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Show GREEN FEED FOR CHICKENS Moderate Amount Acts as Appetizer, Keeps Digestion Good and Whole Works Running Smooth. (By PROF. JOHN WILLARD BOLTE.) Our women folks say we need lettuce let-tuce because it is good for our in-sjdes. in-sjdes. They also seek to force upon us dandelions, spinach, beet tops and all manner of greens, using the same weak-kneed reason. Now what we want to know is this:' If we admit that green foods are good for us, which we do for the sake of argument only, what's the reason? They contain about 99 per cent water, wa-ter, which comes too expensive in this form, and the rest is mostly just plain green color. There's a trace of fiber and a trace of starch, a little mineral food and that's all. Then where is the virtue? One cannot very well say, but it's a proven fact, that a moderate amount of green food acts as an appetizer, keeps the digestion good and the whole works running smoother. So it is with the hens, whose appetite appe-tite and tastes come closer to that of the human being than any other de-mestic de-mestic beast, except the pig. She eats grain, whole or ground, cooked meat or raw, vegetables of all kinds in all shapes, green food, salt, charcoal and lime, and she drinks what we do, outside out-side of intoxicants. She will eat anything any-thing we will and lots of things that . ff .,..,y. i .... A Good Feeder. we won't. The hen needs green feed for all the reasons that we need it and for several private ones of her own. The most important one of the private reasons is the- color of the yolk of her eggs. We all know how pale the yolk of , most eggs are in winter. Perhaps you have never figured out w:hy this is, but just charged it to cold storage or something like that The fact is that perfectly fresh eggs have much lighter light-er yolks in winter than they do in summer, and the reason is lack of green feed. In summer the hen picks up leaves and stems and all manner of succulent green stuff. This green matter, or at least the coloring part of it, is changed' chang-ed' to orange or yellow in the hen's body and the result is deep-tinted yolks. So it is necessary to feed laying lay-ing hens green feed the year round, both for her health and the color of the eggs. |
