POULTRY-CRAFT. 171 



to be strong, though apparently unable to get out of the shells after pipping, 

 they should be let alone until all that can get out by themselves are out ; then 

 the shell may be gently broken, and the cap removed. If the membrane is not 

 dried to the chick, it should be left to help itself out. If the membrane 

 adheres to the down, it should be moistened with warm water or saliva, 

 which is better and carefully detached. If this can be done without causing 

 bleeding, the chick is likely to come on all right ; if it bleeds, it will probably 

 die. 



244. After Hatching. When the chicks are hatched and dry, they 

 should be removed from the nests and distributed among the best of the hens, 

 each medium sized hen being given from ten to twelve chicks in cold weather, 

 and eighteen or twenty in warm weather. Larger broods are sometimes 

 given, and hens may do well with them ; but the chicks do not often make as 

 good growth as when less crowded. It is better to limit the number to as 

 many as the hen can keep warm the coolest nights she has to brood them. 

 It must be remembered that the chicks constantly increase in size, while the 

 hen remains the same. A hen that has made a poor hatch, for which her con- 

 dition seems to be responsible, ought not to be given a brood. It is likely 

 that her vitality is low, and that instead of nourishing the chicks, she will rob 

 them of vitality when she broods them, and they will in consequence dwindle 

 and die, seemingly without cause. A scaly legged hen ought never to be used 

 as a mother though if not too bad, she may be used to incubate eggs. 



245. Puny and Deformed Chicks should be killed at once. It is 

 neither kindness nor policy to keep them. This is one of the hardest lessons 

 for the poultry keeper to learn. The weaklings appeal to his sympathies. 

 He cannot find it in his heart to take away their slender chances of life, and 

 he is averse to voluntarily giving up any results of his labor except for value 

 received. If one will make a practice of killing every weakling as he takes 

 the chicks from the nests, he will see the general condition of his young stock 

 much improved, and will be far less troubled with the common ills of chick- 

 hood. 



246. Marking Chicks. If the chicks are to be marked, it should be 

 done by making punch marks in the webs of the feet as they are removed 

 from the nests, using one of the markers made especially for the purpose. 

 Marking can be done at any time, but chicks may become mixed after being 

 taken from the nests ; and further, if the marking is done when they are but a 

 few hours old, the cut will bleed but little, and there is not the danger of 

 chicks picking each other's feet as they often do when marking is postponed 

 until they are older, and the cut bleeds more freely. As there are two webs 

 in each foot, it is possible so to mark the chicks that the offspring of sixteen 

 different matings of each breed or variety can be readily identified by the 



