then attempts to make the weakened parts stronger. I have considered that the hen was a machine and never passed an opportunity to dissect one when she died, and find where her machinery was deficient, and wonder if these weakened points could have been strengthened, had she been fed the material from Avhich they were made. I have proven that this can be done in the majority of cases, if done in time. The proper time to begin Common Sense Fowl 'Nutrition 19 is now. Feed the hen the material of which body tissues are made, in an available fokm^ in the correct proportions to meet her nutritive require- ments and she will keep her machine running at less expense, than by feeding her jiromiscuously, going from one theory to another. There was never a successful business conducted, that had no system, and T want you to do some thinking before you adopt your system. Over 75% of the motor-car owners can tell you all the duties of every little piece of machinery in their car, and of that 75% I doubt if there is 5% who know anything about their own organism. I will be glad when the world awakens to the need of scientific feeding in the human race, for it will not only solve the problem of "high cost of livino," but cause us to live longer, be healthier, happier and wiser. It is a shame that we are eating so much expensive food, working our digestive apparatus unduly, and utiliz- ing so little of it. Yet, who is trying to solve this? To thoroughly understand why I take the stand I do, it will be necessary to study to a certain degree the A B C's of physiology. NUTRITION ASSIMILATION DIGESTION METABOLISM Under these it is usually understood that the digestion is created by the action of carbohydrates on protein, and that assimilation is the process of absorption, through the walls of the digestive tracts, of the foods and their being taken up by the 20 Common Sense Fowl Xutrition blood. This action cannot talce place in the absence of the essential minerals of the body. These min- erals are chiefly calcium phosphate (phosphate of lime) ; others are iron, magnesinm, sulphur, aluminum, potassium, sodium-chloride (salt) and traces of manganese and arsenic. These minerals are hereinafter termed as ash, bone ash or phos- phate of lime. These minerals are thus designated in primary physiology, therefore, known to all as such. The process of the blood building up the various tissues is termed "metabolism." The elimination of the waste material or disassimilation is known as catabolism. However, the term "metabolism" is more often used to designate that a human, animal or fowl is gaining in weight, and catabolism, to designate that they are losing weight. It is too hard for the average man to grasp the minute detail and chemistry of metabolism, therefore, I will keep away from it. Those who wish to get these things minutely, I would advise to address A. F. Pattee, Mt. Vernon, N. Y., and for .fl.50 get a book on Modern Dietetics that will many times pay for itself l>y showing you how to cook and pro- portion your foods to make them more nutritious. For the stockman, get Henry's "Feeds and Feed- ing," Madison, Wis., also sold at fl.SO. However, if you will content yourself by applying the sug- gestions offered herein to your particular needs, it cannot help but reduce the cost of your living, as well as the feeding of your poultry and animals. Common Sense Foivl Nutrition 21 WHAT IS FOOD? Webster says: "What is fed upon, that which goes to support life by being received within, and assimilated by, the organism of an animal or plant." Food is divided into five distinctive elements, viz. : Protein, fat, carbohydrates, phosphorus and lime. Water also plays an important role in the digestion of foods, adds weight, but yields no energy. Constant use of ordinary foods with which v.'e are so familiar causes us to little appreciate how complicated they really are. Yet the thorough understanding of them takes us far, not only into chemistry, but into geology, botany, physics and physiology as well. Protein, nitrogen and ammonia are practically the same. The chief difference being in mechanical construction; therefore, protein is many times termed as nitrogenous substances. (When meat decomposes, the tissues break down and release the nitrogen in the form of ammonia gas.) It forms about 20% of the body. There are several different forms of protein, that is, structurally, but not chem- ically. The true protein in corn is the same as the true protein in beef, but is commonly claimed to be less available. So it is, when fed alone ; but, when fed with as much available mineral as is found in the meat, it is just as available. It has also been termed by some writers as being the most important 22 Common Sense Fowl yutritioii food element. This I dispute. One element is just as important as another. It is another mistake, or rather an imagination, to state that because an egg contains 15% of pro- tein, you should feed just that amount and say that that is what the hen needs and offer such as proof. Ask yourself why, while feeding your old- time 15 or 20% protein ration, your fowls' voidings will show upon analysis from 30 to 50% protein. The act of digesting and the act of assimilation are as far from being the same as East is from West. I have been told that at the Wooster (Ohio) Experiment Station, dogs have been fed on pure protein and died quicker than if they had been fed nothing. I have no data on this, but was told by a responsible party that it was true. I have fed chickens on an ash-free diet and they died in about three weeks. Prof. Klein, in the office of the Illinois Pure Food Commissioner, told me that a cow being fed under his direction on an ash-free diet at the Madison (Wis.) Station died in 20 days. This proves that all food elements are necessary, and not only pro- tein. It is not a matter of how much can be digested, but how much can be assimilated. The taking up of protein in animal life from the alimentary canal, when there is fed too little ash, reminds me of a picture in one of Thos. W. Jack- son's books, "A Slow Train Through Arkansas." He is piously seated upon his wagon with an ear Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 23 of corn attached to the end of a hickory pole, hold- ing the ear just out of reach of the old horse, who is going at break-neck speed trying to get a bite, but the stoi-y continues that the old horse is forced to give up in disgust. A puppy dog Avill chase his tail, but likewise gives up in vain. Many are the blood cells that leave the digestive tract, the latter filled with protein, hungry, because this protein is not in an assimilable form, and go to body parts in need of rebuilding with this mes- sage: "Yet nutrition experts will go on and say that nature provides all the mineral matter that grains need and that the great nitrogen waste in the voidings is necessary as intestinal ballast." Mr. Farmer and Mr. Stockman, you are beginning to realize that there is a loose screw in their theories, because you have found a better feed in alfalfa, and know that it isn't all because it has a little more protein than other feeds. You have found that the voidings from the animals fed on it are not as good fertilizer as on other foods. Its long roots are capable of bringing the phosphorus from the sub-soils to the surface, and its leaves are cap- able of extracting nitrogen from the air (all pro- tein comes from air), and materializing them in plant protein and organic phosphorus, also in enriching the soil for other crops with phosphorus and nitrogen. You have begun to realize the importance of preserving the mineral salts that in past years have been getting away from you, by building silos. 24 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition We all agree that the man who eats a lot of fruits and vegetables, etc., feels better and is healthier than lie who lives largeh' on meats. Do you know that there is more protein in a quart of milk than in C ounces of beefsteak, and that it is far more available? A lot has been said and written about animal protein, so let me tell you that any man who says that chickens will not thrive, or must have animal food, knows nothing of animal metabolism. He offers no objection to the vegetable protein and never tells you to what extent animal protein is available. He has never given any thought to the fact that there are about two-thirds of all the pro- tein in grains being voided, unassimilated. Still he says, feed more protein. There is not a single feeder who doesn't realize that wheat bran is one of the best articles of food obtainable ; and that oats are a great food, and the only single objection is the oat hull. He has never had his attention called to the fact that wheat bran contains aside from 12% to 16% of protein, 5% to 51^% of ash, and that oats contain about 3% of ash. (See Ash.) Vegetable and animal protein are chemically alike. The "true protein" in the one is the same as the "true protein" in the other. The only dif- fei'ence in the two is a "structural" or "mechanical" difference; and in that respect the protein of the cow differs as much from the protein of the pig, as does the protein of the pig differ from the pro- Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 25 tein of corn, or that of corn from that of wheat. I omit, in all my formnlas, all animal protein, not because I object to animal protein, but because it is not always germ-free and is apt to bring all sorts of disease to our fowl and to ourselves. Good fresh meat from the butcher-shop is one thing; but the refuse from this meat, when decomposition has set in, in whole or in part, or meat scraps made from cats, dogs, dead horses and other fallen animals, Avhich may have died of glanders, hydrophobia, tuberculosis, or other contagious diseases, is quite another thing, as the tanking or steaming process does not destroy all the germs in this refuse meat. And any one with common sense would not expect an edible porterhouse steak, worth 20c or 25c a pound green, to be made into beef-scrap for poultry, selling at 3c a pound dry. Just think a little! Another very serious objection to meat-scraps is its high fat content, which fat is mostly putrid and decaj'ed, giving the scraps a more or less offensive odor, making them unfit to handle, let alone to feed. The high fat content will also unbalance a care- fully balanced ration, impair digestion, increase mortality and destroy the usefulness of most laying fowl beyond their second year. I heard a gentleman, who is considered author- ity, state that chickens could not be fed too much protein. When asked, "What becomes of protein after it is eaten by the fowl?" his answer was, "Well, it mostly goes to eggs." Is this practical? You 26 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition won't need to be a chemist to know that water will only dissolve a certain amount of salt, chem- ically termed, "held in suspension." So far as the solution is concerned, the salt that is not dissolved, is wasted. I don't know how to make a closer comparison, that all may understand, than this with ^the blood taking up the different food elements. After it has taken its limit or capacity, then the other is wasted. The body does not build tissues that do not need repair. (Eead article by B. A. Church. ) Feeding too little protein causes too much fat (see Carbohydrates and Fat), and feeding too much protein causes highly nitrogenous droppings, and later a general breaking down of the fowl's system. Here is another one that you Avill perhaps doubt. "Any hen that will ever pay a reasonable profit, will do it until she is five years old if she is properly fed." This is not the general belief, but if you test it out, you can prove it. A very short while ago, I heard a very prominent poultryman say, that the laying pullets should not be fed as the breeding hens were. I say he is wrong. If forced feeding will injure fertility, it will injure vitality. (See Ash.) This same man remarked, that a hen shouldn't lay through the molt, but deserved a rest after her long and strenu- ous laboring. Is molting a rest? Or isn't it much more strenuous than laying her utmost? There are more hens that die in the molting season, than from persistent laying. Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 27 PROTEIN WORSHIP* By B. A. Church To the man who knows cows, the attitude of some of the agricultural writers is puzzling. For years they have been writing learned articles on the necessity of feeding protein, until it has become a sort of fetish, and now that the necessity for such advice, in most sections of the country, is no longer needed, they still continue the fire worship, as though the stimulus and energy produced by protein was the only sole subject of feeding- Many years ago, when the dairy industry of America was confined to the Eastern States, where practically no protein ration could be raised on the farm, it was desirable that its importance should be impressed on the dairyman; and even now, in sections where cheap protein rations are not available, it is a desirable thing to call the feeders' attention to its importance. No one denies that a certain amount of protein is desirable and even necessary, if the cows are to do their utmost, but, outside of certain dairy writers, every one else acknowledges that it is equally necessary to let the cow have a drink of water and give her the proper amount of carbohydrates along with the protein. This continuous harping on protein, as though a little pill of protein would make an 800-pound cow out of a 100-pound animal, without any roughage or other feed, is beginning to make the Agricultural College professor a joke in the "West and South, where there's too much This article appeared in the October issue of "Flour and Feed," 1914, and is copied by consent of the editor, Mr. W. R. Anderson, Milwaukee, Wis., and also of the author, Mr. B. A. Church, of the Larrowe Milling Co., Detroit, Mich. 28 Common Sense Fotvl Nutrition protein in most of the available rations and their chief problem is to procure a sufficient amount of carbo- hydrates in the proper form to mix with the excessive protein rations. The college ordinarily gives no help on these practical problems, but with all the fervency and solemnity of any augury by the Delphic Oracle continues to deliver these on the benefits of protein to feeders who have more of it than they can possibly use. Many feeders are beginning to think the writings of some college men as of about the same practical use as the supplications of a Mohammedan dervish, who keeps his face continuously toward the minarets of Mecca, are to a starving Christian captive. In the heat of a nearly forgotten political campaign General Hancock declared that the tariff was a local issue and the country laughed at him. Now every- one knows that it is a local issue. This matter of pro- tein is likewise something of a local issue. If the Panama Canal was a natural waterway, and Columbus had sailed thru, so that south California became the early seat of learning of America, instead of bleak New England, there would never have been a word written of feeding protein. The colleges would have all been endeavoring to suggest methods of pro- curing suitable carbohydrates cheaply, for that is the want of the South and West, and is fast becoming the want of the North and East, because cotton seed meal, gluten feed, distillers' grains and other high-protein rations are now available in nearly all the markets at a comparatively lower price than the carbohydrates needed for use with them. May protein worship soon cease and our Agricultural Colleges realize the actual situation and cease to harp Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 29 on the necessities of a hundred years ago, and give us some practical advice as to the best present means of obtaining propei'ly balanced rations, honestly admit- ting that carbohydrates are just as necessary as protein, and that the proper amount of carbohydrates must be used, as well as a proper amount of protein. CARBOHYDRATES AND FAT CARBOHYDRATES AND FAT THESE are commonly termed the heat and enerjij forming foods, also as the sugars and starches. The first chemical action that takes place in the digestion of foods is that starch turns to glucose. This is done, when it comes in contact with saliva, therefore the more abundant the flow of saliva, the more easily foods are digested. There is no sugar in grains. Carbo- hydrates contain no nitrogen. It takes approxi- mately 4:%% of carbohydrates to digest or reduce to a liquid state (amount of water impossible to ascertain) each 1% of protein, and all excess is either utilized for heat and energy or is trans- formed to fat and stored in muscular tissues for future needs. This fat will yield as much heat to the body as it would yield were it consumed by fire. In cases where too little carbohydrates are fed (commonly termed too narrow a ration) the body will be drawn on for fat, 1% of which has the diges- tibility of 21/4% of carbohydrates, and must be figured so, when determining the total carbo- hydrates. That is, in figuring fat contained in a feeding ration. The ill results obtained by feeding too much carbohydrates are, that the fowl get too fat and into the heavier breeds. If you will dissect one that has died under such circumstances, you will find that the heart has become fatty and that that fowl has died of heart trouble; or, in other words, there was not enough muscular contraction in the heart to force blood through the body ; while S3 34 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition the ill results from feeding too much fat will be al- together different. The first noticeable effect will be that on the comb will appear minute spots, which will gradually grow larger, then comb will get very dark and purple and fowl will finally die, and upon dissecting you will find that its liver is very much enlarged, with white or yellow spots all over. This is known as liver-degeneration. The gall and bladder will also be found to be very dark. It is impossible to find a ration with too little fat for fowl. (Ill results from feeding too little car- bohydrates. See Protein.) We will suppose that we have a ration that con- tains 10% protein. It will require 4% times that amount of carbohydrates to digest it, which would be 45%. Now, all excess carbohydrates will be transformed into fat. Now, if this same ration contains 70% of carbohydrates, there will be 70% less 45%, which is 25%, left to transform into fat, which will be utilized in the production of heat and energy. Therefore, the ratio of protein and carbohydrates should be regulated according to climatic condi- tions. This can be best done by using a dry-mash of a ratio of about one to four (1 to 4), and then feed less scratch grains in summer and more in winter. Poultrymen have been feeding quite con- trary to nature, by feeding highly proteinated mashes in winter and whole grains (which are low in protein) in summer. This is, I think, because of the objectionable odor of meat-scraps, that isn't Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 35 so noticeable in winter; and, because the old-time nutritioners all advocated the use of meat-scraps in all mashes, feeders naturally attained the idea that mash was not mash, unless it contained meat- scraps. Therefore, many never feed mash at all in summer, and have an open hopper of meat-scraps in winter, as well as an already too highly pro- teinated mash, with a very small amount of scratch- grains. The result is that this excess protein will stimulate the egg production for a while; but, as all know, it will injure the fertility, and when it does this, it will also decrease the stamina. Too much protein from any other source will do like- wise ; that is, stimulate. But the egg flow will not be so great, as there is no other source of protein that carries as much available phosphate of lime. Feed mash every day in the year. It creates thirst ; eggs are 74% water, and the body tissues are about 55% water. There is no danger of their drinking too much water at any time. I say feed mash every day in the year. I mean, too, to feed scratch grains with it, and by feeding more scratch in winter, they will get more car- bonaceous foods to yield heat; while, with the old theories, this was cut down ; so that the only reason for getting any eggs to speak of in winter, was because of the available bone ash in the meat. We will suppose that we have a mash before our fowls that has 12% protein and 60% carbohy- drates ; there would be 54% of this utilized for the digestion of this 12% of protein, and the remaining 36 Ooinmon Re use Fowl Nuirition G% would be trausfoi-med into fat. This would be sufficient to yield all the energy necessary for any of the heavier breeds in the hot summer, but in winter it will require more, because much will be used for heat, as well as more for energy, than in summer, so I recommend that you use the same dry mash in winter, but add scratch grains accord- ing to weather conditions. Here a feeder must exercise judgment. Now, if the above ration contains but, say, 2% of bone ash, there will be but 4% of this protein assimilated, and the other 8% as well as the 30% of carbohydrates that were utilized to digest it, will be voided and is a total waste. So here is where the addition of more minerals can and will save or rather stop this awful waste. For years I fed my chickens bones that had been thrown in the furnace (wrapped in tin and wire) for several hours, and although I knew that it would not make the phosphorus all availalile, I had much better results than I had -ever had before. Then a friend recommended a mineral grit that is manufactured at Plemington, W. Va., and Blairsville, Pa., and known as ITen-E-Ta. * *Hen-E-Ta is made by grinding phospliate rock into a flour, then mixing witli silica and soda ash and moistening with water until it becomes about the texture of plastering mortar. It is then placed in a large furnace that is heated by natural gas, mixed with pre-heated air and forced into it under press- ure, and in which a temperature of 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit is attained. It is impossible to imagine how hot this is, when we know that steel will melt at 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, and Common Sense Foirl Nutrition 37 glass will liquefy at 800 degrees Fahrenheit. It is left here about 50 minutes, whereby it is fluxed and the escaping moisture leaves it very porous. After it has cooled for about 12 hours, it is then crushed into various sizes, from a dust up to about % inches in diameter. This fluxing makes the phosphorus in this phosphate rock just as available in the digestive juices of the fowl as sulphuric acid will make it available for plant growth in the soil. It has been changed both chemically and structurally and is as available as the phosphorus in grain. If you will look up a little geology you will find Tennessee phosphate is a formation created from bones of prehistoric animals and contains just as much mineral matter as do the animals that live today. As- a test, bones of the present day animals have been used in the manufacture of Hen-E-Ta and the finished material cannot be detected by observation in the laboratory nor by feeding tests. The different sizes are : Superfine, or No. 4, for mashes; No. 1, for baby chicks and pigeons; No. 2, for adult fowls, and No. S, for turkeys, geese and ostriches. It is well to feed to any of the bird family, and has been fed, with astonishing results, to hogs. From X-ray tests I have estimated that a matured fowl will have dissolved No. 2 in its gizzard within four hours after eating. It being so very porous it allows the digestive juices to attack throughout. And due to the fact that there is never any voided, as is the case with insoluble grits, which fowls re-eat, many poultrymen have started using Hen-E-Ta who probably would