14 HOW TO HATCH, BROOD, FEED AND PREVENT 



if you will keep the membrane damp, and no harm will result. I have 

 often removed nearly the entire shell before I could locate the bill. The 

 chick must have air. Open the shell some where whether you find the bill 

 or not. Sometimes the bill will strike the wing and cannot reach the 

 shell, but the chick would be strong and healthy if you can only save it. 

 Some one will tell you that a chick that cannot hatch without help is no 



Diagram showing how to pip the egg 



good. This is all a mistake. I advise you to save all you can, if you do 

 have to pick them out of the shell, for you will lose enough after they are 

 hatched if you happen to overfeed or overheat them. If you will remove 

 the shell from those that die it will give you an idea of the exact position 

 of the chick and make it easier for you to locate the bill. It will be a 

 great help to you. 



How to Prepare the Brooder for the Chicks 



FIRST, place paper in the bottom of the brooder, then cover the entire 

 brooder floor with dry sand, (dry sand, mind you), to the depth of 

 one-half inch, if the weather is quite cold. But if it be warm, one- 

 fourth inch will do. The feed room of brooder should have straw or tim- 

 othy chaff scattered over the floor, so it will furnish the chicks exercise 

 while waiting for their food. Place your lamp in your brooder about five 

 or six hours before you want to put the chicks in it. Be sure the sand is 

 warm and keep the temperature at about eighty degrees. If you have a 

 good hatch the temperature will rise to about ninety degrees after the 

 chicks are put in the brooder. This temperature, ninety degrees, should 

 be kept for the first week or ten days, then gradually wean them away 

 from the heat as their strength will permit. The operator can lower the 



