"1st section"
Feeding
The matter of the ingredients contained in the keep feed has long been considered the great secret in preparing cocks for battle. I disagree.
My own experience indicates that the basic feed which a cock receives in the three or four weeks prior to battle should vary but little from the feed to which he has been accustomed throughout his lifetime. Any wide departure from his normal diet cannot materially increase his strength, and in all probability will upset his digestive apparatus to the point where he will have less strength than he possessed prior to the introduction of the new feeds.
Consider this practical example: the Olympic Games bring together the finest conditioned athletes in the world. The Americans have their diet, the Russians have theirs, the Africans have theirs, the Japanese have still another. Yet they all win. However, everyone will agree that if in the last few weeks before the competition any of them had changed his diet to the one used by the champion from another continent, all he would have got out of it would have been a stomach ache and defeat. The same applies to keep feeds for roosters. Stick to the diet to which they are accustomed.
My basic feed consists of:
40% soaked race horse oats. Soaked in wooden barrels or plastic Ash cans out in the sun for three or four days so they begin to sour.
20% whole corn
10% dry race horse oats
7 1/2 % wheat
7 1/2 % Milo
5% sunflower seed
10% laying pellets
I mix up the dry feed and store in a barrel, then mix in the soaked oats just before feeding. This mixture is put together by using a good sized pan for measuring and dumping the grain in a big pail where it is mixed, then dump the pail full into a 55 gallon oil drum where it is mixed some more. The chickens get this feed from 12 weeks on as long as they live. That way they become accustomed to eating whole corn which is the best way to feed this grain. In cold weather the proportion of whole corn is increased up to 40% of the total and the soaked oats reduced. In the keep feed I cut way down on the soaked oats but don’t eliminate them entirely. It is interesting to observe the reaction of the fowl to this grain mixture. In hot weather the whole corn is the last thing they eat, whereas in cold weather they gobble up every kernel of whole corn before they touch any of the other grains. I am a great respecter of nature, and endeavor to go along with it just as far as I possibly can in everything pertaining to the feeding and care of the fowl. You will notice that this basic feed which I use is heavy in sour and whole oats. This makes for prolonged slow growth and late maturity. Both features are desirable in growing young stock. Flesh and fat can be acquired in a relatively short period of time, but strong bone development and strong ligaments and sinews require time. You cannot hurry them. The longer you can keep young stock growing, the tougher and stronger their bone and sinew structure will be at maturity. It is far better to have stags strong and husky in April than it is to have them fully matured in September.
"Fresh green grass is No.1 feed in the world for chickens, especially from 8 weeks old until cooped, and all during the precondition and the Keep. The soaked sour oats described previously are next best. The more sour the better. Be sure to feed them from 12 weeks old, and forever after."
There are certain things in the conditioning feed line which you can do to advantage:
(1) If your usual feed is of poor quality, mix up the same ingredients from good quality grains.
(2) Blow out the dust and chaffed by winnowing it in the open air.
There's nothing beneficial about dirt and husks. But don't put in a lot of new grains.
(3) There are certain things which increase the appetite and aid the digestion. Anything which does this in a normal natural way is good. But don't go to extremes. Strychnine will develop a voracious appetite, but it also stimulates other activities to the point where it does more harm than good. I've tried it but abandoned the practice. Certain so-called conditioning powders are designed to increase the appetite and are okay. For years I've used what the boys call my "Black Magic" for such purposes. It's easy to put together and cheap. The recipe appears at the end of this section.
(4) There are certain other additives that help, but use all of them sparingly.
(a) A Little wheat germ oil mixed in the grain stimulates the sex impulse which is good. Use once a day for the last week or ten days
(b) Do the same with cod liver oil at the other daily feeding.
Just a little. When using these ingredients feed in cups, not on the ground where the moist grain picks up dirt and filth.
(c) Raw eggs are good. They're a natural food. Mix up one in your grain to every four or five cocks once a day or even twice a day. The last three days use the white only of a hard boiled egg to every three cocks. Add it to your grain feed.
(d) Some people add a little concentrated Beef Extract as put out by Wilson and Company a few times during the keep. This is okay but I never saw that it did much good.
(e) A noon feed of chopped apple, chopped onion, chopped lettuce is good. Not much. Just a little.
Occasionally add a little chopped up cooked lean beef. Feed all of this in a cup. Not too much. If they don't eat it all in ten minutes, take it away and throw it out.
(f) Many good feeders use buttermilk on all their feeds. You might try it. If they like it, it means their systems require this ingredient, if they don't forget it and give them their regular feed.
(g) A little calf-manna mixed in your grain feed is good. About a teaspoon full to the cock once a day. You can get it at any grain or feed store. I consider it okay. Mix in a little layer pellets if the fowl like them.
(h) The last three days, keep cocks in cock house and feed mostly corn and hard boiled white of eggs. But just add more corn to your regular grain feed, don't feed corn exclusively. And by all means during this time feed less rather than more. Not more than two-thirds of what you have been feeding. You want your cocks hungry when they enter the pit.
