Feeding Young Chickens 1465 



side of the can will permit the chicks to drink with ease. The open end 

 of the can should be unsoldered and three or four notches cut in the 

 edge, the notches being a little shorter than the depth of the pie tin. 

 The can may then be filled, covered tightly with the pie tin, and reversed. 

 The water will rise in the tin to the height of the top of the notches. 



Access to fresh earth. — Chicks appear to obtain from fresh earth 

 something necessary to their health, and they should be supplied with 

 some fresh soil soon after they are removed froin the incubator. Sand 

 or dry earth does not satisfy the need. Fresh sod, a chickweed or a lettuce 

 plant with a handful of soil on the roots, gives the right combination, 

 supplying green food and earth and tempting the chicks to activity. 



Exercise. — Healthy chicks kept in small pens and properly fed will 

 grow very rapidly for the first week or ten days, but will of course get 

 little exercise. They usually become restless at this age and appear 

 anxious to get out of the brooder. If after two weeks they are removed 

 to a larger run, it will be found that they are much weaker and less active 

 than others of the same age that have been similarly fed but have had 

 wider range. In most cases the subsequent mortality is considerably 

 higher in flocks that have been confined in small pens. 



When chicks are hatched early in the season it is often impossible to 

 give them an outdoor run. An incentive to exercise must then be sup- 

 plied. Cracked grain scattered in litter, a sod, a chickweed or some other 

 green plant, or a block of sprouted oats will keep the chicks busy for 

 some time unless they are having other foods in too great quantity. A 

 small amount of onion or of fresh, lean meat, chopped fine, will be scram- 

 bled after and fought for as long as a scrap remains. 



Chicks kept in small yards, if allowed to become idle, are likely to 

 develop bad habits, such as pecking one another's toes, pulling feathers, 

 or crowding. Unless something is otherwise materially wrong, any tend- 

 ency to these vices may be broken up by attracting the attention of the 

 chicks in another direction and by keeping them occupied. If the 

 tendency is allowed to become a habit, however, it will be hard to over- 

 come. Active, busy, properly fed chicks do not ordinarily acquire 

 bad habits, although they may crowd if the brooder is not opened early 

 in the morning; and in their efforts to get out, there is danger that some 

 may be trampled to death. 



Care. — The rapid development of young chickens renders constant 

 care and watchfulness of the utmost importance. Any slight ap- 

 pearance of discomfort or of drooping may be the first indication of a 

 condition that will prove a menace to the flock. It is never safe to v/ait 

 long for developments; the cause of the wrong condition should be sought 

 and remedied immediately — to-morrow may be too late to save the flock. 



