POULTRY AND EGGS. 231 



after the grass has become dry. The first food for the young 

 broods should be stale bread or crackers soaked in milk, and 

 fed in rather a moist condition. With this food they will 

 need no drink till two or three weeks old, when they may 

 have a constant supply of milk or water, which should be 

 always clean. During the first two weeks the chicks should 

 be fed at intervals of two hours, and from two to six weeks 

 old, five times daily; the first feed alwa3^s at daybreak, or 

 the first thing in the morning. After they arc two weeks 

 old, they may be given a feed of wheat or cracked corn 

 twice daily, but always soft food in the morning. When 

 four weeks old, the soft food may be prepared in same man- 

 ner as described for laying hens, mixing Avitli milk when it 

 can be spared for them ; where skim-milk or buttermilk can 

 be procured at from four to six cents per can, it is a cheap 

 food for chickens, as it will place them in the market two 

 weeks earlier and in good condition. 



If it is desirable to raise more chicks than the first hatch 

 has brought forth, the nests may be filled again, and the 

 second broods will be off before May 1st. It is not desira- 

 ble to hatch chickens for market later than June 1st, as the 

 late broods are not liable to do as well when early ones are 

 about, as the older chicks are stronger and will trample over 

 the later ones to their injury. The chicks of different ages 

 should be kept at quite a distance from each other for this 

 reason, allowing only flocks of same age to feed together. 

 When the chicks are six weeks old they may be removed to 

 some other part of the farm, where they will have a fresh 

 hunting-ground for insects, which will form an important 

 part of their food. They should be placed in small, porta- 

 ble houses, eio;ht feet lonj;, four feet wide, three feet hi2;h 

 in front and two feet hiofh in rear, with tight floor and roof. 

 The sides of this building should be boarded perpendicularly, 

 leaving one inch space between each board to secure perfect 

 ventilation without a draught. There should be two roosts, 

 running lengthwise of house, made of 2 by 3 spruce joists. 



It is an invariable rule that chickens mature much better, 

 grow larger and faster, and are always healthy, when they 

 are allowed to roost in the trees, as nature intended them to 

 do ; but their enemies are so plenty in this section of the 



