GROWING POULTRY 



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the same land, though there is abundance of fresh land available. 

 A poultry grower ought by all means to consider economy in labor, 

 but not at the cost of general deterioration of stock, or of some loss 

 of development on every bird grown in a season. When poultry 

 of any kind, at any age, are kept on land not suitable for them, while 

 better land lies idle or is occupied only by something the poultry 

 would not injure, the methods of managing are radically wrong. 



Warmth the first requirement of young poultry. If the young 

 birds are kept warm and comfortable they will keep quiet most of 

 the time for the first few days. If they are with natural mothers 

 it is advisable to keep the mothers on their nests or in a close coop 

 in which they will brood the young almost constantly until the 

 young birds themselves show a strong disposition to forage. After 

 that it is better to confine the mother and give the young liberty, 

 with free access to her until they are strong enough to follow her 

 without tiring. In most kinds of poultry this will be several weeks. 

 Under the usual conditions in domestication, and particularly where 

 large numbers are kept, it is advisable to keep natural mothers con- 

 fined until the young are weaned. For chickens this will be, in 

 spring and summer, five or six weeks ; for ducklings, about three 

 weeks ; for goslings with hens, about ten days. The later goslings, 

 hatched by the geese, and the young turkeys and other less domes- 

 tic kinds of poultry, are usually allowed to run with the adults 

 throughout the season. When birds lay only at the breeding 

 season, nothing is gained by separating parent and young when 

 the young no longer need brooding. 



Brooding temperatures. The temperature in natural brooding is 

 the same as for incubation, but it is tempered or reduced by the 

 young bird's keeping partly or wholly from under the mother, and 

 by the mother bird's taking a half-rising posture. The young may 

 remain wholly under the mother at first, but soon begin to sit 

 under her with their heads out, thus getting all the warmth that 

 contact with her body and that of other young will give, and at 

 the same time getting a full supply of fresh air. As they grow 

 (or, in very warm weather, while still small) they may not stay 

 under her at all at night, but still benefit by proximity to the 

 heat of her body. If they become wet or chilled at any time, they 

 resort to the natural brooder and are at once in contact with heat 



