Feeding
Poultry:
The Classic Guide to Poultry Nutrition for Chickens, Turkeys, Ducks, Geese, Gamebirds, and Pigeons
by G. F. Heuser
632 pages, Suggested retail price, $39.95. ISBN 0972177027.
Written by pioneering poultry scientist G. F. Heuser of Cornell University,
this book is aimed at practical poultrymen in addition to poultry scientists,
and this makes it more accessible than more recent works.
Comprehensive
This 632-page book covers just about every feed issue imaginable. The Appendix
alone is 100 pages long, containing an immense number of practical rations,
many of which are designed for use with supplemental range or cheap local
grain.
You Will Learn:
How to mix your own feed rations.
The value and limitations of range as a source of nutrition.
The use of whole grains.
The use of farm surplus, table scraps, and other feed that would otherwise
go to waste.
What nutrients different breeds of poultry need at different ages.
Where feed ingredients come from, the different quality grades, and how
they are manufactured.
Where to get the necessary nutrients in a cost-effective way.
How to spot nutritional problems.
Where to go for more reading. Each chapter has a comprehensive bibliography.
Modern, Yet Aware of Traditional Farm Practices
This book dates from 1955, which was after all the major nutrients were
discovered (vitamin B-12 being the last one) and also after soybeans had
begun to be used in a big way. Coccidiostats, hormones, and antibiotics
were also in use, but they were new enough that they are treated in the
text as optional extras. The discussion about them is fascinating, even
if you don't like using these additives.
On the other hand, 1955 was still the period of small family farms,
and the text is written with small producers in mind. This is not a dry
treatise aimed only at professional feedmeisters, but gives every consideration
to the use of range, cheap local grains, locally available byproducts,
and on-farm feed mixing.
Similarly, Feeding Poultry lists the actual ingredients you should
use to get balanced vitamins and minerals, rather than simply saying that
you should add a vitamin/mineral premix. So you can learn all about practical
vitamin and mineral sources from this book. This is no longer usual.
This book is part of the Norton Creek Classics series; books from our
past with an important part to play in our future.
Table of Contents
1. The Feeding Problem
2. Objects and Principles in Feeding Poultry
3. Composition of Plants, Animals, and Rations
4. Measuring the Value of Feeds
5. Poultry Feeds--Cereals, Seeds, and Other Mash Constituents
6. Poultry Feeds--Animal Protein Supplements
7. Poultry Feeds--Vegetable Protein Supplements
8. Poultry Feeds--Green Feeds and Vegetable Products
9. Factors in Making a Poultry Ration
10. Feeding Systems and Practices
11. Health Feeding
12. Feeding and Management of Young Chickens
13. Feeding and Management for Egg Production
14. Feeding and Management of Breeders
15. Fattening or Finishing of Poultry
16. Feeding Turkeys
17. Feeding Waterfowl
18. Feeding Other species of Birds
19. Economics of Feeding
Appendix
Index
Ordering From Online Booksellers
Canadian Readers can order this book on Amazon.ca.
Feeding
Poultry:
The Classic Guide to Poultry Nutrition for Chickens, Turkeys, Ducks, Geese, Gamebirds, and Pigeons 
