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CHAPTER VI. 

 REARING AND CARE OF CHICKENS. 



VVe have seen that Nature has provided the 

 newly hatched chick, beforehand, with ample 

 nutriment for at least twenty-four hours. It 

 suffers little deprivation from thirty-six hours' 

 abstinence, and for it to partake of food within 

 less than twelve to eighteen hours after a healthy 

 hatch, is rather prejudicial than of any benefit. 

 Considering first a brood hatched at the natural 

 season under a hen, supposing her to have been 

 set at night, and that the eggs were fresh and 

 strong, some of them will have been hatched by 

 night, and at the final examination the shells 

 from such will have been cleared away, and the 

 hen shut in, feeding her, perhaps, if she will take 

 food. By morning the rest will probably have 

 hatched, and the whole will be strong and lively. 

 Unless any unhatched eggs arc valued, and 

 probably stale, it is generally best to be content 

 with what are then out ; for the hen will be 

 getting restless after having had nestlings under 

 her all night, and any hatched later will be 

 weaker than the rest. Of course, if the sitting 

 is variable in age, such a rule might lose half 

 the brood ; then the best plan is to take away 

 what are hatched, and keep them in flannel by 

 the fire while the other eggs are tried out ; or 

 this is just the time when a small incubator may 

 be very useful to many who never hatch artifici- 

 ally upon' system, as it may be heated up in 

 readiness, and late eggs put in to finish, while 

 the rest of the brood is not injured. As a 

 general rule, to keep a hen fussing over a few 

 unhatched eggs is apt to be prejudicial to 

 chickens which have hatched in good time, 

 and may result in " throwing good ones after 

 bad." 



The first thing to do when hatching is over 

 is to give food and drink to the hen, as much 

 as she will take. Part of her meal may be barley 



or wheat, and part good mash ; or 

 H^" °^ *^* wheat may be mixed in hot soft 



food, and given when cool and a 

 little swelled. She will be quieter and more 

 easily managed if thoroughly satisfied at the out- 

 set after her long fast. Next comes putting her 

 and the brood out, which is generally the best 

 plan at ordinary seasons and in fine weather ; 



sometimes in co'd or wet weather it is better to 

 feed the chicks also on the nest, and keep them 

 there till the warmest part of the day, or even 

 a whole day if the hen is quiet and will stay 

 there. The food in such case can be placed on 

 the front part of the straw, beaten down rather 

 solid for the purpose ; but care should be taken 

 that no birds can fall outside on the ground, as 

 they cannot get back again and may perish. 



The best food for the first day we still think 

 to be hard-boiled egg finely minced, mixed with 

 equal quantity of stale bread-crumbs, 

 and slightly moistened with milk. 

 It has been common to feed for several days 

 upon this egg-food, but bad results have so often 

 followed this kind of feeding that it is now dis- 

 carded after the first, or at most second day, by 

 experienced breeders. Such continuance usually 

 causes constipation ; and then from reaction and 

 want of digestive activity the opposite evil 

 follows, and the chicks may die. This is the 

 true history of a great deal of trouble with very 

 young chickens, though aided in many cases by 

 constant pampering with tit-bits and dainties. 

 Egg is indeed very strengthening and useful for 

 young and weakly chickens, but is better beaten 

 up raw and used for moistening the food ; or it 

 maybe beaten up with milk and fed as a slightly 

 baked custard. In this latter form egg will 

 often bring on wonderfully the backward ones 

 of a brood, but should never be given to such 

 an extent as to make them dainty over plain 

 diet. The late Mr. John Douglas used to give 

 custard to his Game and Dorking chickens for 

 the first meal in the morning till several weeks 

 old, and attributed their rapid growth to theii 

 getting this rich diet the first thing in the 

 morning. He beat up three eggs in half a pint 

 of milk, and stirred in a saucepan over the fire 

 till it became a thick curd. The whey was then 

 squeezed out through a cloth, and the squeezed 

 custard given at first by itself, and after a few 

 days mixed with coarse oatmeal. This is the 

 best way of giving egg-food, and in this form 

 once a day it has no bad effects. 



There are still ignorant people who think it 

 necessary to remove the pointed scale (provided 



