POULTRY RAISING ON THE FARM 291 



tered. The first temperature should be 98 to 100 under 

 the hover. After the second week it may be reduced to 94 

 or 96, and in the fourth week to about 85. 



If the chicks are hatched by a hen, the hen and chicks 

 should be transferred to a brooder coop about sixty hours 

 after the hatch. The coop should confine the hen but allow 

 a free range for the chicks. It should be sheltered from the 

 wind, the floor raised slightly, and covered with sand to keep 

 it dry and to aid in cleaning. 



Next to clean, comfortable, well- ventilated quarters the 

 most important factor in the care of young chicks is feeding 

 to secure growth and maintain health and vigor. The first 

 few weeks are a critical period. It is then that the greatest 

 losses occur. 



The Poultry Department of Purdue University suggests 

 the following ration for young chicks: 



Scratch Grain Dry Mash 



6 Ibs. fine cracked corn 2 Ibs. bran 



4 Ibs. fine cracked wheat 2 Ibs. shorts 



2 Ibs. "steel cut" oats f Ib. charcoal 



Sour milk or buttermilk all they will drink. 

 Green feed all they will eat. 



Grit (or sharp sand) and granulated bone before them at all 

 times, hopper fed. 



"If milk is not available, i\ Ibs. of fine beef scrap must 

 be added to the mash, for rapid and vigorous growth depends 

 very largely upon the amount and kind of animal food that 

 is fed. 



After the second week the above amounts of scratch grain 

 and mash should be consumed in the same length of time. 

 The ingredients of the above ration may be varied to suit local 

 conditions and feed prices. If wheat and oats, as given above, 



