42 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



are careful he will get the white diarrhcea and that is the last 

 of him. That is only one of the many different ailments that 

 chickens have. Now those chickens stay in the brooder, in 

 the rear apartment of the brooder, about three days. They 

 are kept moving and active every time I go out there. They 

 are fed perhaps every three hours and they are kept moving 

 while they are feeding. Then the hopper is put on, and the 

 cover is dropped down, but if the brooder is well made it is 

 arranged so that there is always plenty of fresh air. After 

 that period has elapsed, they are then permitted to come down 

 into the exercise department, usually on the fourth day, and 

 by the time they are seven to ten days old they commence to 

 run outdoors. They come out for a few minutes and then 

 go back. The chief trick is to keep them moving, and then 

 they will be more apt to escape those mysterious chicken dis- 

 eases. 



We find about the best food for young chicks is dry food. 

 A sloppy mash will soon get down under foot, and then it is 

 like a doormat instead of food. We use chiefly a commercial 

 chick food. And in addition to that we give them a clover lit- 

 ter or alfalfa litter to scratch in, plenty of cracked corn and 

 plenty of pure water. When we have milk we let them have 

 that to drink. They also get raw vegetables, such as raw beets. 

 raw potatoes, lettuce, if we have it, but seldom cabbage, be- 

 xause cabbage has a loosening effect upon the bowels. With 

 that system of treatment in feeding, we have yet to see any seri- 

 ous trouble. In fact, I do not think the principal trouble is in 

 the feeding. I think it is keeping them warm, giving them 

 plenty of fresh air, and in keeping the quarters clean. Now 

 those chickens when they get up to weaning size, about eight or 

 ten weeks old, are ready to be moved into more permanent quar- 

 ters. They are taken out of the brooder. Sometimes we run 

 the brooders under cover, sometimes outdoors. Anysvay, they 

 go from there into an open front colony coop or into one of 

 these houses. They stay there about as long as it is convenient, 