have otherwise passed it up. People will insist on comparing the price with inert grits many times. Re-eating grit is not only very disgusting, but causes much egg taint. Hen-E-Ta is harder than any other grit, and when being used, no other grit Is needed, nor oyster shells and charcoal. Hen-E-Ta has been on the market some eight years and has created such a demand for itself that two furnaces of 20 tons per day each are kept busy night and day. Chemically, phospho-silicate of lime, plus phospho-silicate of soda. After using it for several years with remarkable results, I have become a strong advocate of Hen-E-Ta. 38 Common i^ciise Foicl Xutritioii Oyster-shells or any form of carbonate of lime will make egg shells, but they make a shell in which there is nothing (except a small amount that is drawn from the hen's body) that can be utilized for the chick's development, and the conse- quence is, that the shell is as resistant at the time of exclusion as it was the day the egg was set. But if the chief constituent of that shell is phos- phate of lime, then the chick will utilize much of it for its skeleton and muscular tissues, and when hatching day comes, the shell is so thin and brittle, that the chick escapes very easily. To be sure this is greatly assisted or prevented by proper or improper humidity. This is usually termed rotting of the shell, but it is not rotting, for so long as the embryo is living, there is nothing rotten about it. Now, it is not merely a fact of getting this chick out of the shell, but Avith all this extra mineral in its body it has a much better start in life. The last thing that is absorbed by the embryo (an embryo until hatched, then a chick) is the yolk, and most of this is in the chick's bowels. The analysis of an egg yolk is as follows : Water, 49.5 ; protein, 16.1 ; fat, 33.3; ash, 1.1. There has been a lot of tommy- rot said about pke-digested foods, but if there is such a thing as that 'tis this yolk when found in the chick's bowels. Now, with this 16.1% of pro- tein there is but 1.1% of ash to assimilate it. The consequence is that it will assimilate its capacity, which is 4.2%, leaving the remaining 11.9% to be voided in the usual slimy, sluggish way. CHICK FEEDING CHICK FEEDING NOW that yom- little chick lias hatched out, give it the proper start by putting into its system something to get this protein into blood, to assimilate it, and for this Heu-E-Ta is the only thing that is available, and at a non- prohibitive price, that will absolutely do this. I will prove to you that this chick when fed nothing but Hen-E-Ta and water from the time it is well dried off until it is 48 hours old, will be voiding a firmer dropping, than any you have ever seen at the age of two weeks on any other system. This protein that you have heretofore been allowing to be wasted, has gone into the chick's body, and your judgment is all that is required to prove it. Your old trouble of white diarrhea and droopy wings will also be a thing of the past. (Extreme cases of temperature, ventilation, etc., excepted.) After chick is about 48 hours old, I would advise that you give it its first mess of grain. Scatter a litter no more than an inch deep on your brooder floor, and in this scatter a small amount of any GOOD brand of chick feed which can usually be bought cheaper, than the separate grains can in small quantities ; but if you desire, I highly recom- mend formula herein. The amount of grain I feed to baby chicks I judge by the size of the crop. After feeding a small amount I feel their crops, that is, a few to get the average, and never let them get larger than about one-half inch in diameter the first day, 41 42 Commo7i Sense Fowl Nutrition and let them have a little more each day; feeder must use judgment, not allowing them to gorge. When I say to feed sparingly at first, I do not mean to under-feed, as under-feeding is as harm- ful as over-feeding. After chick is about a week old, it may be given its first mess of dry mash, and by the time it is two weeks old, it may be safely allowed to run to an open hopper. In the mixing of dry mash you should be most careful, as a thorough mixing is much more essen- tial than in the straight grains, inasmuch as you are liable to have a part, say Diamond gluten meal, which is 40% protein, when you would be liable to have the trouble you have heretofore had by feeding too mucli protein. Then you may have parts of it that may be pure corn, etc. ; therefore, I urge you to most thoroughly mix your mash at all times. It can be bought from many feed dealers cheaper ready-mixed, than small amounts of the separate ingredients can be l)ought in small quanti- ties and mixed at home. However, I urge you to insist that you require your feed man to assure you that his mixture is identically as per formulae enclosed. Don't let them put you off by telling you that theirs is just as good, for if you do and then don't get results; you will blame me and say that you followed my instructions and kept a MASH before them all the while. I have heard some men in discussing the feed question say, "if YOU DESIRE TO FEED A MASH, ETC." It is not a matter of what you like to feed that gets you any- Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 43 where. It is what the fowl's body requires, and if after reading this, you still have any old pet ideas that you are not willing to give up, even long enough to make a comparative test, remember what I told you in the beginning. Send this book back, as I want a booster of every man that keeps one, and if you will do as I am telling you to do, you will every one be a booster. I do not advise to feed little chicks dry mash when less than a week old, because if the greatest care is not exercised they may easily become gorged, which will sometimes develop a sort of paralysis, that will result in death. However, I have I'aised chickens on mash alone, and had most excellent results, but it is so easy to get things twisted, so to speak, that I will not recommend it. Above all things, do not substitute any of the ingredients in any of these formulae, as they are carefully balanced. I once knew a man who sub- stituted cotton seed meal for gluten, as "It had much protein in it," as he termed it, and then won- dered why he had no fertile eggs. (Never feed COTTON SEED MEAL IF YOU EXPECT TO HATCH ANY EGGS.) You will understand that leaving out one ingredient will change the ratio of the whole mixture. Too much precaution cannot be taken the first few days of a chick's life, as much of its producing capacity depends upon its start. I do not indorse the feeding of boiled eggs, bread and milk or any sloppy or wet feeds. Failure to provide green food 44 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition for chicks is u very common occurrence. There is no particular danger about it, but a chick will develop much more rapidly and be much healthier if it has it. Oat sprouts are as good as can be found if they are separated from the body of the oat, as the hull sometimes causes ci'op-compaction which results in the chick's death. A product known as Succulenta Tablets is manu- factured in Newark, N. J. It is highly recom- mended as supplying the same mineral salts that are found in sprouted oats, by dissolving one tablet in each and every quart of drinking water that is fed the fowl, both chicks and adults. These I have used to some extent, and they proved to do all that is claimed for them. They will greatly reduce the labor of the poultryman without range. They are sold under a money-back guarantee, and the address of the company is "The Succulenta Co., P. O. Box 40."), Newark, N. J." The very best mixture I ever found for baby chicks, taking both price and feeding value into consideration, is as per formula} herein. The enormous amount of bowel trouble and mor- tality in little chicks is one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) hardships with which the poultry- man has to contend. They have given all kinds of reasons for it, and have tried almost every remedy, but the bowel trouble and mortality seem to increase year by year. This is one of the main reasons why there is so much money in the poultry game and so little taken out of it. BONE ASH OR PHOSPHORUS AND LIME BONE ASH OR PHOSPHORUS AND LIME THE important role played by the ash con- stituent of foods has but lately been given much consideration. All attempts to sus- tain life on an ash-free diet have failed, thereby proving this claim, yet men high up have refused to agree that there is much importance in it. Dr. C. L. Alsberg, Chief of Bureau of Chemistry U. S. Department of Agriculture, rendered a decision in July, 1914, and 'twas printed August 25, 1914, in the Service and Eegulatory Announce- ments, that careful consideration had been made of the labeling of poultry foods, containing either PHOSPHATE OF LIME Or CAEBONATE OP LIME, in the form of grit, and that both must be considered as food, but that it was impossible to ascertain to what extent either were available as food. I am very glad to see this, as it will soon lead others to make research and the results are sure to benefit to an extent far beyond contemplation. However, I disagree with him inasmuch as the extent of these minerals as food can be very closely calculated by making feeding tests, then analyzing the voidings, the results of which have proven that a chicken will continuously assimilate about all the protein, leaving practically none in the voidings, when about 1% of available phosphate of lime is fed with each 2% of protein, that is, when protein is not fed to excess, as detailed hereinafter; feed from 10% to 12%, according to breed, climatic condi- 48 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition tions, housing, etc. (Some allowance must be made for nitrogen in the voidings derived from broken down body tissues, as well as undigested and unassimilated protein.) Carbonate of lime is cor- rectly called a food, for when fed to hens their egg shells will show a high per cent, of it. HoAvever, this is a menace to good hatches, as practically none of the shell structure can be utilized for the develop- ment of the chick, and the consequence is that many of the chicks die fully developed in the shell, occa- sionally with one foot, one wing, or sometimes the head out. I iirge all poultrymen to keep it away from their chickens, especially when eggs are to beset. Use phosphate of lime (Hen-E-Ta) instead. The milk of a woman contains about 1/5 of 1% bone ash (dry basis), and it requires about 180 days for a child to double its weight; the milk of a horse about 2/.j of 1% bone ash, a colt doubles its weight in 60 days; a cow's milk 4/.'5 of 1% bone ash, a calf doubles its weight in 45 days; rab- bit's milk contains 4% bone ash, their young are fully matured at 8 months old, and the milk of a guinea pig contains 6% bone ash, and the saying is that you can see them grow. This proves that the higher the bone ash the more rapidly the suckling develops. So it is with chickens. The higher the ash, the more rapidly they develop. Then comes the ques- tion, "Where can this ash be found in an avaiable form?" Now comes the most difficult question I Coiiimoii Sense Fowl Nutrition 49 have in this book to show the man not versed in chemistry. There is what we call "organic" and "inorganic" phosphorus. The old-time nutritioners have always claimed that inorganic phosphorus was not avail- able as food, and the only way in which it could be made available, was to feed it to the soil and allow it to be transformed to the organic by the action of the earth's acids and be matured in the grains. They were satisfied to stop here and say that all grains and vegetables have all the mineral matter that was required by the animal or fowl. A few questions to ask yourself : Do the bones of your hens lose their rigidty and does the hen lose most of her stamina, quit laying, etc., during the molt? Is it because she isn't getting enough protein? The chemical