FEEDING AND CARE OF POULTRY 391 



der ordinary climatic conditions. The essential parts consist of a 

 heater (except in the case of tireless brooders for a few chicks), a warm- 

 air compartment called the hover, a cool-air compartment, and a venti- 

 lating system. In operating a brooder, the most important points are 

 cleanliness, steady and abundant heat under proper control, and op- 

 portunity for the chicks to get nearer the heat when they are cold and 

 room to get away from it when they are too warm. Unless the heat 

 is steady, the chicks may either be overheated or chilled at night be- 

 fore they awake and adjust their position nearer or farther away from 

 the source of heat. 



The brooder should be started at least 24 hours before it is needed 

 for the chicks, and the temperature carefully regulated. After the 

 chicks are transferred to the brooder, most persons will have better 

 results if they do not depend on the thermometer in regulating the 

 heat, but watch the chicks instead. Give enough heat so that they do 

 not crowd to the warm part of the hover but spread out in the cooler 

 part with their heads sticking out from under the curtain at night, 

 or so that a chick that walks to the hottest part of the brooder stays 

 there only a short time. To prepare the chicks for removal to the 

 range, they must be hardened off gradually by reducing the tempera- 

 ture of the brooder after the second week. Heat is needed for 

 about 6 weeks in the early spring in the northern states and for only 

 3 to 4 weeks later in the season. When heat is finally dispensed with 

 a "cold frame" may be substituted for the hover. This is simply a 

 box with a slitted curtain of soft, warm cloth on one side and a cover 

 of similar cloth which is so loose that it sags down in the center and 

 rests on the chicks' backs when they go into the frame to sleep or get 

 warm. 



Feeding the chicks. — Just before hatching, the yolk of the egg, 

 which has hitherto not been used for food by the chick, is drawn into 

 the body and supplies it with food for several hours after hatching. 

 Due to this, it is advisable not to give chicks any solid food for some 

 time after they are hatched — with incubator chicks at least 48 hours. 

 After the first few days, the chicks must be fed liberally for they grow 

 with great rapidity. Several methods may be followed with equal suc- 

 cess in feeding chicks. The following, given by Halpin, will be sug- 

 gestive : 



First method. — Give the chicks sour milk in a small dish when they are 24 

 hours old. Keep this before them until they are about 72 hours old, when they 

 are given good, sweet chick feed in a litter of chopped clover or alfalfa. This 

 chick feed may he a mixture of finely cracked corn, cracked wheat, steel-cut 

 oatmeal, and kafir, or such a mixture as 2 parts of finely cracked corn, 2 parts 

 of cracked wheat, and 1 part of steel-cut oats. The chick feed is scattered over 



