80 DEVELOPMENT OF CHICKS 



growth and development. But lice come from ne- 

 glect. Careful, painstaking poultry raisers are sel- 

 dom troubled with these pests to any great extent. 

 At any rate they do not get a hold upon their flocks. 



Filthy and poorly ventilated houses will also un- 

 dermine the vigor of the growing pullets and affect 

 their laying possibilities. Cleanliness means dollars 

 to the poultryman. 



Many pullets get their first setback in improp- 

 erly heated, crowded, or poorly ventilated brooders. 

 Some persons hatch more chicks than they can prop- 

 erly take care of with the brooding equipment at 

 hand. They take a chance and pay the penalty not 

 only by losing many of the chicks, but also by af- 

 fecting the vitality of those birds fortunate enough 

 to pull through. The profits are not in what you 

 hatch, but in what you raise to maturity. 



Figure your capacity correctly and see to it that 

 your brooder outfits are in keeping with your incu- 

 bator capacity. Of course the one who uses the old 

 hen to do the work need not figure these things ; his 

 or her worries will come later when they have eggs 

 to set and no clucky hens to set them under. 



The average weight of a newly hatched chick is 

 about one and one-quarter to one and one-half 

 ounces. In three or four weeks it should weigh 

 one and one-half pounds; at six or eight weeks a 

 pound; nine to eleven weeks, two pounds, and at 

 three months it should be up to two and one-half or 



