15 Oct, 1919.] Chicken Rearing. 599 



which may be followed by indigestion. Where the rearing of table 

 poultry is directly profitable, it would be well to introduce wet-mash feed- 

 ing after the first three weeks, in order to fully expand the crop, and 

 enable the bird, in consequence, to carry a bigger crop during the " top- 

 ping-off " process. Many breeders keep bran always available, as it is 

 particularly valuable to young chickens on account of its comparatively 

 high percentage of ash, which assists the development of bone, parti- 

 cularly when supplemented with shell grit and cut bone. 



The chickens should be fed every two or three hours. In the case 

 of early chickens, hatched out at a season when it gets dark before 

 five o'clock, it is very necessary to feed them at night by artificial light. 

 One or two breeders already make a point of this, and others would be 

 wise to follow their example. From half-past five in the afternoon until 

 eight the next morning is obviously far too long for any young animal 

 to be without food. The chick feed mixture recommended by Mr. Hart, 

 Chief Poultry Expert, is as follows : — 



After the first week, biscuit meal and hulled oats. After the next 

 fortnight, cracked wheat, 25 parts; hulled oats, 25 parts; broken 

 biscuit, 10 parts; cracked peas (dried), 10 parts; maize, cracked and 

 sieved, 5 parts; (tharcoal, 5 parts; fine shell grit, 5 parts; and dry 

 bone meal, 5 parts. 



For those who do not care about the trouble of mixing, excellent 

 proprietary chick feeds are on the market. 



Greenstuff should be chopped up very finely, and fed as freshly cut 

 as possible; on no account should it be allowed to ferment. 



Two cardinal points to be observed in poultry rearing are — (a) guard 

 against chills, and (b) study digestion. 



Management. 



While a temperature of about 90° Fahr. will be required for the first 

 few days in the brooder, the heat should be reduced some degrees every 

 couple of days, and too much reliance should not be placed on purely 

 thermometric readings. The chickens themselves are the best thermo- 

 meter. If at all overheated they will spread out evenly as far as pos- 

 sible, and, if cold, will huddle together; the object should be to preserve 

 a happy medium. The death rate is usually in increase ratio to the care 

 bestowed on the chicks, and though at times one hears of from 2 per 

 cent, to 5 per cent, mortality only in some special hatch, on the average 

 throughout the season about 15 per cent, to 20 per cent, may be con- 

 sidered reasonable. 



The cost of a pullet from the shell to the laying period is somewhat 

 of a vexed question, and the writer, not long ago, wrote to twenty Vic- 

 torian breeders asking for their experience in the matter. Fifteen of 

 the twenty were apparently too busy to reply at all, and the other five 

 quoted from 2s. Id. up to 5s. 6d. There cannot be the slightest doubt that 

 the higher price was more nearly correct. Most breeders will nowadays 

 pay from 2 to 5 guineas for a high-pedigree stud cockerel, and perhaps 

 from 30s. upwards for stud hens. If they have high-class utility stock, 

 the breeding pens should have an average value of £7 or £8 (some breeders 

 have pens worth up to £10'0). Fifty winter-laying pullets per stud pen 

 would be a fair average, and half the value of the stud pen should be 

 charged against the pullets, say Is. 6d. each; then, in addition to the 