analysis of feathers show about 90% phosphate of lime (dry basis). Are they getting this all from grains? Mr. Farmer, do you notice your brood-sows catabolising from suckling a large litter of pigs? Still you feed her all she can eat. She isn't getting enough mineral food. Doc- tors, have you ever wondered if you could prevent the decay of the teeth of women before child birth? Don't you know that the child's stamina will depend upon the food eaten by its mother as well as it does upon her vitality? Again I ask, don't you know that the finished product depends upon the quality of the raw material? Do you know that food is the source of all energy? You, Mr. Superintendent of our insane asylums, don't you 50 Common Sense Foivl Nutrition feed your feeble-minded patients "lecithin," made from the phosphorus of eggs? Mr. Stockman, don't you have better growth in the calves fed milk right from your separator still retaining the animal heat than you did when jou used to skim the old way and feed cold? Mr. Poultryman, don't you have better results from your fowl running on the range, eating live bugs and insects, than when penned up and fed the so-called substitutes for these living creatures? Here is the point I want to make. The phosphorus in grains, in warm milk and in all living bodies is partly organic and avail- able, but when the animal heat leaves the body, then a large portion becomes inorganic and is so bound to the lime, that the digestive juices cannot separate it and it is carried through the body, therefore, making a better fertilizer. I would like to have all who are skeptical of this, conduct a comparative test in this Avay. Place two pens of hens of equal stamina, age, etc., in houses exactly alike; feed one pen any of the ani- mal food substitutes on the market, and feed the other fresh-killed rabbits, plenty of warm milk (animal heat only), the Inngs or other offals of your nearby slaughter house while they still retain the animal heat, or any formula herein recom- mended, and see the difference for yourself. And if you want to go further, have their voidings analyzed, and I will prove to you that you will not find one-tenth of the mineral nor one-fifth of the nitrogen from, the latter pen that you do from the Common 8eiif:rL 30- ..T: > \ a >t = L <= (^ Q. c >| ?-!" ^ 0- n 0. K w 5"S N j,^ o' N (b n ^''' r !-- \ "^. 3 X D. X 0* ■f^o X £1; 3 % n tp ■ 3 u .a •^^ 1 » ^ o ^ ( 3, o^ m S r L n >. 1 » 'A « t C r --OB I 3 ,• -t .' o "■f" ■ ff 01 M J- .j:. il.& ■ J « « ■ — ' ^ f< ■ 14 96 Common ^cnsc Fowl Nutrition I never saw a house that was air-tight around sill and eaves. I overcame this around sill by set- ting studding % inch back from edge of sill, allow- ing siding to rest upon the sill, which allowed the tarred paper to la^) over the sill to which it was nailed, after being tarred securely, sealing it air- tight. The rafters were sawed off even with the outside of the plate (north side or eave), and box- ing allowed to come to top of rafter, then sheath- ing boards were started even with outside of this boxing. After the boxing and sheathing were both on, tarred paper was placed from sill to eave and lapped 4: inches. The ventilators were then cut out of paper. Then I cut brackets with short sides measuring 6 inches and nailed on ends of each rafter, over boxing, understand me, on the outside of this paper, and even with the bottom of sheathing. Then a 1x8 sheathing board was placed on top of this bracket, giving the roof an 8-inch eave. This 4-inch lap of the side Avail was thoroughly tarred then the roofing was laid, securing this joint air- tight. Bear in mind, that a pin-hole draft will give your chickens more colds, than an open window will. I never have seen a house with an open front, in which it was not necessary to change the litter every time it rained from the south. It isn't in this one. The glass used is a regular size cellar sash 24x.33 over all. T set the studding 32 inches apart, dressed one edge with a tongue, the other with a groove. Cut it down until the measured 32" edge Common ^cnsc Fowl Nntritinn 97 ^1 North stu ft. 11 in. from back wall, and 2 ft. 6 in. above sill, running lengthwise, is a 2x4 which supports the dropping board, over which the dropping board extends 1 inch. ' Below this 2x4 is placed another 2x4, laying flatwise, it being 10 inches from south edge of the drop-board support to the south edge of this latter 2x4 ( never saw one, so will name it "jump board"), and from the top of the drop board support to the top of this jump board it is 11 inches. The nests are placed behind the dropping board support, the front being hooked over a nail driven in 2x4, and the back hooked up with a small screen door hook. The hen has an 8- inch step from jump board to nest, and a 12-inch jump to the top of dropping board. With the heavier breeds you will find that they will jump from the roosting pole to the dropping board, then to the jump board, then to the floor. Such small Common Sense Foicl Nu fritioii 99 jumps will greatly eliminate bumblefoot. And last, and best of all, a box 2 feet long, 12 inches wide and from 9 to 12 inches high, with a rope handle on each end, may be set on this jump board, leaned back under the 1-inch projection of dropping board, against the 2x4 dropping board support, and a hoe used with both hands in cleaning the dropping board. This box can be slid with ease clear along and carried from one room to the other. I have seen many poultrymen raking off the drop- pings with bucket on one arm and hoe in the other hand (many times the hoe wider than the bucket). Others use a tub, setting it on the floor, and there are few who don't spill at least 5% of the drop- pings on the floor. In a continuous house I recommend that a der- rick or barn-door track be hung in the center of the doors, a box being suspended, having a hinged board reaching over to and against the dropping board support. The partitions should be put in before the drop- ping boards, jump boards, nests, etc., and should extend to the roof on the north side of the doors. On the south side they are even with the south wall, that is, as high as the south wall, which is 31 inches above the sill. Cracker boxes were used for nests with Econ- omy trap-nest fronts (manufactured by Neiman Brothers, Mt. Olive, 111.). A partition 3 inches high is set 6 inches from the front, on which the hen will stand after she lays the egg, eliminating 100 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition the danger of breaking from trampling, so com- mon with the ordinary trap-nest. The door is held vip hv a small button, when records are not desired. A small window is placed in the north end of each pen, secured as the ventilator coverings are in winter. These provide light which will prevent hens piling- litter against the north wall, which they will do if no light be provided in north. A lieu never stands in her o\^■n light. These are removed in summer, as other ventilators are. Xeither drawing nor photo show these. Doors are hung on cheap double swing screen- door hinges (40c jier pair). To cut the studding the proper angle to allow the plate to fit and not uotcli tlie rafter, lay a square on 2x4, long side parallel, short end or side crosswise, with 2 inches space between long side and 2x4, and 14 inches from point where narrow blade of square crosses 2x4 to point Avhere wide blade crosses it. By doing this you will get a neater job much easier than by notching the rafters and squaring the studding. This house has a plate over each of the door stud- dings which greatly strengthen the roof in heavy snows. In a continuous house, not penned off, a ])late over the nortli one is sufficient, as the south ;:tnddings are left out. It is very essential that these (north) partitions be in your house, as they jirevent those dreaded and fatal draughts. Two perpendicular ventilators are shown in the draAving, while there is yet but one installed. The other was omitted to make a comparative test of Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 101 ventilation. This one is between tlie two east pens, and the litter doesn't need to be changed nearly so often as in the other two pens. (All hens being fed alike and the droppings exactly the same texture.) Ventilator extends to within 10 inches of the floor, straight through the roof and above two feet, and is 6x6 inches in the clear, being made of 2-lx6's and 2-lx8's. The foundation is concrete, 8 inches wide at the top, sills 2x6 cut beveled or 45° at corners (illus- trated in drawing), and laid on the concrete before it had set. Bolts were set in one foot from the corners, then every three feet apart, making 32 in all. There are three windows in each room, there- fore, three spaces 28 inches wide. One has an exit, and the other two I made hoppers in (see cut), one for dry mash and the other for Hen-E-Ta. These hoppers are arranged by nailing a wedge-shaped piece 2 inches thick on top of the sill, against the south studding, that is wide enough at the bottom to come out even with the edge of the sill, 5 inches high and 4 inches wide at the top. Then on the north side of this is placed a 1x6 projecting over edge of sill 1 inch and nailed there. This is 64 inches long, making two hoppers. A Avire is placed the full length of this through holes drilled % inch from the front edge and IVo inches below the top, upon which the chickens in their attempt to rake out the mash, hook their bills whereby they waste none. Boxing is then placed on inside of 102 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition studding, notched over wedge to allow it to extend within 2 inches of the bottom or sill and to within 5 inches of the top of outside boxing. Then a board is hinged for cover and set at a 45° angle to prevent chickens jumping on it. This will hold 100 pounds of either dry mash or Hen-E-Ta. For watering, I built a circular platform 30 inches in diameter, on top the bottom board of the partitions between pens 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, which is about 12 inches from the floor. Above this platform I made a small door, which, when open, admits an anti-freezing fountain, patterned after one made at Mt. Sterling, 111., by a Mr. Brooks, whose initials I have forgotten. This door is closed while fountain is being filled. The lumber is of second grade, except the stud- ding on the south side, and this was selected in order that the glass frames be more easily lined. The roofing paper is of the best quality obtain- able. The cost of material was about |80.00, and 120.00 was paid out for labor, making a total of 1100.00. I drew a rough sketch of this house for a carpenter to work to, but he had never worked to a plan or drawing, and for fear of not getting the minute details, he asked that I come home and help finish it, so my labor is not figured in the above; also, my father did quite a bit of work on it ; how- ever, the carpenter said that he felt that he could duplicate it easily for fllO.OO complete. Tf there is a fault in this house, I would like to know where it is. I never mean to be egotistical, Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 103 but I call it perfection. I don't think that there are many men who have seen more houses than I, therefore, I have combined all the good features of others and added some original ideas. This may be considered by some as out of order, and not pertaining to fowl nutrition, but I contend that proper housing is, next to proper feeding, the With the 2x6 removed from north ventilator, a free passage of air is allowed. most essential to stamina. With the very best food and a deficient amount of oxygen, food cannot be properly utilized, and without proper ventilation sanitation is impossible. Don't fail to observe this from the proper viewpoint. You will notice that the 2x6 has been removed from north ventilator allowing free passage of air through the house. This can onlv be seen through 104 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition