Show CHICKENS NEED MEAT I 1 I 1 fowls are scavengers to a very ver y decided degree being possessed of insatiable and omnivorous appetite and powerful digestion hen will eat everything she metts dy BY JOHN willand BOLTE chickens are scavengers to a very decided degree they choose their food by eight bight alone as they are arc almost entirely without the senses of small emell and taste so BO far no as wo we can tell like moat othor other young animals however they we do do not know how or what to eat cat until they have been taught either by older fowls human effort sor a series of experiments on their own behalf being possessed of an insatiable and omnivorous appetite coupled with a 0 most powerful and dauntless digestion the chicken cats everything she meets that can possibly be digested and much that cannot mighty few victuals are missed by those bright eyes in spite of lack of auxiliary senses if a speck wiggles jumps crawls or flies its certainly alive hence good to eat it if it shines she will tako take a chance on it and if its yellow it must bo food anything goes from potato bugs to live mice from bird n 4 X vil prize winning cockerel seed to whole corn in id the cob it if it happens to turn out a shingle nail pebble or piece of glass it stays in the gizzard and helps grind up tho the rest of the food chickens Aa As run booso on the farm they pick up most of of their living in the fields during tho the season of heavy laying the spring months they secure nearly as i much ai ah insect an and d an I 1 1111 imal at food as aa vegetables or grain the eggs begin to diminish about the time that the insect life retires tor for the win ter Is this m merely r ly a coincidence 0 or r natural cause and effect it is undoubtedly true that the shortage of flesh food will cut down the egg yield and when the hens hena cannot find this animal food it must be sup supplied blied to them it la is not possible tor for the hen ben to produce eggs economically from grain alone because the proportion of grain elements and meat elements remains about the same in eggs of 0 the hens an all grain diet does not furnish meat elements to balance its starch and fat at least a twelfth of the ration should be ba flesh food the form it takes depends upon circumstances table scraps may be sufficient for a small flock it there Is meat in them buru burn or bury any refuse that they leava day by day green cut bone that Is raw bone shaved to edible size in a bone cutter Is the best form of food feed a handful per hen ben every other day beef scrap it if not too tat fat Is an excellent meat teed feed where green cut bone bond cannot be used it is fed in a hopper or mixed with the aroun ground d grain or mish mash meat meal is the samu same as beef scrap but and beatr for use in dry mash as the fowls cannot pick it out to be sure that these two packing house products are good drop a pinch into boiling latex and it the odor Is bad send the product back never feed chic chickens kens putrid or rotten meat as it gives them limber neck or blind staggers blood meal la Is a noat concentrated animal food and it should be fed cautiously tiou sly principally to young chickens granulated milk or milk albumen Is a fino protein teed but rather too expensive to use except tor for very small chicks flab fish scrap takes the place of beef scrap rap in the east and south it contains valuable minerals as well as the coveted protein |