The Colony Plan. 69 



FEEDING THE CHICKS.— "The first job after breakfast is to feed 

 the chicks in the brooder house. A barrel of balanced ration and a can of 

 skim-milk stand convenient in the long hall as he enters. This hall runs 

 the whole length (rear) of the 60-foot building, and is four feet wide. 

 The first two pens contain about 100 chicks each that are four weeks old. 

 For these he dips about 1V2 pound of feed in his basin, and pours on 

 enough skim-milk to wet it. After giving it a few stirs with his big 

 iron spoon he is ready for business, but not more ready than the chicks 

 on the other side of the wire partition. To those who are not accustomed 

 to it, the feeding of 1,000 chicks is an interesting sight. To us who are 

 used to it it is only work. It requires a little skill to open the gate and 

 step into a pen of 100 hungry chicks, without stepping on them, or allowing 

 any of them to jump out into the hall. See him dash a morsel of feed 

 through the . wire gate, to the farthest corner of the pen. The wild 

 scramble which follows furnishes his opportunity to step inside and allow 

 the spring to close the gate behind him. A hundred pairs of wings are 

 instantly spread, and as many of his white pets land on his basin as can 

 get a foothold. Brushing them gently aside, he places half of his feed in 

 the trough, giving the remainder to the chicks in the next pen. Pens 

 3 and 4 contain about the same number of chicks that are three weeks old. 

 For these he mixes a little less of the feed, still less for pens 5 and 6, 

 which are two weeks old, and about 12 ounces for pens 7 and 8, which are 

 only a week old. Pens 9 and 10 are reserved for next hatch, now coming 

 out of their shells. They will get water to drink, and bread crumbs 

 moistened with milk to eat for first four or five days. After that they 

 get same as the rest, and nothing else whatever except grit and water. 

 This ends the morning duty for the chicks. 



INCUBATOR WORK. — "The incubators come next. These are in 

 another building, partly underground, also used as a shop. The first 

 thing he does on entering is to light a lamp and take the reading of the 

 thermometers. No. 1 read 103 degrees. These eggs have been set a Week, 

 and this heat would have been all right a few days ago during the hot 

 wave, but it has now turned decidedly colder, and he gives the set screw 

 a slight turn to the left. No. 2 is hatching to-day, and is not to be opened. 

 The chicks are crowding against the glass door so thick that it is almost 

 impossible to see the thermoineter. Passing to No. 3 he reads 104 degrees. 

 The animal heat in these eggs has raised the temperature since yesterday, 

 but in view of the change in weather conditions, this is all right. The 

 trays of eggs are next removed to the long work bench, the eggs turned 

 and allowed to air while the lamps are trimmed and filled, when they are 

 returned to the incubator and the doors closed. 



THE HENS. — "Tt is now 6.30 A. M., and he is ready to feed the hens 

 By the time he has done a few odd chores about the barn, harnessed his 