the door. Notice also the brackets supporting the west projection of the roof, nailed on, after side wall-paper was put on, same as drawing shows in eave. A dust bath is provided in each pen just under front edge of dropping board on east side of par- tition, where chickens may get the morning sun. If both were on east side of pen they would not get sun until afternoon, and I think morning sun most desirable. MISCELLANEOUS BRIEFS MISCELLANEOUS BRIEFS MILK is not a substitute for water, so water must be available for fowl at all times, always clear and clean. It forms about 55% of a hen's body and about 74% of an egg. I highly indorse warming it slightly in winter, as they will drink much more. Alfalfa and clover are considered as succulence at all times, but it is not true except when it is eaten by the fowl off the field. After it is cut and cured, then it is hay and is too fibrous, and much of its succulent salts have evaporated with the moisture. IMany writers advocate placing this hay in a tub or bucket, pouring hot water over same and allow- ing it to stand over night. They claim that it is a perfect substitute for green stuff. All the steam- ing you may give it will never replace the things that evaporated when it was cured. I consider alfalfa when being fed on the range the greatest of all succulents, as it is the only vegetable food there is, in which there is enough mineral matter to assimilate all the protein therein. It is impos- sible for a fowl to eat too miich green food at any time. Prof. T. E. Quisenberry, of the Missouri State Poultry Experiment Station, says : "Mate from 10 to 15 Leghorn hens to one male, 10 Plymouth Rocks, Eeds, Wyandottes or Orpingtons, and 8 Lang- shans, Cochins or Brahmas to one male. If any of these varieties are on free range, you can use one male to twice the above number of females." 107 108 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition Another proof that free-range chickens have more stamina and a recognition by a man who knows. It is not because the male is more attentive to the females, for he is not; it is just more available food. As before stated, the voidings from these range-free fowl are not very fertilizing, because too much has been utilized for egg making and body growth. I recommend that new corn be fed not earlier than December first, as there seems to be certain acids that impair egg production. Green apples Avill do likewise. Egg shells taken from the incubator should not be fed to hens, as they are of but little nutritive value; most of the phosphate of lime having been absorbed by the chick during its development, chiefly of its bone-frame. I have been told that certain experiment stations have condemned millet seed as a chick feed, because of its resistant hull or shell and because of its injurious effect upon the kidneys. Green-cut bone contains a large amount of fat; and fat, when fed in large quantities, will cause fatty degeneration of the liver; also contains too much protein for what available phosphate of lime it carries, and is therefore, like all other highly nitrogenous foods, a stimulant and will be followed l)y impaired egg production and non-fertility, loss of stamina and general depreciation of your flock. I cannot say that I ever profited by feeding table scraps. The results of feeding them are that they are very fattening and by their being each day such Common Sense Fowl 'Nutrition 109 unequal quantities, it is hard to so balance your ration that this overfatness can be avoided. About four times as much mash as whole grains should be fed chickens throughout their growing period, consequently you should be careful not to feed scratch grains too liberally. Here is where many fall down. Oats are the greatest of all grains for feeding chickens, because they contain more protein in comparison to the amount of carbohydrates than any other grain and twice the amount of minerals as corn, but are objectionable when fed alone, as the hull is of the most resistant fiber known ; and, many times the sharp points have partially pene- trated the crop, causing irritation which immedi- ately develops into crop-bound cases, which nearly always result in death, if they are not operated on very soon. Therefore, I ui-ge you to use a variety of grains for scratch feed. Water is cheap, so don't forget to notice the amount of moisture given in the analysis of the feed you are buying. Corn that has from 12 to 14% moisture is worth much more than corn that has from 20 to 22% and is sold accordingly on the market. Why should you pay the same? You can educate yourself to know the difference, or at least to judge pretty closely. Linseed meal should be fed sparingly at all times. It is a good bowel regulator, if fed judiciously, and it may be well to increase it in the fall where promiscuous feeding is practised, as it may assist 110 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition the feathers in dropping where the hen's vitality is low, but it is a mistake to think that a larger part of the feather is made of oil and that oil meal should constitute 20% of the molting ration, as advocated by some. As before stated, about 90% of feathers (dry basis) are phosphate of lime, and if you feed your chickens sufficient of this you will never be troubled with feather eating. Don't make your litter too deep, but change it often and never let it get damp. Never feed whole grain in troughs, but scatter it in the litter. Have the texture of your dry mash as coarse as possible, yet uniform to prevent fowl from digging for a specific ingredient, as a finely powdered mash of the same analysis will prove to be very fattening. (Any mash as per formulfe herein will prove that way. ) Fattening mash should be ground very fine. Just as strong chicks can be hatched in an incu- bator as under a hen. It requires an incubator and not merely a warm box, an operator with ordinary judgment, who will keep his lamp clean, filled with a good grade of oil and who will study the air- chamber of the egg, until he learns how to regulate the humidity and a setting of eggs, laid by hens that have been properly fed for at least two months and better still, all their lives, and that have been mated to males, that have been likewise cared for. It matters not whether they have been laying three, six, twelve or twenty-four weeks, they will hatch Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 111 just the same. I will be contradicted right here by many who don't know how to feed. I have been asked many times how to prevent a pullet from laying, when she is up to standard- weight and show time is on. They say that she will lay a few eggs and down goes her weight, and the longer she lays, the lighter she gets. It has been said many times that June Chickens are not strong for many reasons. There is but one reason : the hen has been using her vitality in the produc- tion of eggs, and is pretty well exhausted by this time; therefore, chicks do pretty well to so much as get out of the shell. Did you ever stop to think that a man has more mineral matter in his bones than a child, proven by the fact that his bones will break under a strain that the bones of the child will bend under? This same rule will hold good in all animal life. The minerals that are taken into the body, are con- centrated mostly in the bones and are mostly retained when protein tissues are broken down and voided, consequently the year-old hen has had longer to store up a supply of this mineral matter, than the pullet and her egg naturally will show a higher analysis of phosphorus than will an egg from a pullet. This is why most breeders advocate year- old hens as breeders, rather than pullets, although they can give no technical reason. On the other hand, many have forced the vitality all out of their hens when pullets by forced feeding, so they have no GOOD breeders here. Yet they wonder why they 112 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition have no luck. If these pullets are fed properly, their eggs will hatci as strong chicks as any old hen, and do it both in March and June. Feed all matured fowls alike unless you are fattening them. I find that I have best results supplying humidity to incubators by simply soldering a rim about i/o-inch high around the top of the lamp bowl (that is, in hot-air machines) and keeping this full of water most of the time during the period of incu- bation. I contend, that by the air passing over this water upon entering the machine, it will be as heav- ily laden with humidity, as dry air would ordi- narily absorb from the eggs, thereby allowing the eggs to retain all the moisture that the hen has placed in them. Or, in other w^ords, the air has spent its absorbing capacity before it reaches the egg chamber. Then, on the 19th day, I sprinkle them heavily with fresh water, about the temperature of the eggs, close the machine and let it alone until the hatch is finished. Infertile eggs, that are tested out of the machine on the fifth or sixth day, are as wholesome as if they had never been in there, and should not be thrown away. They are as good as eggs that are kept around stores in summer time, and perhaps better, for many of them in stores are fertile, and if they are fertile, incubation will have started when the egg reached the temperature of 90° F. They are eaten by many of the best educated people. Some writers say that meat-food should not be fed to chicks under a week old. Do you advocates Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 113 of this theory (or back-to-nature fellows, as you call yourselves) think that a hen's instinct will tell her to feed her chicks on nothing but seeds until they are 7 days old, and not let them have a worm? Get that old slogan, how to make hens lay EIGHT NOAV, out of your head, and let stamina first be your motto, and you will soon get eggs, and eggs that will be fertile and eggs that will hatch chicks that will have vigor, too, that will develop without difficulty. I have had no experience in feeding ensilage to chickens, therefore, know nothing about it. Breed- ers have told me of excellent results Avith alfalfa so fed. Feeding yellow corn has a tendency to creami- ness in white chickens. Many breeders of white birds feed no white corn (yellow only) until molt- ing is pretty well along, then change at once to the white. They do this to give yellow to the beak and shanks. Feeding white corn will make pale yolks. Feeding too little succulence will also cause pale yolks. Duck eggs, goose eggs, turkey eggs and ostrich eggs are just as delicious as chicken eggs, if birds have been properly fed. Kemember that the finished product depends upon the quality of the raw material. I never had the opportunity to hatch pheasant eggs in an incubator. I was once given the promise of 60 eggs by Mr. James McMurdo, superintendent of the Illinois State Game Farm at Auburn, but 114 Common ^ense Foirl Xiitrition refused to take them, unless I might have the loan of six hens and a cock, which I could feed for six weeks, then place 60 of their eggs in the same incu- bator with the GO I was to receive from him, and prove that the hatchability of the eggs depended a great lot upon the foods fed the birds. For this loan I had to make application to the Commission at Springfield, and was turned down with a reply, which read : "It is the intention of the commission to make a success of the farm this year, and in order to do this, it will be necessary to retain all the birds thereon." Signed, L. D. McCoy, chief clerk. They are still buying setting bens and hatch- ing all the pheasant eggs as they haA'e for years, neither advancing nor giving any one a chance to help them advance. It has been proven that the ostrich not only can be hatched in an incubator, but will have better health in both chick and breed- ing stock, where scientific feeding is practised (heretofore detailed). I met a gentleman in Chi- cago, in the winter of 1913-14, who had tried to hatch