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after hatching chicks do not need food, as the portion of yolk that 

 has just been taken into the abdomen has not been fully digested; 

 and then too the chick should get accustomed to the fact that he 

 has 'just been borned' before his little crop is started on its sel- 

 dom empty journey through life. When the hatch conies off let 

 the little fellows have a drink of pure fresh water (not too cold) ; 

 this invigorates them and helps clear the digestive organs of the 

 waste from digested yolk. 



"The first food should be bread crumbs and hard boiled egg, 

 or johnnycake. To each pint of food add a sprinkling of chicken 

 grit. The food for the first few weeks should be johnnycake, 

 rolled oats, coarse oatmeal, and bread or cracker crumbs. A 

 little well cooked meat finely minced three times a week, and a 

 liberal supply of fresh green food, grit, charcoal, and pure water, 

 are essential to health. When the chicks get to be six weeks old 

 they should have a cooked mash for supper six nights in the 

 week. For other food they should have hulled oats, wheat and a 

 little cracked corn fresh green food always. 



"From the first have a litter of chaff or cut clover and sand for 

 the chicks to scratch in; exercise is essential to good digestion. 

 Give them sunny quarters, and provide a shelter in case the sun is 

 too hot, and for protection in stormy weather. When warm 

 weather comes be sure that they can have plenty of freedom and 

 exercise on the green bosom of 'Old Mother Earth.' Keep them 

 busy, happy and hungry. Be careful not to overfeed. If you 

 must coop them up, make the coops large enough to give them 

 plenty of room to exercise and grow. Change the location of 

 snch coops often, to give them fresh ground to run on." 



WHEN TO HATCH THE CHICKS. 

 Chicks of the Asiatic breeds should be hatched in March, 

 chicks of the American breeds in April, and chicks of the Medi- 

 terranean breeds in May, for winter egg production. Poultry- 

 men who want eggs all the year round will do well to keep get- 

 ting out chicks from March to June and then start in again in 

 September. Josh Billings quaintly says that "the best time tew 

 set a hen iz when she wants tew set ;" and the man who has the 

 facilities for taking care of them will find that chicks hatched at 

 almost any season of the year will not come in amiss. I have 

 known White Wyandotte pullets of my strain, hatched in August, 

 to begin laying in January, when in the same pen were pullets of 

 other breeds hatched months before that had not begun to lay. 



