The Natural Method. 115 



The chicks once fairly hatched, the heaviest work will con- 

 sist in fighting lice, gapes, etc. Nowhere is the ounce of pre- 

 vention better worth the pound of cure than in the chicken-yard. 

 Gapes can be prevented by using chopped onion or garlic daily 

 in the soft food, or can be largely warded off by keeping the 

 chicks in a building on a board floor sanded or strewn with 

 chaff, for two or three weeks, or until they get a good start. 

 Lice can now be headed off by a liberal use of insect-powder 

 and kerosene. Kerosene is safe if judiciously used any time 

 after hatching (never before), and nothing else is so sure. But 

 it will take off both down and skin if used too freely on young 

 chicks. It is safe to brush the coop with it,* to pass it lightly 

 through the hen's feathers, and merely to touch the down on 

 the chicks' heads. 



If the hen and her brood are to run at large, they should be 

 fed regularly, counted as regularly, and watchedclosely. Even 

 this will not prevent loss in wet grass, through hawks, or 

 through the quarrelsome propensities of mothers at odds with 

 one another. To be master of the situation, one must coop 

 the broods in floored, vermin-proof, non-choking coops ; that 

 is, in enclosures wide-slatted by day, and close-netted or close- 

 boarded at night, with ventilation at the top if boarded. 



Almost any feed is good if given in judicious variety ; too 

 much-hard-boiled egg, scalded curd or raw corn-meal, or heavy 

 allowances of thick, sour milk may cause bowel trouble, as 

 may unwholesome water or lack of shade. Meat is not the 

 safest thing to feed in unlimited quantities ; many broiler-men 

 taboo it for the first two weeks. Possibly it may be thought 

 to have no place in the natural method, except as nature sup- 

 plies it in the form of bugs and worms. Still, for myself, 

 with that modified natural method under which I aim to have 

 control of conditions, I should use meat once or twice a week 

 if I could get it ; but I would rather have bone than meat, if 

 it must be a choice. Bone-meal I always use, arid meat when 

 it is at hand. Clean, pressed scraps, such as farmers can get 

 at two cents a pound or less, are wholesome and pay well. 