some ostrich eggs laid by a hen at the Lincoln Park Zoo, and he told me that it was impossible to hatch them in such a climate. Said that they would develop, but they couldn't get out of the shell. I asked what had been fed for shellmaker. The answer was, "Why, oyster shells, of course." He said that it was the prohibitive climate, as did the Game Farm Commission, but with all their protests I still contend that a pheas- ant can be successfully incubated artificially and Common ^ciine Fowl Natrition 115 I will have to be shown, to be convinced differently. I advise keeping a male in a small Hock all the while, but none in a large flock. A few hens will be more contented and therefore lay more eggs than if alone, while in large flocks the males are fighting more or less, causing much disturbance, which has a tendency to check egg production. You ma}' have a pen of, say 15 hens, from which you are averaging 12 eggs per day. Let them get frightened early in the morning and the possibilities are that you will not get an egg that day. She may re-absorb it, if it has never reached the oviduct. While, on the other hand, if these hens are tame and enjoy your visits, you may work around the house all day, changing the litter, cleaning out the nest boxes, etc. They will be singing all the while, and the possibilities are that you will get 15 eggs that day. This I have noticed many times. At any rate, it is most desirable to have them tame and always glad to see you. Bid it ever occur to you that at the sight of a table well filled with nice things to eat, you would notice the saliva coming up in your mouth, and haven't j^ou ever heard the old saying that certain things looked so good that they made your mouth water? This may all be called mental suggestion, but nevertheless it is true, and not only do the salivary glands start secreting, but all the diges- tive juices start flowing. This is why you should always be in the best of humor at mealtime and why you will have better health when you eat slowly 116 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition than when you gobble it down. You may eat foods that are well masticated mechanically, such as all the cereals, but you will have to chew them so that every particle will be thoroughly saturated with saliva. This same rule works with all fowl and animal life as well, and when you visit a chiekenhouse in which you will find the hens at your feet, singing and ready to be petted, you can bet that the owner is getting a better egg yield, than the fellow whose hens are flying in all directions to get out of his way. There are few people who know how to hold a chicken. The proper way is to grasp the legs with the right hand (either hand, right for example) with the head towards the elbow, with thumb on the outside of the left leg, first finger between the legs and the last three fingers on the outside of the right leg. When held in this way it is impossible to injure them in any respect. To tell a laying hen from one that is not laj'ing — hold her in about the same position, except that you put your Avhole hand between the legs and up near the vent you will find that the end of the keil bones will be far enough apart to place three and sometimes four fingers between them if she is hiving and if she is not, nor will not very soon, you will find that you can hardly put one finger between them. Upon examination of dead chickens you will soon see that it would be impossible for an egg to pass between these l)ones as you will find them in a Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 117 non-laying hen. Then, too, you will find that a laying hen is always more gentle, and always has a brighter coinb and a brighter eye, as compared with the drone. The trap-nest will prove who is who in the laying pen, as by the trapping method a hen that lays one egg per week can qnickly be detected from the one that lays six. Don't keep a lot of drones, as they Avill soon eat up the profits earned by the workers. Never carry a chicken with head hanging down- Avard. I never advocate using curtains in front of the roosting closet, as there too much moisture collects ; and combs will freeze much quicker where the humidity is high than where the air is dry. There was not a frozen comb in the house pictured herein last winter, and the thermometer one morn- ing registered 19° below zero. I once had a cockerel, whose mother laid 205 eggs in one year, that I mated to a pen of hens, one of which laid 32 eggs and another laid 221 eggs, and from each of these hens I kept a pullet, together with a cockerel, in a Philo coop. The one from the former hen commenced to lay at the age of 8 months, and the latter at the age of 5% months. The latter never missed a day during the last 17 days in December, laid 21 eggs in January and from January 1 to September 1 laid 165 eggs, while the former laid but 21 in the same time. So this test didn't prove that the laying capacity depended altogther upon the breeding of the male, as some writers claim. 118 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition Just because you don't find anything in here regarding chicken judging, don't think that I over- looked it. I would like to tell you about that, too, if I knew anything about it, but I don't. It is not in me to be a judge, and it never will be, so you will have to ask some one else. However, I am a strong advocate in breeding pure-bred poultry, but am only posted on a few breeds that I have owned. If you are afraid to work, you will know that there is money in the poultry business, as all of yours will soon be in it and it will stay there, too. Don't neglect having shade in your yards, but back far enough, that it will not block the sunshine in winter. One manufacturer says: "Our feeds will keep your hens busy every moment, from morn till night." Perhaps that is why some of them do not lay. Too busy scratching. Your pullets had better be six months old and be matured before they begin to lay, than start lay- ing at four months, as some advertisers claim that their particular strains do. It is an indisputable fact that a pullet that starts laying at this age will never have the vitality that she would have had had she fully matured first, stamina first. Never inbreed, and when selecting breeders — STAMINA FIRST. Then you trap-nest. Inbreeding and linebreeding are far from being the same. There ai*e linebreeding charts on the market, but I think that they are copyrighted, else I would give one. Common Sense Fowl Xiitritioii 119 Keep your poultryhouse whitewashed inside ; this should be done at least twice a year. First, give your house a thorough cleansing with the hose, if possible. The best Avhitewash I know of is as fol- lows : Take 1 peck of lime, slack in a barrel, and after it has thoroughly slacked, strain through a common screen cloth; then take % peck salt, dis- solve in water, then strain brine into lime; boil 114 pounds rice flour 10 or 12 minutes, dissolve i/4 pound Spanish white in 3 gallons of water, V2 pound glue thoroughly dissolved, and I/2 pint of crude carbolic acid. Mix all together and let stand over night before use. This is ideal for use in sprayers and may be kept for a long time. It will apply much easier through the sprayer if warmed. Some writers say that it isn't advisable to feed too much rich foods, as they will impair fertility. When asked what they mean, their reply will usually be, "Too much protein or too much animal matter." Who ever heard of a hen having impaired fertility, running on the range? Eggs from the best of sources will hatch (in a poor incubator) chicks that will never equal their parents as egg producers. Eggs for hatching should be kept at a tempera- ture of from 40 to 60° P. and turned daily. It is a great mistake to crowd either growing chicks or laying hens. The smaller the flock the greater the ratio. Corning houses 4,500 pullets on 7,680 square feet of floor, which is 1.7 square . feet per bird. This I think is too crowded, but at 120 Common Sense Fo wl Nutrition that, they will produce better than 15 hens would on 100 square feet, or 5.66 square feet per bird. There is no one best breed for egg production, as any of thein can be bred to lay a high average. Some claim that better results can be had by mix- ing varieties. This argument is without base. I highly indorse the use of colony brooders. I find that there is no more work in cai'ing for 1,000 chicks in this way than for 100 in the old brooder, and if properly ventilated there are no ill results from having so many together. The colony brooder has come to stay. If every poultryman will make his motto stamina FIRST and keep this point in view at all times, the remedy companies will be forced out of business. Next to stamina comes sanitation. Be sxire to sterilize the incubator before resetting. After a pullet begins to lay she should be fed a narrower ration than during her development. Do this by feeding less scratch grains. Get the old idea of forcing hens to lay out of your head, as it will prove an incalculable loss. Did you ever stop to wonder why you never had any comments from the man to whom you made a very low price on eggs late in the season, about the good hatch he had from them, and did you ever receive eggs from some one you said was a crook, because you had a poor hatch? Both you and he were forcing your hens to their utmost and who gained? Did you ever have a farmer, who didn't know what breed he had, but just had chick- Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 121 ens, tell you he had healthier chickens than your pure breed, and was it all talk or didn't he show you that he had? Well, then, how are you going to convince him that pure breeds are the thing to keep? Here is the explanation : his chickens never saw food that had stimulants in it; they never saw meat scraps or other highly proteinated foods. They never tasted tonic, oyster shells, nor slept behind a curtain that was so full of dirt that fresh air could not pass through it. They have had the things that nature intended for them to have, so if you want to sell your stock to a farmer, show him stamina, then teach him the advantages of a one- breed and a pure breed. He would rather buy a rooster from you that could and would whip every chicken on his place, than to haVe a trunkful of ribbons he had won and have him duck at sight of another rooster. He is breeding better cattle, better hogs, better horses, and will, when properly approached, breed better poultry, but 'tis not quan- tity of ribbons, it is quantity of eggs that he wants. Don't be afraid to go into the chicken business for fear of flooding the market; the demand is increasing faster than the supply. I consider that wheat chaff is the greatest litter there is for both young and old thickens. If you live in a wheat-growing country, it will pay you well to ask farmers to bale this chaff, when they bale the straw. The best way to hold a bale together is to use a feed of straw on each end of the bale; use three wires drawn very tightly and the chaff Comiiwii Sense Fowl A^iitrifioii rau best be put in with a scoop shovel. It is fit for nothing else, and it will be money well spent if you will pay twice as much as the straw will cost. If chalf cannot be obtained, the next best thing is wheat straw, which is much more absorbent than any other straw. However, straw of any kind may be used. The ]noperly bred hen to start with, then proper feed, proper housing, sanitation, kind treatment, plenty of fresh water, plenty of green food — do not ••I'owd, and then gather the eggs. The laws of the State of Illinois require that milk show not less than 3% butter fat, but an egg is an egg. There is no difference in the market value, so long as they are not rotten or spotted. Let us hope that there will come a time when there will be a standard of excellence. If you don't like the business, you will never make it go well, as there is no business that requires more atlention to minute details than the poultry busi- ness; and if yuu like it, there is nothing that is more fascinating. There are too many poultrymen Avho have but a limited amount of land, who, instead of giving all their attention and land to the chick- ens, will crowd them up in one corner and try to raise enough feed on the remainder to feed them through tlie winter, when the range was needed and his time was far more valuable right with them, instead of behind the plow. I have heard people say that every egg a hen lays is perfect, no matter what she is fed. If this be Common Sense Foirl Nulrition 12'.'