Fire Ant Farm
Get off my lawn
I'm following the posts about commercial feed "rules" vs. chickens fending for themselves and scraps, and guess what came in the mail today? A reprinted copy of the 1941 UK publication "Keeping Poultry and Rabbits on Scraps". I found out about it over on Rabbitalk (discussion over there related to issues with poor quality commercial pellets and potential for natural feed). Got it from Amazon.
Lots of non-feeding info on care of chickens/rabbits mixed in, but contains a very interesting discussion of wartime/postwar ration rules of chicken feed (chicks, layers), how to supplement it with scraps, how to encourage the chickens to find as much of their own food as possible from early chickhood, how to best manage a grass run so the greens they forage in are most nutritious, how to choose when to cull annually, etc.
E.g.: "Prewar, a layer's rations consisted of 2 oz. of corn and 2-1/2 oz of layer's mash a day... Under post-war conditions poultry keepers with not over 25 birds receive only just over 2 oz. of Balancer meal (laying mash) daily per bird and no corn on the surrender (at some periods) of egg registrations... [then a paragraph on how you apply for and obtain the rations]. But 2 oz. of Balancer meal per day is not sufficient for a layer as indicated from the pre-war ration..." Then, "A Pullet's Complete Daily Ration: This 2 oz represents one small teacup. With it must be mixed about 8 oz. of minced kitchen scraps, potatoes and vegetables. This is the equivalent of a 1/2 pint glass and with the tea-cup of meal forms a laying hen's complete daily ration..." (And then follows a very detailed discussion of what you can use to feed and how to prepare.)
I just got it, but it looks to be REALLY interesting...(There's a whole bit about how to best use acorns, for instance).
Looks like I have yet one more book for the bedside table stack!
- Ant Farm
Lots of non-feeding info on care of chickens/rabbits mixed in, but contains a very interesting discussion of wartime/postwar ration rules of chicken feed (chicks, layers), how to supplement it with scraps, how to encourage the chickens to find as much of their own food as possible from early chickhood, how to best manage a grass run so the greens they forage in are most nutritious, how to choose when to cull annually, etc.
E.g.: "Prewar, a layer's rations consisted of 2 oz. of corn and 2-1/2 oz of layer's mash a day... Under post-war conditions poultry keepers with not over 25 birds receive only just over 2 oz. of Balancer meal (laying mash) daily per bird and no corn on the surrender (at some periods) of egg registrations... [then a paragraph on how you apply for and obtain the rations]. But 2 oz. of Balancer meal per day is not sufficient for a layer as indicated from the pre-war ration..." Then, "A Pullet's Complete Daily Ration: This 2 oz represents one small teacup. With it must be mixed about 8 oz. of minced kitchen scraps, potatoes and vegetables. This is the equivalent of a 1/2 pint glass and with the tea-cup of meal forms a laying hen's complete daily ration..." (And then follows a very detailed discussion of what you can use to feed and how to prepare.)
I just got it, but it looks to be REALLY interesting...(There's a whole bit about how to best use acorns, for instance).
Looks like I have yet one more book for the bedside table stack!
- Ant Farm