999 [QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 59 



QUESTION Will all cats eat young chicks? 

 ANSWER It is not safe to trust any of them where young chicks 

 are. 



QUESTION Are brooder raised chicks as strong and healthy as 

 those raised by hens? 



ANSWER There is no difference if they are properly brooded. 



QUESTION What is a fair number of chicks to expect from a 

 setting of shipped eggs ? 



ANSWER Ten chicks from fifteen eggs. 



QUESTION If not more than eight chicks hatch from a setting 

 of fifteen eggs, ought the seller duplicate the order at half price ? 

 ANSWER Yes. 



QUESTION How many chicks should be allowed in a coop to- 

 gether after weaning from the mother hen? 

 ANSWER Twenty-five. 



QUESTION What could cause bowel trouble in chicks that are 

 from one to two weeks old, when they are free from lice and are 

 properly fed and brooded? 



ANSWER There is large mortality among young chicks result- 

 ing from inherited weakness or abnormal development of some of 

 the organs of digestion, or the same effect may be produced by im- 

 proper incubation. The chicks may seem all right in every way till 

 bowel trouble sets in and results in death. The only method of discov- 

 ering the trouble is a post-mortem examination. Just before the chick 

 breaks the shell, it takes into the proper cavity the balance of the yolk 

 of the egg. This yolk is gradually fed into the intestine, until at the 

 end of four or five days it should be entirely absorbed. If on ac- 

 count of weakness or abnormal development, as mentioned above, 

 this yolk is not normally digested and absorbed, it finally decomposes 

 and poisons the chick and fatal bowel trouble is the result. There is 

 of course no cure for it. 



QUESTION If young chicks are allowed to roost too soon on 

 very narrow perches, will it cause them to have crooked breast 

 bones? 



ANSWER Yes. 



QUESTION How long should a baby fowl be called a chick? 



ANSWER Chick is a term applied to the newly hatched fowl 

 till the sex can be distinguished, and the term to be used then is 

 cockerel or pullet, 



