FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF CHICKS 



Pheasants by day, and if they can be sheltered from it at night 

 it does them not the least harm. Indeed, it is an excellent 

 practice on a day when warm rain is gently falling, to feed 

 sparingly so as to induce the young Pheasants to search for 

 extra food and expose themselves to the rain. A thorough 

 soaking, although it renders them pitiable to look at, 

 really does them immense good, for it cleans their skins 

 and feathers, and on becoming dry the birds appear all 

 the brighter, smarter, and livelier for their experience. A 

 little extra spice should always be added to the food during 

 and after rain, just to correct any tendency to scour which 

 may have developed amongst the birds owing to the 

 moisture. Occasionally, a thirsty chick will drink copiously 

 from the drops of water on the herbage, and then can 

 hardly escape an attack of scour. Still, scour brought 

 on in this way is rarely fatal, unless the bird is otherwise 

 weakly, and soon stops of its own accord. Never allow 

 puddles of water to linger on the field, but with a spade cut 

 little trenches and at once drain them away. If the broods 

 are ever allowed access to stagnant water all sorts of troubles 

 are sure to arise. A little water standing amongst dead 

 leaves in the bottom of a ditch adjacent to a coop of birds has 

 before now escaped notice and been the cause of every chick 

 dying, so such places should be carefully inspected. 



Should a brood be noticed to thrive badly, follow the oft- 

 repeated advice and move it near a growing fence, or to the 

 outside of the field, where it can range over entirely fresh 

 ground. Also give the coop a long shift twice a day if possible, 

 so that the chicks may have every opportunity to obtain 

 natural food. Even go the length of letting the hen out to 

 wander with her brood if she can be kept from among the 

 other coops. 



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