78 MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



Exercise 



Vigor comes from exercise as well as from the proper food. 

 Scratching is by far the best exercise for chicks. It keeps the organs 

 of digestion in a healthy condition ; it gives the chick a good ap- 

 petite ; it broadens the back, giving plenty of room for and 

 developing the egg organs, strengthens the muscles and enlarges 

 the frame. 



How shall we give them work? The best way, of course, is 

 to give the mother hen range. Chicks on range with the mother 

 hen rarely acquire bad habits. It is chicks in the brooder that get 

 into mischief, that quarrel and scrap, peck each others toes and get 

 to be cannibals. The best way of preventing mischief is by bedding 

 the brooders, one or two inches deep, with alfalfa hay, cutting to 

 half-inch lengths in a clover cutter. The little chicks will eat some 

 of this, and they will scratch in it for seed of the chick feed all 

 day long. This chaff, or finely cut hay, hides the toes so they will 

 not be tempted to peck each others' toes. Another method for 

 exercise is planting the runs with wheat or barley. The chicks 

 will scratch up or pull up the green sprouts. Hanging a head of 

 lettuce up in the brooder house will also afford both amusement and 

 exercise. 



Never let chicks be crowded at night. Many a chick that might 

 have been a prize winner is disqualified, has off-colored feathers 

 simply from having been crowded or bruised by a larger chick 

 treading on it". A bruise, even a slight one, will often result in a 

 white feather on a colored fowl or a black or red feather on a white 

 fowl, and over crowding has the same effect. 



