Reaki.yg the Chickens. 137 



stronger when tluis left with the hen. I have large sheds under which I coop the hens with 

 chickens : they are six feet high in front, sloping backwards, the back being two feet from tlie 

 ground, and close boarded ; one end which receives the cold winds also close boarded, and the other 

 end and front open, the roof covered with zinc. The ground under the shed is loose gravel, run 

 over every morning with a small-toothed rake ; outside the sheds is grass. Under these sheds I 

 put several coops of chickens, and I scarcely ever lose a chick, be it ever so early in the year. The 

 zinc roof answers admirably ; when the sun gets out, even in the coldest weather, the warmth on 

 the ground reflected from the zinc causes the little things to be full of life, and very seldom 

 troubled with cramp, a complaint so fatal to very many early-hatched chickens. 



" We will now consider the chickens safely cooped out ; and now comes the feeding, which has 

 been the downfall of many, and about which so much has been said and written. My plan is as 

 follows : — If early hatched, the first thing I give them is warm milk in a small shallow plate or tea- 

 saucer. I then have an egg boiled hard, and bread crumbled and chopped up with the egg ; give a 

 little of this every hour or so. If you are having a rice-pudding for your dinner, do not forget to 

 save a little for the chicks, and give it to them while it is warm. Small bits of meat and suet- 

 pudding from the table are very much relished, and give them strength. The nights being very 

 long they must be fed by candle-light, which they will readily do after they get accustomed to it. 



" When the chickens are a week old, and have got nice and strong, leave off the eggs entirely, 

 and give oatmeal, well boiled ; mix it with dry meal until you can crumble it with your thumb and 

 fingers ; this will bring them on better than anything. Get some wheat also, and have it split up ; 

 they are very fond of this. The first thing in the morning give them warm milk to drink, the rest 

 of the day clean water. Warm milk is only necessary for early-hatched chickens luitil' they are 

 five or six weeks old. When arrived at this age avoid feeding too often. How often do you hear it 

 said, 'You cannot feed them too often;' but I say you can; the little things get surfeited, and 

 refuse to feed altogether. If it is liglit at six o'clock in the morning, be up and doing. If the oat- 

 meal is boiled the night before, and left on the hob, it will be easily warmed the next morning ; if 

 it is dried up, break some up on a plate, and pour a little warm milk on it. Give them as much as 

 they will eat of this, and after seeing that they have fresh water in the pan, do not go near them 

 for three hours, and then take them some broken-up wheat, and you will find them ready to meet 

 _you ; and you will soon see by tlie v^ay they pitcb into it that they are hungry, and mean to fill 

 themselves. Never forget the scraps from the table, and let the last meal at night be oatmeal, 

 mixed with Indian meal, boiled. 



" If they have grown as they ought to do, at two months old they are ready to take from the 

 hen, and if the weather is at all open the chickens will do better without the hen. My advice is, 

 never feed now more than four times a day. My plan is as follows : — I have the chickens out as 

 soon as it is daylight, and they have an hour's ranging about to get them in order for their first 

 meal. While they are roving about I have the fire made up, and a large saucepan full of water put 

 on ; I then go in the food room, and put the meals together. I have a large zinc pan, and I put 

 equal quantities of fine middlings, Indian meal, barley-meal, and the best ground oats, and a 

 complement of coarse bran ; I sift all the meals well through my fingers. I then hollow out the 

 middle, and pour in the boiling water, and with a trowel I thoroughly mix it into a thick, crumbly 

 mass. When mixed, I press it into lumps the size of a cricket-ball, put them into a zinc bucket or 

 pail, and go round the lot, generally about six o'clock. I give a whistle at certain places where I 

 feed, and they come flying and running in all directions. I always stand throwing them lumps, 

 until they have had enough, and begin to walk away. I follow the same plan with the next lot. 

 until they have finished ; the chickens take me about one hour. I then go through the old slock 

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