Linseed steeped is occasionally given, chiefly to birds intended for exhibition, to increase the secretion of oil, and give lustre to their plumage.
Potatoes, from the large quantity of starch they contain, are not good unmixed, as regular food, but mixed with bran or meal are most conducive to good condition and laying. They contain a great proportion of nutriment, comparatively to their bulk and price; and may be advantageously and profitably given where the number of eggs produced is of more consequence than their flavour or goodness. A good morning meal of soft food for a few fowls may be provided daily almost for nothing by boiling the potato peelings till soft, and mashing them up with enough bran, slightly scalded, to make a tolerably stiff dry paste. The peelings will supply as many fowls as there are persons at the dinner table. A little salt should always be added, and in winter a slight sprinkling of pepper is good.
"It is indispensable," says Mr. Dickson, "to give the potatoes to fowls not only in a boiled state, but hot; not so hot, however, as to burn their mouths, as they are stupid enough to do if permitted. They dislike cold potatoes, and will not eat them willingly. It is likewise requisite to break all the potatoes a little, for they will not unfrequently leave a potato when thrown down unbroken, taking it, probably, for a stone, since the moment the skin is broken and the white of the interior is brought into view, they fall upon it greedily. When pieces of raw potatoes are accidentally in their way, fowls will sometimes eat them, though they are not fond of these, and it is doubtful whether they are not injurious."
Mangold-wurtzel, swedes, or other turnips, boiled with a very small quantity of water, until quite soft, and then thickened with the very best middlings or meal, is the very best soft food, especially for Dorkings.
Soft food should always be mixed rather dry and friable, and not porridgy, for they do not like sticky food, which clings round their beaks and annoys them, besides often causing diarrhœa. There should never be enough water in food to cause it to glisten in the light. If the soft food is mixed boiling hot at night and put in the oven, or covered with a cloth, it will be warm in the morning, in which state it should always be given in cold weather.
Fowls have their likes and dislikes as well as human beings, some preferring one kind of grain to all others, which grain is again disliked by other fowls. They also grow tired of the same food, and will thrive all the better for having as much variety of diet as possible, some little change in the food being made every few days. Fowls should not be forced or pressed to take food to which they show a dislike. It is most important to give them chiefly that which they like best, as it is a rule, with but few exceptions, that what is eaten with most relish agrees best and is most easily digested; but care must be taken not to give too much, for one sort of grain being more pleasing to their palate than another, induces them to eat gluttonously more than is necessary or healthy. M. Réaumur made many careful experiments upon the feeding of fowls, and among them found that they were much more easily satisfied than might be supposed from the greedy voracity which they exhibit when they are fed, and that the sorts of food most easily digested by them are those of which they eat the greatest quantity.
No definite scale can be given for the quantity of food which fowls require, as it must necessarily vary with the different breeds, sizes, ages, condition, and health of the fowls; and with the seasons of the year, and the temperature of the season, much more food being necessary to keep up the proper degree of animal heat in winter than in summer; and the amount of seeds, insects, vegetables, and other food that they may pick up in a run of more or less extent. Over-feeding, whether by excess of quantity or excess of stimulating constituents, is the cause of the most general diseases, the greater proportion of these diseases, and of most of the deaths from natural causes among fowls. When fowls are neither laying well nor moulting, they should not be fed very abundantly; for in such a state over-feeding, especially with rich food, may cause them to accumulate too much fat. A fat hen ceases to lay, or nearly, while an over-fed cock becomes lazy and useless, and may die of apoplexy.
But half-fed fowls never pay whether kept for the table or to produce eggs. A fowl cannot get fat or make an egg a day upon little or poor food. A hen producing eggs will eat nearly twice as much food as at another time. In cold weather give plenty of dry bread soaked in ale.
Poultry prefer to pick their food off the ground. "No plan," says Mr. Baily, "is so extravagant or so injurious as to throw down heaps once or twice per day. They should have it scattered as far and wide as possible, that the birds may be long and healthily employed in finding it, and may not accomplish in a few minutes that which should occupy them for hours. For this reason every sort of feeder or hopper is bad. It is the nature of fowls to take a grain at a time, and to pick grass and dirt with it, which assist digestion. They should feed as pheasants, partridges, grouse, and other game do in a state of nature; if, contrary to this, they are enabled to eat corn by mouthfuls, their crops are soon overfilled, and they seek relief in excessive draughts of water. Nothing is more injurious than this, and the inactivity that attends the discomfort caused by it lays the foundation of many disorders. The advantage of scattering the food is, that all then get their share; while if it is thrown only on a small space the master birds get the greater part, while the others wait around. In most poultry-yards more than half the food is wasted; the same quantity is thrown down day after day, without reference to time of year, alteration of numbers, or variation of appetite, and that which is not eaten is trodden about, or taken by small birds. Many a poultry-yard is coated with corn and meal."