48 GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF- POULTRY. 



meal is, however, so high as to forbid its use in general, except 

 for valuable broods ; but we should still advise it for the first 

 week, in order to lay a good foundation. It may be moistened 

 either with water or milk, but in the latter case only sufficient 

 must be mixed for each feeding, as it will turn sour within an 

 hour in the sun, and in that condition is very injurious to the 

 chickens. Spratt's well-known food is also most excellent for 

 rearing chickens upon. 



For the first three or four days the yolk of an egg boiled 

 hard may be chopped up small, and daily given to each dozen 

 chicks ; and when this is discontinued; a little cooked meat, 

 minced fine, should be given once a day till about three to four 

 weeks old. The cost of this will be inappreciable, as a piece the 

 size of a good walnut is sufficient for a whole brood ; and the 

 chickens will have more constitution and fledge better than if 

 no animal food is supplied. 



Food must be given very often. For the first month every two 

 hours is not too much, though less will do ; from one to two 

 months old, every three hours; and after that three or four times 

 a day will be sufficient. To feed very often, giving just enough 

 fresh food to be entirely eaten each time, and with occasional 

 changes, to keep the appetite and digestion vigorous and keen, is 

 the one great secret of getting fine birds. If the meals are fewer, 

 and food be left, it gets sour, the chicks do not like it, and will 

 not take so much as they ought to have. 



After the first week the oatmeal can be changed for 

 cheaper food. We can well recommend any of the following, 

 and it is best to change from one to another, say about every 

 fortnight. An equal mixture of " sharps " and barley-meal, 

 or " sharps " and buckwheat-meal, or fine bran and Indian 

 meal ; or of bran, oatmeal, and Indian meal. The last our own 

 chickens liked much, and as the cheap bran balances the 

 oatmeal, it is not a dear food, and the chicks will grow upon 

 it rapidly. Bice is poor food, except for Bantams, which it Is 