> true, why don't the eggs laid hy hens that have been on the job for three months, hatch as well as the first ones laid do? There is another saving in proper feeding in the form of labor, inasmuch as by proper mixtures there is greater assimilation, which alloAVS less moisture voided, which means a more sanitary house, and changing the litter not so often, yet they may be drinking more water. It will be expelled via the egg route. It is claimed by some that there is no advantage in keeping water slightly warmed for chickens in winter. The only thing I can say is that such claim- ants don't know, for it is an indisputalde fact that chickens will drink more warm water than ice cold. I once heard a prominent dairyman remark, in speaking of feeding dairy cows: "The more salt she eats, the more water she drinks ; the more water she drinks, the more feed she eats ; the more feed she eats, the more milks she gives, and the more milk she gives the more money I get." This rule might be well applied to the hen, leaving off the salt. Don't hesitate to use pullets, that had fully matured before they started to lay, as lireeders, as they will produce as healthy and strong chicks as old hens. I also would not hesitate to use a hen, five years old, that has been properly fed and cared for through her life, as a breeder. In the production of fertile eggs, the first thing to consider is stamina, in both males and females. A male will almost invariablv tread a hen as she 124 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition leaves the nest, and in several places I have seen houses arranged with two runs, with trap-nests between. The hens are all placed in one run in the morning and the male in the other. On the side that the hens are in, is the entrance to the nests, and on the exit side is the male. The nests are so arranged that when the hen leaves them, the trap is dropped to receive another hen. In this way all the layers receive the same attention and the drones can soon be weeded out without the use of the ordinary trap nest, where individual records and pedigree incubator trays are not used. The most important thing to consider regarding fertility is proper nutrition. If you wish to make a concrete duck pond, make it sanitary by making the finishing coat water- proof. I say sanitary, because it can be cleaned very easily, by using the following formula, and, when finished no dirt will adhere to it and it will have a greased appearance: Take 3 pounds of powdered alum, 5 quarts of hot water and 1 pound of caustic potash. Add this to every batch con- taining 4 bags cement and 8 bags sand. This is also very desirable for finishing cisterns, watering troughs, silos, etc. The old slogan of "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink," will be like the stumbling block some of you will find, if you don't get to selling better quality eggs and better finished poultry in the near future. The consumers are beginning to realize that all eggs are not the same Common Sense Fowl Nutr ition 125 and that a quick-fatted roaster, broiler, frier or hen is much more delicious than an old, poor chicken. The quicker you get quality stamped on your brain, the quicker you and the quality buyer will get together. The day has passed when a purchaser would go into a store and call for A chicken. They designate their wants very emphatically now, and will continue to, more and more every day. A hen will pay for her feed if she lays one egg per week, so if she lays two, you have made some money. Suppose she will lay four, then you see where you are. It requires both proper feeding and proper breeding. Don't fail to keep a dust bath for your hens, and don't let the lice get started. Keep the mash hopper open all the while; they will not get too fat and there are no know ills. Above all, keep the dirt out of the mash. Don't fail to separate the pullets from the cock- erels just as soon as you can distinguish the differ- ence. If you hatch as many as 5,000 eggs per year, it will pay you to install a mammoth incubator, then do some custom hatching, which at 3 cents per egg will pay well, and is cheaper than a hen can be set for, as she would lay enough during the time to pay for this. Some writers advocate that when a hen has com- pleted the molt, that her body has undergone a through renovation and, that her health and vitality have returned; that she has overcome 126 Common. Sense Fowl Nutrition the ill effects oi' diseased condition that she lias been left in, by the continual ilow of stimulants or forced feeding. I have made a number of experi- ments along this line and all proved, that this feat cannot be accomplished. I once bought a hen that bad laid 2G7 eggs on a forcing ration in one year. I fed her one year in the same pen with another that had never been forced, and of the same age, and in their third yeai' I set 55 eggs from the former hen and hatched two little things that lived but a few days. From the latter hen I set 65 eggs and hatched 56 chicks, all of which were raised to maturity but 10, that smothered in a brooder when about 3 weeks old, and on the same night. These two hens were both cared for alike, as they were together with 13 others for one year. All were trap- nested and their eggs were all set in the same incu- batois. Males sometimes show partiality and to some extent this might have affected the fertility, but the evidences are strongly against the weakened conditions uf these hens' generative organs, due solely to preposterous feeding. Don't mate hens or daughters of hens with high trap-nest records to cockerels whose mothers were poor layers. He is half the flock, and the laying ability depends as much upon him as it does on the hen. Some advocate more. This I dispute, as heretofore stated. You wouldn't expect a race colt from a two-minute dam and a Clydesdale sire, nor vice-versa. This is another instance where the qual- Common Sense Fowl Nii frit ion 127 ity of the finished product is governed by the quality of the raw material. When we find that history tells us that the horse was originally no larger than the ordinary fox, we can comprehend the possibilities of the present-day fowl being propagated from the jungle fowl. Water glass costs 50 cents per gallon and will preserve 50 dozen eggs. Use a 10% solution. Store for home use while cheap and sell fresh ones at top prices. Time will prove that there is not an extortionate claim in this book. A very simple way to make a fattening crate is to make a coop 10 feet long, 2 feet wide and 16 inches high, using lx4's to nail lath on at the top and bottom and common lath 4 feet long and can be cut without waste. Place these 1% inches apart, or 4 to the foot, and for the bottom use i/^-inch mesh hardware cloth, as this allows the voidings to sift through on the ground. The material needed is 1 bunch 4-foot lath, 4 lx4's 10 feet long, 4 lx4's 2 feet long, and the wire 2 feet by 10 feet. This will make a long crate, which should be set on trestles and water and feed troughs hung on the sides. Some of you advocates of the old-time theories are mighty glad to give some farmer half of the offspring from your prize winners to raise them for you. If you are such experts at preparing foods as some of you claim you are, and if the substitutes for the things attained on the range are as you 128 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition term them, "Perfect Substitutes," why do you make such sacrifices? You are not making it go, and you know it, so better wake up and then soak up a few of the technicalities detailed herein and turn over a new leaf; just common every-day horse SENSE is at the foundation of the whole thing. I have told you how to feed them; you can buy a Standard of Perfection and learn how to judge them; and then if you can't make a real chicken MAN^ I don't know what to suggest, unless that you were not CUT out for a chicken man. I have found a few poultrymen that needed an extra set of brains, which to be sure is a deficiency impossible to remedy. Fortunately, these are few, as most poultrymen are wide awake and the kind of people who make the United States of America the greatest country in the world. Namely — More people wanting to help others, as well as them- selves, inventive minds, open for conviction and always willing to consider a proposition wherein conditions may be bettered. So, be an American and let us jointly show the world how to feed the MILLIONS by furnishing fresh, frightfully fat, fine flavored friers, broilers, roasters and eggs that are palatable and fit to eat. Extract from letter written by J. W. Anderson,* president Kornfalfa Feed Milling Company, Kan- sas City, Mo. : * It is my belief that there is no man in the country who has done more to eliminate the adulteration of feeds than Mr. Anderson. His mill is open at all times and he is always glad Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 129 "Regarding dairy cows and their production of but- ter fat, will say that the question you ask is an open question on which some of the best dairy minds in the country differ. However, I believe it is more generally conceded that you cannot feed butter fat into milk. In other words, there is no system of feeding that the writer knows of that will increase the butter-fat yield from the individual dairy cow. I might qualify this statement in a small way by saying that the more wholesome the feed and the better balanced in all the nutriments which the animal required with the proper upkeep of her body and the making of milk, the better general health she will have, and we know from ex- perience that the dairy cow only gives her best flow of milk when she is in prime health. So, generally speaking, the feed that will keep the dairy cow in better health will indirectly increase the butter fat, but only insofar as it improves her health, which thereby enables her to perform her best work in milk production. The problem of butter fat seems to be controlled very largely by the inherited ability of the cow. Different animals of the same breed and of the same ancestry will give milk of varying percentages of butter fat. to have visitors. He will not only show them every detail of his process of manufacture and allow them to closely examine the raw materials, but will answer any question that is answerable regarding the nutrition of horses and cattle. I have interviewed several manufacturers that fairly despised him, and I soon learned that it was only necessary to look at their goods to know what the trouble was. Mo- lasses in stock feeds has covered up a lot of stuff that would be mighty hard to sell otherwise, and every single one of these fellows were using such, very liberally. 