1952 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



instance, carelessness in feeding may induce a slight digestive disorder. 

 If the condition is observed at once, the evil may be corrected, while con- 

 tinued carelessness will cause serious loss to the owner. Persistent care 

 and watchfulness will very often prevent trouble and loss. The removal 

 of damp litter will obviate a menace to every chick in the brooder, as 

 one of the common molds, aspergillus, adapts itself readily to the mem- 

 brane lining the air passages and air sacs of the chick, sometimes causing 

 high mortality. 



It cannot be too strongly emphasized that untiring care is absolutely 

 essential to the success of any method of chick feeding. Yoimg chickens 

 are very small creatures, and the loss of a few may seem a trifling matter; 

 but in a flock of fifty, one chick is two per cent of the flock. Any 

 method of feeding is expensive if it permits a high mortaHty. Vigilance 

 will often greatly reduce miortality. 



general details of feeding 



Time of first feeding. — It is believed that the chick derives nourish- 

 ment from the yolk of the egg, which is enclosed within its abdomen just 

 before it breaks from the shell; and that too early feeding prevents, or at 

 least hinders, the proper absorption of this yolk. Chicks begin to show 

 signs of hunger from thirty-six to forty-eight hours after hatching. They 

 peck at one another's toes and beaks and rush to the front of the incu- 

 bator when they hear a tapping on the glass door. If given water, they 

 drink eagerly. They are usually transferred to the brooder at this time 

 and are then given their first meal. 



The first meal. — Whatever the method of feeding may be, the first food 

 should contain grit, charcoal, and granulated bone, all of very small-sized 

 grains. These should be mixed with the other foods in sufficient quantity 

 to be easily noticed. Cracked grain may be fed at first in a shallow tray 

 or dish containing a small quantity of bran. If a dry mash is used, this 

 will take the place of the bran. Moist food may be given in trays from 

 ten to twelve inches wide, having low vertical sides to prevent loss of the 

 food; enough of these trays should be used to furnish plenty of feeding 

 surface. Common cake tins are satisfactory substitutes for wooden 

 trays. Bone meal should be suppHed in the first moist food given. 

 Tender green food should be finely shredded and a small quantity scat- 

 tered over the other food, and a sod or a green plant with soil on its roots 

 should also be given to the chicks. 



Should food he kept before young chickens at all times? — For the first two 

 or three days it seems best that the cracked grain, and the bran or dry 

 mash, should be kept before the chicks in order to make certain that all 

 have plenty of food. The moist food should be removed after each meal 



