Proportions of Meat Scraps and Dried Milk in Rations for Starting Chicks

A COMBINATION of meat scraps and dried milk is commonly used as the protein supplement in rations for starting chicks. However, the proportions in which these two ingredients are used vary rather widely, ranging all the way from 3:1 to 1:3 of meat scraps and dried milk respectively. Since dried milk is more expensive than meat scraps it is poor economy to use more milk than is necessary for optimum results. For this reason it seemed advisable to determine the relative value of different proportions of meat scraps and dried milk in rations for starting chicks. EXPERIMENTAL An experiment involving three lots of ninety-eight Barred Plymouth Rock chicks each was conducted for a period of ten weeks. The day-old chicks were divided into equal lots according to weight. Each chick was banded and individual weights were taken at the start and at the end of each biweekly period. For starting the chicks . . .