FIRST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 57 



He shuts the cockerels that are to be marketed in a small yard, and feeds them the same as 

 the others, but as they take little exercise, they grow faster, put on fat more readily, and are 

 soon in salable condition. 



The chicks for stock purposes he gives more room, they take more exercise, develop larger 

 frames and grow constitutionally stronger, while the others, though putting on weight more 

 quickly, are growing constitutionally weaker. In the long run the chicks that are given the 

 best conditions will make the better development, but for quick returns and profits from meat 

 the other way is better, the chicks being disposed of before they break down under the forcing 

 process. 



Making the difference in conditions, and consequently in the method of feeding, will be found 

 the most economical way of special feeding for special results. There is no need of special 

 foods for different purposes. 



Separating Chicks. 



Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say, "assorting the chicks." Some authorities put 

 great stress on the separation of the sexes early in life; but separation according to age and 

 size, and the separation of the thrifty from the unthrifty are of greater importance. The 

 separation of the sexes of thrifty chicks of the same age and size need not be made at all when 

 they are to be handled the same way, except when the cockerels begin to annoy the pullets. 

 This time will vary with different breeds, so we have a general rule, but a special application of 

 it in each case. Leghorn males are very precocious. In Asiatics It is not at all uncommon for 

 the pullets to begin to lay before the cockerels of the same age would offer them any attentions. 

 Between these extremes we have cockerels of different breeds arriving at the age when it is 

 advisable to separate them from the females at varying periods, and the only point necessary to 

 observe is to remove a male that annoys the females in advance of their inclination. 



Overcrowding. 



Too much emphasis cannot be placed on the importance of preventing the overcrowding of 

 growing chicks. With an ordinary sized brood with a hen there is practically no possibility of 

 overcrowding while the chicks are small, but after the chicks are weaned they grow so rapidly 

 that a coop that was adequate when they were eight weeks old, may be entirely too small 

 when they are twelve. A great many poultrymen leave their chicks, after weaning, in the 

 small coops in which they were kept with the hen. This practice sometimes works all right, 

 but is uncertain, depending much on the disposition of the chicks in each lot. If> when they 

 find the coop too small and close, they sit on the ground outside, or on the coop itself, no over- 

 crowding will occur, but if they all push into the coop and pile up there, one warm night 

 will spoil many weeks of good growth. 



There is special need of guarding against overcrowding when chicks are kept in coops or 

 houses that are closed at night. Many coops or houses are so constructed that it is not possible 

 to get such circulation of air into them on sultry nights as there should be to give the chicks 

 what fresh air they need. 



Fresh air they must have. They can no more thrive without it than without food. It is 

 because so many poultrymen fail to provide ventilation suitable to warm weather conditions 

 that so many lots of chicks that start well in the spring are spoiled in the summer. The 

 number so injured, and the total loss in consequence, are very much greater every year than 

 anyone who has not looked into the matter would believe. 



Chicks can be kept (roost) in quite small coops provided there is free circulation of air, but 

 if the chicks are to be confined where air does not circulate freely the number that will do well 

 in a place is hardly greater than the number of adult fowls that would be considered right in 

 that place. 



Keep the Chicks Growing. 



A well known poultry writer is accustomed to assert that the secret of success in winter egg 

 production is to keep the chicks growing from the shell to maturity. That may not be all there 

 is of it. Looking over the subject we can see other essentials not included in his view, but it 

 certainly is of great importance to have the chicks develop steadily without check or setback. 



To insure this there must be constant attention to the wants of the chick. Now I do not 



