Show 13 MILKS HIGH PLACE IN FLOCKS RATION efficient egg making food at present prices milk at present prices a relatively cheap food deserves a place in the poultry ration declares P B zumbro extension specialist in poultry bus hus bandry for the ohio state university if liquid milk Is available on the farm this form Is the cheapest to use for every gallon of liquid milk fed dally to each one hundred bens hens the protein concentrate in the mash may be reduced 5 per cent he be says if liquid milk Is not available dried milk may be used in the mash when liquid milk Is not available tor for the poultry ration the following grain mash ration Is recommended by the poultry specialist for the mash ground yellow corn 40 pounds ground wheat 20 pounds ground oats 20 pounds dried milk 5 pounds meat scraps craps 15 pounds salt 1 pound for ille the grain cracked corn 50 pounds wheat 40 pounds and oats or barley 10 pounds A moist mash fed in the summer will stimulate the poultry appetite and result in increased production says zumbro the regular laying mash may be used in making the moist mash for each hens 2 pounds of the mash moistened ned with milk or buttermilk until it Is in a crumbly con altion Is sufficient lelent tor for a dally feeding it Is not necessary to have special feeders for this special moist mash it may be fed on top of the dry mash in the dry mash hoppers alfalfa urged as best crop for poultry yard in making a choice of all forage crops for poultry yards select alfalfa advises a writer in the prairie farmer alfalfa Is a permanent crop that will grow throughout the entire season without cultivation and can withstand more hot dry weather than almost any other crop bluegrass Is good pasture if you cannot have alfalfa you may want to sow a temporary crop and we suggest oats tor for the early part of the year and sudan grass for the rest of the season plow the oats during the later part of may or early in june and seed the sudan grass farmers are getting away from the idea of a permanent poultry yard tor for their fowls they are moving their houses each year to new ground many of them use their meadows or pastures tor for range thus giving the birds ground that has had no chickens on it for one to two years grass for chicks the barer the ground the smaller the chance to raise good chicks so a good many years of experience and e experimentation erl have proved early chicks are always more desirable because they grow better have less mor the cockerels are ready for market earlier and hence bring more money and the pullets are ready to lay earlier in the fall and winter when eggs are high As to why bare ground doesn doean t help raise good chicks authorities point out that a good growth of alfalfa clover or bluegrass insures a liberal supply of green feed Is much more sanitary than bare ground and Is to an insurance against disease laying hens need lime the importance of keeping hens well supplied with limestone oyster shell or some other form of calcium carbon carbonate a te Is emphasized by results obtained in investigations where no limestone or oyster shell was fed but the ration was otherwise the same the investigators observed that the hatchability of fertilized eggs was diminished finally becoming zero the percentage of infertile eg eggs gs in creased fewer eggs were laid the eggs became smaller the eggs became lighter the chicks hatched weighed less feed for pullets pullets should use about 25 pounds of teed feed per day the proportion of mash and scratch grain will vary from equal parts of grain and mash up to two parts of grain and one of mash the total amount consumed Is the im thing any attempt to in crease consumption of mash by ellid dating grain should be done cautious ly it Is important that hens main tain their body weight and rather heavy feeding of grain will help to do this american agriculturist constipation in chicks chicks that are suffering from con stI pation will as a usual thing stand in a humped position and are inactive when emitting droppings they strain and often move backward and make a cheeping sound when constipation Is noticed give the chicks from one eighth to one hilf pound of epsom salts for chicks depending ding on age in a dolse mash after that so the cor may n not ot have to be repeated change the feed to correct the condl tion oklahoma farmer |