Salt Requirements of Poultry*

THERE is a well established belief among many practical poultry keepers that salt (sodium chloride) is poisonous to chickens. Many instances have been re-ported in which chickens were killed by eating salty meat, salty kitchen wastes, and salty bakery wastes. Collier (1892) reported the results of feeding varying amounts of salt to two year old hens. No harmful results were noticed in these experiments involving six hens until the intake of salt reached 0.063 ounces per hen per day. This amount, however, was sufficient to cause diarrhea in two of the hens. Upon reducing the amount of salt to 0.042 ounces per hen per day the troubl