There are countless drugs, steroids and other stuff which feeders try to increase the strength or desire or speed or something. I've tried all the ones I ever heard of but abandoned them all. Many people feel they are not really "conditioning" a bird unless they feed something extra. If you are one of them, here are a few thins you can do which probably will do no harm:
Add some bean sprouts chopped up fresh from the Chinese restaurant to the noon vegetable feeding. Some cocks will not eat them, but if they do it is good for them.
Add a little brown sugar, or still better, some honey to their feed the last week. Both are strengthening and produce energy.
Some people feel they must add bone meal and fish meal to their feed the first ten days. This is okay, if fresh but if sour or rancid they could throw the cocks off their feed.
Others think the cocks should drink toast water or barley water instead of plain fresh water.
I don't have time to bother with any of these things, but if you wish to do so , go ahead. I doubt if they do much good, but they will do no harm.
Sometimes I add some concentrated gelatin, sugar and milk prepared in a double boiler and then cooled in a pan until it solidifies. Cut up little cubes about 3/4 inches and add to feed. This puts on weight like everything. Adds energy. Use only the last four or five days, especially in cold weather. Some people swear by it. “The formula--2 ounces Knox gelatin, four ounces sugar, 2 cups milk."
Of far greater importance than what you feed is how much you feed. As one old master said, "The feed cup is the key to the keep." Cocks must be kept hungry, active, alert, and scratching throughout the keep. At every feed they should be "hitting the bottom of the cup" and making it rattle on their cock stalls. If they don't clean up every grain in five minutes and start looking for more, you’re feeding too much. If any individual cock leaves anything in his cup by the end of this time, take away his cup and feed less the next meal.
To feed accurately you need a feed cup which has a flat top so that you know exactly how much you are feeding. A whiskey jigger is okay or one those little plastic measure which come in coffee cans. The important thing is for you to know exactly how much you are feeding. Every one-fourth ounce makes a difference. Measuring by a spoon or a handful is no good. Not accurate enough. Find out exactly how much your measure holds by weighing its contents of your dry grain mix on the scales and then feed a little or a little less than a cupful. Usually about 1 1/8th or 1 1/4th ounces is a normal feed twice a day. But the important thing is for you to know how much you are feeding and not be guessing at it. After that, note how each individual cock responds to his feed, as indicated by his appetite and his weight, and measure his feed accordingly. But ever and always have him "hitting the bottom of the cup" and looking for more. It is far better to feed too little than too much. You won’t increase his strength by feeding more than he can digest quickly. You'll only make him sluggish and upset.
Keeping in mind that the purpose of any keep is to have a cock (1) fresh (2) alert (3) active (4) confident and (5) happy. If anything in this keep or any other one interferes with those objectives, abandon the practices or the feed which you think is causing the trouble and do something else. No set schedule or formula will cover all conditions of weather, state of health and flesh, temperament of cocks, etc. You must appraise all these things as you go along by observing the cocks and noting their responses to what you are feeding or what you are doing to them. I'm a great believer in changing the cock's location frequently during the keep. Coops on green grass one day, fly-pen another, regular small pen with dirt or sand bottom the next, etc. Such changes keep them fresh and eager. Whenever the weather is favorable, I like to keep them outdoors during the daytime.
I'm not afraid of getting them "loose" on fresh grass provided they have been on grass prior to entering the keep. It keeps them fresh. You wouldn't like to be shut up in a close, hot stall and neither do they. It's the same on cold or windy or rainy days. Put them were they'll be most comfortable. Don't be a slave to a schedule. Keep water in front of them all the time until the last 24 or 48 hours before fight time, then give them less depending upon the weather. I do like to keep them quiet and resting the last three days or 72 hours prior to their fight, but use judgment on this too and by all means have them comfortable and happy.
What you feed, how much you feed , when and how you exercise the cocks will vary somewhat with every bunch you put up. Just keep in mind what you are trying to accomplish, as stated previously, by observing the reaction of the fowl to what you are feeding and doing, and don't be a robot to this or any other system.
During the entire keep, notice the droppings every day. They should be firm but soft. Not hard and dried up, but not watery either. If they are either, try to determine the cause and correct it. They are a sure sign of a cock's condition and his ability to assimilate his food. He will not prosper if his droppings are not right. Sometimes it is the feed that is the trouble. Other times it is caused by nervousness or environment.
Whatever the cause, try to eliminate it. No matter what feed or other procedure you are following, your fowl will be going down hill instead of improving if his droppings are off. One good conditioner I knew was called a "bowel man." He placed more stress on a fowl's droppings then upon any other indication of a bird's health. So pay attention to them. They are important. Toward the end of the keep the droppings should firm up somewhat due to the character of the feed and less water. Regulate both to achieve the result. You will have to work that out for yourself. No formula can anticipate all the conditions which you will encounter during the keep.
The use of scales during the keep is important. Weigh each morning before the cock has been fed and when he has been without water all night. By weighing at that time you get a more accurate and uniform weighing. Click here to continue...
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