1474 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



Bread slightly moistened with milk may be used without the breakfast 

 food. If finely cracked corn and pin-head oats are not available, wheat 

 screenings usually are, and chicks three or four days old will swallow 

 the smaller kernels. Buckwheat, barley, and rye should not be fed to 

 the chicks. 



Table scraps will largely take the place of beef scrap for chicks on 

 a free range, especially if the chicks are reared by hens. If the farmer 

 has animal meal for his stock, it may be used instead of beef scrap in a 

 moist mash, with the table scraps. This will furnish mineral matter if 

 bone meal cannot be obtained. Burned bones will provide bone ash 

 when nothing else is handy. 



Good, bright alfalfa or clover chaff (leaves), sifted to remove the dust, 

 is excellent for chicks. It may be scalded and allowed to stand for a 

 few hours, and then given in addition to the green food, or a small amount 

 added to the ground food, after the chicks are a week old. 



When chicks are reared by the natural method the mother hen teaches 

 them what to eat and when to eat it, and their owner has far less trouble 

 about their diet. If possible, hen and chicks should be allowed free 

 range. Plenty of food should be furnished for both and whole corn should 

 be included for the hen. Oats in the hull are not good for chicks 

 because of the undesirable shuck. 



A useful feed-coop. — In case chickens of all ages must run together, 

 a feed coop is desirable. The foundation of the coop is a strong frame 

 three feet by four feet, and two feet high. On the sides of this frame 

 lath are nailed, far enough apart to admit only the smaller chickens. A 

 tight cover having a hinged trapdoor sufficiently large to allow the food 

 dishes to be passed through, completes the coop. This coop provides a 

 place where the younger chickens may be fed their extra meals and may 

 eat their mash mixture undistiu-bed. It should be shifted to a clean 

 place from time to time. More than one coop should be furnished, if 

 necessary. 



|» A feeding enclosure large enough to admit a person is preferable when 

 large numbers of chicks are to be reared. This may be of large-mesh 

 woven wire fencing of the necessary height, the mesh being of a size that 

 will admit only the smaller chickens. 



It is true that in chick rearing, care and feeding must be largely depended 

 on to produce satisfactory results; but good food and effort are wasted on 

 sickly chicks. An absolutely essential factor in the successful rearing 

 of poultry is native health and vigor in the flocks. In order to make 

 possible the production of vigorous chicks the parent stock must be 

 strong and healthy, and must be kept under conditions as nearly as pos- 

 sible like those of the natural state. 



