236 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



to the diet. Both grit and charcoal may be obtained from dealers in 

 poultry supplies; there are at least three sizes of each on the market; in 

 ordering, secure the small size for little chicks. Charcoal may be ob- 

 tained by sifting wood ashes. If brush or rubbish can be burned so that 

 the chicks have access to the bed of ashes they will soon learn to hunt 

 for charcoal there, arrd it also serves as an excellent dust bath for them. 

 The mixture of wood ashes and soil seems to suit their wants exactly. 



After the chicks are a few days old the hard boiled eggs may gradually 

 be omitted, and a scratch food composed of cracked corn, wheat and pin 

 head oats, substituted. On the average range there is a deficiency of 

 meat and this should be supplied in some form at least until the chicks 

 are a month old, when they are better able to secure insects. The meat 

 then must be fed according to the amount available on the range. At 

 this stage the following mixture may be used, viz. : two parts hulled or 

 pin head oats, two parts wheat, one part cracked corn, and one part 

 beef scrap, or cracked corn and wheat, morning and night, with a dry 

 mash feed at noon, composed of four parts bran, two parts corn meal 

 and two parts beef scrap or granulated milk. In fact there are many 

 combinations of food that may be fed at this time. The main thing is to 

 feed food that will supply bone and muscle forming material to build 

 up good, strong, healthy birds. If insects are abundant no meat need 

 be fed, but if green food is lacking it should be supplied. 



After the chicks are a month old it is well to allow them to run to 

 self-feed hoppers and help themselves, or to feed them three times a 

 day on equal parts of pin head oats, wheat and cracked corn morning 

 and night. The feed hopper contains a mash food composed of six parts 

 bran, three parts middlings, three parts corn meal, and beef scrap, ac- 

 cording to the amount of iiisects on the range. Beef scrap would sel- 

 dom be more than three parts and not often more than one part in the 

 above mixture. 



The feed hopper may be made at home or can be bought for a small 

 price from most dealers in poultry supplies. It consists of an arrange- 

 ment which allows the feed to come down no faster than it is eaten out 

 from below. For the end pieces select a board six feet long and eight 

 inches wide, cut it slantingly across through the center so that the 

 slope will be about one foot long, thus furnishing a frame for a sloping 

 top upon which chickens cannot roost. Board up the back or long side 

 of the end pieces and put the bottom in about three inches above the 

 ground. Put a board four inches wide across the front, thus forming 

 a trough with the bottom. Then cut a board to fit into the hopper at an 

 angle of about 45*^, being highest in front to deliver the feed in the 

 trough at a point three inches from the back and four inches from the 

 bottom board; enclose the front from this board up and hinge the cover 

 on. If it is desired to allow the chicks to eat mash feed only at cer- 

 tain times, a board can be hinged over the opening of the trough. The 

 dimensions of this self-feeder must be determined by the number of 

 fowls to be fed from it. 



A very good self-feeder used at the Maine Experiment Station is de- 

 scribed in Bulletin No. 90, Bureau of Animal Industry, Washington, I). 

 C. "The troughs are from six to ten feet long, with the sides five inches 

 high. The lath slats are two inches apart and the troughs are sixteen 

 inches from floor to roof. The roofs project about two inches at the 



