AMERICAN POULTRY CULTURE 



first pretty downy little balls of life arrive it is a 

 temptation to want lots of them; but most people 

 who raise a limited number of chickens lead busy 

 lives, and after the first enthusiasm passes off 

 usually at the end of the first week or two they 

 find that either for lack of time, room, or, alas I 

 sometimes of inclination, the chicks must suffer. 

 And it is an indisputable fact that, in order to 

 attain maximum success with little chicks, no detail, 

 no matter how small and insignificant it may seem, 

 dares to be slighted; every little thing counts, and 

 a few chicks well cared for are better property 

 than twice that many half cared for. 



Don't put too many chicks together in one 

 bunch; large broods are entirely unnatural, and 

 death from crowding often results. It is better 

 in all respects to limit the number of chicks kept 

 together in one lot, whether they are kept with 

 hens or in a brooder. Crowding usually develops 

 many unexpected troubles, as well as those com- 

 monly known to result from such practices. Fif- 

 teen to twenty chicks are as many as one hen of 

 good size can satisfactorily look after, while the 

 biggest individual brooder made should not con- 

 tain more than one hundred chicks. Most 

 machines give the best results when they contain 

 not more than sixty to seventy-five chicks, and forty 

 or fifty is usually the safest number. 



Lice and mites often cause much disappoint- 

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