76 BROILERS AND ROASTERS. 



one of the advantages of buying good feeds if he fails to 

 learn from them to judge food stuffs. 



The ground mixtures for chicks cannot be as freely rec- 

 ommended as the mixtures of cracked and broken articles. 

 In general they contain too large a proportion of indigest- 

 ible or innutritious waste which cannot be separated from 

 the other elements, and is very likely to cause the chicks 

 to eat the food less freely than is desirable, or if eaten 

 cause digestive and bowel troubles. Ground mixtures are 

 tto be bought only after careful inspection, and used always 

 with caution whether fed wet or dry. 



41. The Feeding Systems in Practice. Young 



chickens require no food for from twenty-four to thirty-six 

 hours after hatching. They can go longer without it, but 

 in general they are ready to eat a little bit after the first 

 -day. At first they eat only in very small quantities. Indeed 

 in feeding a brood of chicks with a hen one can hardly 

 notice that the hen and chicks are taking any more than the 

 hen would until they are several weeks old. After that the 

 quantity eaten by a chick increases very rapidly. Most 

 people feed far too much at a time to their small chicks, 

 with the result that much food is soiled and wasted. 



When brooder chicks are fed in pans or troughs, and 

 feed kept before them most of the time, they may not take 

 as much exercise as is needed to keep them out of mischief 

 and in good condition. A lot of chicks with nothing to do 

 often develop some troublesome vice, like cannibalism, or 

 standing idly around ; there being no inducement to take 

 exercise, their blood circulates sluggishly, they feel cold, 

 and the attendant observer observes the phenomenon, often 

 considered as something of a mystery, of chicks huddling 

 together and to the heat when the thermometer indicates a 



