THE ONE-DAY-OLD CHICK TRADE 91 



I find a sink brush is an excellent thing for scrubbing out the drink- 

 ing vessels. They must be kept in the shade. They can be placed 

 in a box set on its side or under a shed or tree, and besides being 

 shaded, they should be frequently replenished during the day. 



Sunshine and Shade 



Provide shade for the growing chicks ; shade from the burning 

 rays of the sun. Nothing is more conducive to health than sun- 

 shine, but it must be tempered by shade. Trees and bushes supply 

 the best shade, as the temperature close under growing green 

 leaves is several degrees cooler than under anything that is dry or 

 dead. Few realize what a necessity shade is to fowls. 



If an epidemic seizes the half-grown chicks, it is attributed to 

 any cause on earth but the lack of shade, when, in very many cases, 

 this is the sole cause. Vertigo, blindness, stunted growth may all 

 be due to the glare of the sun on unsheltered yards. Shade is a 

 necessity, and if trees or shrubs are lacking, a good shelter can be 

 made by driving a few stakes or small posts into the ground and 

 making a frame upon which palm branches or brush can be laid. I 

 have found a very serviceable temporary shade can be made by rip- 

 ping open a common gunny sack and nailing four laths on the 

 edges. This little frame can be laid across the top of a small pen or 

 even hung on wire fence and afford a grateful shade. 



Overcrowding or the chicks huddling for even one night may 

 stunt the growth or be the means of bringing on an epidemic of 

 colds which may result in roup. 



But how to stop them crowding? A mother hen often solves the 

 difficulty by taking the half-grown chicks on the perch with her, 

 but for brooder chicks some other plan must be found; the best 

 way is to divide them into flocks or colonies of only twenty-five in 

 each, and supply comfortable perches for them. The chicks will in 

 a short time take to the perches of their own accord. 



At one time I had not enough colony coops and a great many 

 chicks. I put them a hundred together in my regular henneries, 

 but they crowded and I not only was losing every night some of 

 the best, but the survivors looked very badly. They sweat off in 

 the night all they had gained during the day. I realized that this 

 meant failure for me if I could not control it. I spent my evenings 

 going around and patiently placing the chicks, hundreds of them, 

 on the perches till I was completely tired out, when I decided to 

 make it so desperately uncomfortable for them they could not 

 crowd. 



I bought a bundle of six-foot lath and made a lath platform or 

 floor, by nailing them one and a half inches apart, the width of a 

 lath, on stringers one inch by three. This made a flooring of small 

 lath perches three inches above the ground, and made it so un- 

 comfortable for the chicks to crowd that it entirely prevented it. 

 I placed regular perches four or five inches above the lath floor and 

 in a few nights, on making my nightly rounds with my lantern, I 

 had the satisfaction of finding all the chicks on the regulation 



