SHIPPING BABY CHICKS 209 



must be provided, so ventilated as to prevent direct 

 draft. Third, care should be exercised not to chill 

 the youngsters in removing them from the incubator 

 into the shipping boxes. Fourth, do not feed them 

 anything at all, the yolk of the egg supplying all the 

 nourishment necessary for the first few days. 



There are several forms of boxes used for shipping 

 by express. Some use a wooden constructed box, 

 covered with burlap, but I much prefer the heavy 

 cardboard, or corrugated boxes, divided into com- 

 partments holding 25 chicks each. The objection 

 to the wooden parcel covered with burlap is that the 

 latter sometimes gets torn in transit, permitting too 

 much air to get into the compartment, thus chill- 

 ing the occupants, or admitting too much light in 

 one spot to which the chicks will naturally crowd, 

 and in doing so will trample on each other, killing 

 some and crippling others. 



Every precaution should be taken not to give the 

 chicks too much ventilation, a very small hole will 

 supply enough oxygen to a compartment holding 

 25 chicks, as the lung capacity of a day-old chick 

 is very small. Too much air will reduce the temper- 

 ature of the box. The body heat of 25 chicks 

 crowded together in a properly constructed and 

 ventilated box will, under ordinary conditions, go 

 as high as 95 degrees, which by the way is about 

 the average brooder heat. The amount of light 

 supplied should also be very limited, chicks remain- 



