244 AN EGG FARM. 



hatched and so handicapped in the race of life, or they 

 met with some injury or setback. Sometimes a whole 

 season will not develop a single instance of the unsightly 

 pest in flocks aggregating hundreds. Under natural con- 

 ditions domestic birds, like their wild cousins, will have 

 perfectly clean plumage. Folks say it is necessary for 

 young chicks to "get at the ground." It is necessary for 

 them to "get at" exercise. 



In the instance of brooder chicks, throwing grain on 

 top of a pile of litter does not amount to much. No 

 matter how loose the litter may be when it is first put 

 into the scratch box, the constant tramping of the 

 chicks soon makes it a compact mass and the grain will 

 not rattle down through it. Throwing them grain 

 induces a momentary scramble but very little scratching. 

 If the attendant stirs up the litter, using a rake or fork, 

 it takes him over twenty minutes for sixty flocks, to 

 do this properly and not stampede the birds, even when 

 every door and other appliance at the brooders and 

 scratching places is constructed so that it can be done as 

 handily as possible, while unless the brooders and their 

 belongings are made with special reference to this rou- 

 tine it will take forty minutes. With the indoor exer- 

 ciser it can be done in one minute. That is, the 

 machine saves the time of twenty men, at the very least. 

 The best farm machinery saves the time of only eight to 

 twelve men. 



