, CHAPTER X - •/ 



Rearins 



Doubtless the most difficult poultry problemt 

 today is raising the chicks. To many it is more 

 difBcult than hatching. Not all these difficulties 

 can be solved by attention to constitutional vigor 

 in the selection of the breeding stock. Probably 

 the great losses incident to the season of brooding; 

 can be largely overcome by paying proper atten- 

 tion to the stock that is to produce the chicks. 

 Poultrymen who follow this practice experience 

 very little loss of brooder chicks. 



But vigorous stock and good incubation will not 

 atone for gross sins in brooding and feeding. A 

 good brooder permits the chicks to find a com- 

 fortable temperature at all times. This means that 

 at some point a surplus of heat must be carried, a 

 higher temperature than the chick can endure for 

 a very long time. The chick moves away from 

 this heat and finds a comfortable place where it 

 will lie down alone and sleep. When chicks crowd 

 together they are not getting sufficient heat. 

 Crowding or piling up is always disastrous. 

 The chicks sweat — if a chick can sweat — and then 

 chill, and lowered vitality and death follow. Chicks, 

 never crowd in a brooder where the heat is suf- 

 ficient. If at night they are seen to crowd together 

 and are standing up the brooder heat is not right. 

 They should lie down singly and sleep contentedly. 

 The brooder should be heated by hot air currents^ 

 thus providing both heat and ventilation at once. 



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