Studies on the Use of Certain Flavors in the Diet of Chicks

LITTLE is known pertinent to the question whether or not fowl have a highly developed sense of taste. Englemann (1934) demonstrated that fowl could differentiate between such basic taste sensations as acidity, salinity, bitterness and sweetness. Kare et al. (1957) reported evidence which indicates that chickens are particularly sensitive to certain flavors. These investigators used solutions of 32 imitation flavors and essential oils and allowed the test chicks access to unflavored water and water which contained one of the test flavors. At the concentrations of flavors used (range 0.5–6 parts per 1,000), some of the flavors were preferred (imitation butter and butter cream); whereas others were rejected (strawberry, nutmeg and alfalfa). Oil of costus was almost totally rejected at a level of only 1 part per 5,000 parts of water. Similarly, oils of sandalwood and patchouly were also rejected. EXPERIMENTAL In order to determine if several flavors would influence . . .