AMERICAN POULTRY CULTURE 



retarded and much loss may result. The cockerels 

 themselves will fare better when away from the 

 females, for then they will not hesitate to eat all 

 they need and will have no chance to waste their 

 energies. 



Teaching Chicks to Roost. The chicks should 

 be taught to roost as soon as they are removed from 

 the brooders or weaned from the mother hen ; they 

 get more good pure air when roosting than when 

 huddled together in a pile on the floor, and the gen- 

 eral conditions of cleanliness and health are better. 

 There will be no danger of causing "crooked breast 

 bones, " providing the perches are made wide 

 enough. Four or five inches makes a nice width 

 until the chicks are large enough that the shape of 

 their bones has become fixed. These perches 

 should be placed only a few inches from the floor 

 at first, as then there will be less difficulty experi- 

 enced in getting the chicks to use them ; they should 

 be gradually raised as the chicks get older, in order 

 to get them further removed from the droppings 

 under the perches and the resulting foul air near 

 the floor. The chicks will need a little watching 

 the first night or two, to see that they do not huddle 

 in a corner instead of going on the roost, but after 

 that they will prefer to perch. 



By the time they are moved to the colony coops 

 the chicks ought to be able to eat whole oats and 

 corn that has been very coarsely cracked. Birds 



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