PART VIII. POULTRY KEEPING* 



Teaching Chicks to Perch. 



What is a good method of breaking in young brooder chicks to use 

 the roosts? 



At from six to eight weeks old the chicks should be taken from 

 the brooder quarters to the colony houses and range, or wherever 

 they are to be located, and at this time they should be taught to 

 perch. Have the new quarters arranged with low wide perches (1 

 by 3-inch scantlings); also make slatted frames by nailing lath or 

 other such narrow strips two inches apart. Set these frames against 

 the wall so that they will extend slant-wise under the perches, and 

 have the corners on the other side of the room cut off by nailing 

 boards across them. The chicks will run up on the frame to find 

 a huddling corner and land on the perches, as they cannot rest on 

 the open slanting frame. A little care for a few evenings in putting 

 up those that remain on the floor and straightening them out on the 

 perches will teach them the ropes. Where there are but a few to 

 be taught, all that is necessary is to provide the low wide perches 

 and shut out the corners, and a few of the smart ones will soon take 

 to the perches, and gradually others will follow until all will be 

 roosting. 



Liver Disease. 



/ haz'e hens which seem well in every respect up to the time of their 

 combs changing color, zvhen they die zifithin three days. The combs turn 

 a faint yellozv, almost white; they are heavy, have their usual appetite 

 up to the last 24 hours. I have treated by giving small doses of castor 

 oil and Douglas mi.rture in the drinking zx'ater, feeding on dry mash ztnth 

 plenty of green feed. There is no tendency to lameness nor limp neck. 

 The droppings are loose and very white. 



The fowls were victims of jaundice, which is a form of liver 

 disease and caused by over-feeding on rich starchy foods that also 

 cause fowls to become overfat. However, at the end of the laying 

 season and the beginning of the molt the poultry keeper will lose 

 some hens, even when kept under the best conditions, and especially 

 hens of that age. In doctoring such cases in the way described, if 

 the fowl does not improve in a couple of days, the hatchet cure is 

 the most profitable. 



*Largely compiled from the writings of Mrs. W. Russell James and 

 Mrs. Susan Swapgood. 



