38 BIGGIE POULTRY BOOK. 



down ' ' a coop occupies but little room when stored 

 under shelter, as all coops should be when not in use. 

 Whatever the style of coop used, the chicks should 

 be fed as soon as they are put into it. This is best 

 done at first on a clean board laid on the floor or just 

 in front of the coop. 



As to what the first few meals should consist of, 

 there is some difference of opinion even among prac- 

 tical poultry keepers. It is certain, however, that the 

 traditional hard-boiled egg is not essential for the first, 

 or for any other meal. When a hen steals her nest 

 and brings off a brood, she feeds them successfully on 

 weed seeds, insects and sundries until she brings them 

 to the poultry yard and they can get the food fed to 

 the rest of the flock. 



Bread crumbs, moistened with sweet milk, are 

 acceptable and nourishing for the first meal. Thou- 

 sands are started every year on a mixture of corn meal 

 and bran, half and half by bulk, scalded. It is well to 

 scald this sometime in advance of feeding, and allow 

 it to soak up the water and swell. It should be 

 crumbly and not pasty. This mixture of corn meal 

 and bran may be fed perfectly dry, and is so fed by 

 successful poultry growers. A person of much experi- 

 ence uses bread crumbs and rolled oats, dry, the first 

 week, and then for two weeks a mixture of equal 

 parts by bulk of bran, middlings and corn meal, with 

 a handful of meat-meal to the quart of the mixture. 

 This is scalded an hour before feeding. If the bowels 

 of the chicks are too costive he adds more bran, if too 

 loose, more middlings. 



Many make mixtures like the above into a stiff 



