FIRST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 55 



the board may be moved out from the wall, so that chicks crowding to the wall will drop ott, 

 and when the chicks learn not to huddle to the wall, take out the board and put in its place an 

 ordinary roost. 



Chicks of the heavy breeds ought not to roost as early as the others. Many of them will not 

 roost until about full grown, and chicks from Brahma or Cochin stock that have been kept with- 

 out roosts for generations are sometimes very hard to teach to roost. I have had some that I 

 gave up, and let have their way. 



If chicks will roost it is better that they should, for on the roost they are not crowding and 

 sweating, nor are they fouling themselves in their own droppings. The one thing to avoid 

 when chicks roost young is crooked breast bones, and with roosts three to four inches wide no 

 more of these occur than would probably develop regardless of roosting conditions. 



Yard Room and Range for Growing Chicks. 



To grow good chicks without extraordinary attention it is necessary that they should have 

 plenty of room outdoors. I would make the minimum of yard room about the same as for 

 adult fowls when yards are to be kept in grass, and would double this if possible. The more 

 room you can give your growing chicks the less care you will have to give them, and the less 

 risk you run in raising them. When chicks are kept in small yards, the yards late in the season 

 become very foul, and they will not thrive on foul ground as they will on clean fresh ground 

 especially a nice grassy lot. 



By giving due attention to all their wants, seeing that their quarters are kept quite clean, and 

 providing exercise and sufficient supplies of animal food and green food with the grain ration, 

 good chicks may be grown in very limited quarters, but I doubt whether, when time and 

 expense are considered, there is any profit in growing stock that way except for market. 

 Crowding tends to shorten the period of development, and to make chicks sexually mature 

 before they are full developed physically. That is one of the reasons why market chicks, if 

 thrifty, make a, plumper, better filled out, as well as a softer meated, carcass than chicks given 

 more liberty. The chick given good range develops a better frame which subsequently fills out 

 fully, but for quick development for market condition confinement is preferable. So poultry- 

 men are accustomed at about the weaning age to separate the chicks destined for market from 

 those reserved for stock purposes, and handle the two lots differently. 



Feeding the Growing Chicks. 



The methods of feeding chicks after weaning are, or should be, a continuance, with some 

 modifications, of the method followed previous to that time. A radical change of methods of 

 feeding at this period is most unwise, and unless the feeding of the small chicks is much the 

 same as that of old stock, the feeder should begin weeks before weaning, and change gradually 

 from the baby chick ration to that which is to be used this season. The growth of a thrifty 

 chick at this period is notable from week to week, and the amount of food consumed 

 increases very fast. 



The chicks have now attained such size that they are no longer easy prey to cats, crows, 

 small hawks, and other enemies which hunt by day, and so may be given more liberty, and 

 kept further from the dwelling with less risk of loss. Under such conditions, with good 

 range and sun and shade, the feeding proposition becomes so simple that if the chick has 

 reached this stage with good sound digestive organs, it is quite impossible to go wrong with 

 it. The general conditions correct any errors in feeding, and it will make practically very 

 little difference what method is used provided the chicks get enough to eat. It is, further, 

 almost impossible to overfeed chicks under such conditions, and the thing to avoii is not 

 overfeeding on account of danger to the chicks, but overfeeding with consequent loss of 

 food before the chicks eat it. 



Still, in giving food, one can put it out much more freely than if the chicks were confined to 

 a small area, because if the grain is broadcasted they do not foul it as they do food in coops or 

 small yards; and if fed in hoppers, or even in open troughs, they do not linger around these 

 as they would if they had no opportunity to forage, and so the place is cleaner. 



If the yards, while giving a fair allowance of room, are still so small that it is thought best 

 to feed several times a day, the feedings may be reduced to three or four, and these timed to 

 suit the convenience of the keeper. 