130 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition "I would say, in a general way — feed the dairy cow wholesome, well-balanced nutritious feed. Then she will give her largest flow of milk, and when in her best health will give her largest percentage of butter fat. If, for any reason, she gets off her feed or her health is not good, you will notice in the same cow that her butter fat will shrink simultaneously with this wrong health condition. "The dairy feeding problem is a great big one, and you can only talk it and comprehend it in an intelli- gent manner, after you have had years of experience, and by this experience have absorbed the peculiarities of the dairy cow and the efifect of different dairy feeds on their productive ability." CONSERVATION OF THE VIGOR OP THE FLOCK. (Prof. W. A. Brown, Orono, Maine.) I believe the greatest difficulty encountered by the average farmer and poultryman is that they do not know how to conserve the vigor of the stock. In a recent memorandum I stated that this is the most important problem in the poultry business today. It affects all phases of the industry and cannot be dis- regarded. The conservation of vigor is one of the great funda- mental problems confronting all agriculturists inter- ested in the development of plant and animal life. It is of particular interest to poultrymen, because more is being required of the modern hen, in proportion to her live weight, than from any other class of farm animals. There is good reason to believe that much of the infertility and low hatching powers of eggs, and weakness and high mortality among the chickens is Common Sense Fowl Ntitrition 131 due to the lack of vigor on the part of the breedmg stock. These are similar, if not the same, as the causes that have brought about the failure of many poultry enter- prises. As a matter of fact, the average life of many large poultry plants has been very short, indeed. The same has been true of the history of many smaller flocks. Many people are continually changing from one breed to another, or doing something, such as the introduction of male of another breed or variety, in order to bring the stock up to the standard of pro- duction, they think it ought to have. It does not seem to occur to them that the trouble is with themselves, in that they have allowed the vigor and stamina of the birds to become gradually depleted. Under ordinary care it takes from three to five years, on the average, for this condition of affairs to become apparent. The following are some of the causes that have tended to reduce the vigor of the stock: 1. The great prevalence of the intensive system of keeping poultry. This may work satisfactorily for laying stock, but breeding stock will not give the best results in small and closely yarded runs, bare of green food, and where the soil has become contaminated with the accumulated droppings. 2. Lack of sanitation and the overcrowding of birds in the damp, dirty, ill-ventilated houses, when the con- census of experimental evidence on the matter would indicate them clean, dry, open, or curtain-front houses, with an abundance of fresh air where necessary on account of the peculiar anatomical structure of the fowl; 132 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition 3. Faulty methods of incubation and brooding. 4. Inroads of disease and the presence of lice and mites. It is generally recognized that diseased birds should not be bred from, but too many people overlook the fact that but very indifferent results can be ob- tained from stock which is infested with lice and mites. 5. Unskillful feeding. On many farms and poultry plants where a real, genuine interest has been taken in poultry, probably the vigor of the birds has been depleted as much by the excessive feeding of too rich rations as by any other single cause. Poultrymen in- terested in late fall and winter egg production have been rather too prone to look upon the hen as a machine; in fact, many good-laying strains have been popularly called egg-laying machines. No doubt a hen does respond for a time to the feeding of rich protein foods and other stimulants, but these can be used to excess, and often are, to such an extent that the repro- ductive organs have lost the power to produce an egg that will hatch a chick, to say nothing of the possible death of the bird itself. It does not pay to treat an animate object as one would a machine. The poultry business works in a circle, and this lack of vigor is apparent on the whole circumference, for in many cases the chickens that just lived would have been better dead, for they are often worse than dead. They are weak and anaemic. They do not respond to good treatment and good food. They do not thrive. They are slow to mature, remain stunted and often, in the general scarcity of pullets, they find their way into the laying house, and there they remain, failing to respond themselves and casting a derogatory effect Common Sense Fowl Nutritio n 133 on the rest of the flock ; and if, perchance, they should get into the breeding pen, the effect of their lack of vigor will be passed on, with interest, to their progeny, if they have any. In fact, poultrymen and others the country over do not lay sufBcient stress on the individual itself. Ask a number of people congregated together in an insti- tute meeting or a classroom, "What is the first essen- tial in the production of winter eggs?" It is rather surprising the number who will answer that it depends on the care, on the feeding, on the housing, or on any one of the several other things. They seem to lose sight of the fact that a hen is necessary — not an ordi- nary hen, but a large, healthy, vigorous, substantial, well-grown pullet that will respond to good treatment, even under rather adverse circumstances. .Selection, or rather, culling, should be practised all along the line, from the time the egg is laid until the birds are dressed for the market. The exterior of an egg does not give much information concerning the vigor of the germ, but nevertheless it is well to dis- card all abnormal eggs. Extreme care should be taken in selection and management of the hatching medium, for even the progeny of the strongest stock can be greatly injured by faulty incubation. All cripples and weaklings should be killed as soon as apparent. All poultrymen are familiar with the short, round, shrunk- en body; pale, thin, flat beak; short, thin down; pale, thin shanks, and that peevish, squeaky voice of the weakling, as contrasted with the large, plump, full parallelogram-shaped body that fills the hand, the act- ive, sturdy chicken that is hard to catch and hold. The weak chicken should be destroyed ; it is a constant source of annoyance and loss. 134 Common Sense Fowl Nutrition Selections should be practised whenever a chick shows weakness. This is often apparent when they are between ten days and three weeks of age. In many weak chickens, especially those of the light-weight breeds, the wings droop and seem to grow faster than the body. As a matter of fact, it is the reverse — the growth of the body fails to keep pace with the growth of the wings. The chick that lacks vigor frequently requires sev- eral weeks longer to complete the first plumage. Such individuals may be kept until they reach the broiler stage, when a careful selection should be made. In many instances the largest, plumpest chickens — those that reach broiler size first — are sold, and the poorer specimens allowed to mature. This, of course, is wrong, and is not practised by the successful poultryman, who always has an eye and mind on the birds which he intends to place in the future breeding pen. When the stock is brought in from the range in the fall, a rigid selection should be made. Not more than 75% or 80% of the pullets are fit for the laying pen, and of these only about 10% or 15% are suitable, on the average, for the breeding pen. Early pullets and cockerels should be retained that satisfy all require- ments for robust constitutional vigor. To sum up, one might state that the crucial test of any poultryman 's or poultrywoman's ability is his or her ability to show, at the end of the season, the highest possible percentage of strong, healthy, vigorous birds in proportion to the number of eggs set. This implies that the greatest possible skill must have been used in the selection of the breeding stock, in care of the eggs while hatching, and in the management of the young and growing stock. Coiiinioii iSrnse Fowl Nutrition, 135 Quite a lot has been said and written about pre- venting eggs from spoiling, but there has been little said regarding those that were never anything else but spoiled. Any one Avho will make a com- parative feeding test, then compare the quality of eggs produced by each method, need not be a chem- ist to detect the difference. Feed one pen of hens a ration of pure foods, none of which are not fit for human consumption, and pure water, and another pen mildewed, musty or rotten grain, onions, decayed meat, or let them at what the barnyard avails them, drinking water from mud-holes, with the hogs, etc. After such a comparison, no one will longer insist that anything is good enough foe a CHICK. A cow in whose milk an inspector finds a tubercular trace is immediately condemned, for this milk is considered very unfit for human food; yet, regardless of how advanced her condition may be, she may be ground up, cooked and sold to be fed to chickens that will transform her into eggs, that will be sold and classified just as eggs are that are made from foods from the purest sources, fresh, spotted, candled, incubator or sterile. (A sterile egg is a non-fertile one, lawfully, nothing else con- sidered.) If cooking and steaming will kill the ill effects of this diseased condition and render it puee FOOD^ why cannot the same heat applied in the same way render this meat pure enough for human food, which will command a price of from 15c to 25c per pound instead of being sold at 3c, as it is today? 136 Common .SV;(.s-r Foirl Nutrition The human race ueeds it, for the meat food supply is growing shorter every day. Many people thing that eggs are eggs, as they used to think that milk was milk. All are now satisfied that there is a vast difference in the quali- ties of milk, so let rs wake up and show our cus- tomers that WE are supplying them with pure food KG(!S, before the i'Uee food authorities realize that there is such a thing and force us to do this, as they have forced the dairymen. Ask your customers to compare them? No, it won't be necessary; after they buy one lot, they will pay you a premium for your entire output and beg for more. > I have visited poultry farms where there was roup and cholera on every side, and every single time, found the proprietor not only giving them all the dope he could get his hands on, but feeding something to stimulate egg production, unconsci- ously destroying what little vitality they may have utilized in overcoming the diseased condition. Yet all were selling sterile eggs. Don't forget that the more stamina any bird or animal has, the less sus- ceptible it is to disease, but regardless of hoAV high the vitality of a hen may be, don't think that she possesses any supreme power or can perform any such miracles as transforming decomposed food- stuffs into pure eggs. The edible portion of the ordinary egg contains : Water, 73.7%; protein, 14.8%; fat, 10.5%, and ash, 1%. This ash is equivalent to 2% phosphorus Common i^ense Fowl Nutrition 137 (dry basis calculated as PaOs), while the egg pro- duced by feeding as herein recommended will ana- lyze 4% phosphorus, or twice that of the ordinary egg. Talk this over with your family physician and ask him, if eating such eggs, taking a big drink of fresh warm milk every day, eating more vegetables and less meat, will not only lower the cost of living but make you healthier.. You will utilize a higher per cent, of protein, thereby your body requirements will be supplied by a smaller consumption of foods as a whole. Said the big red rooster, to the little red hen — "I never saw such eggs in I don't know when." Said the little red hen, to the big red rooster — ' ' Yes, and I 'm feeling much better 'n I uster. For now I am happy and quite content, Since I know that I'm paying my share of the rent. I'm singing and cheerful all of the while — So glad to see Master now wearing a smile. Since he 's learned how to feed me only foods that are pure, The very best eggs in abundance I assure. He 's learned that I can 't make eggs out of scenery, Rotten grain, rotten meat and hulls from the beanery. At last he has found — though long it did seem — That he must shovel in coal if he keeps up steam." [Finis]