208 Profitable Poultry Keeping. 



at the same time, the whole should be thoroughly cleaned. 

 Where there is flannel for the chicks to nestle amongst, this 

 should be taken out and purified, by ^having plenty of dry 

 earth well shaken through it. The heat also needs to be 

 well looked after, as many poultry keepers make a great mis- 

 take in having their machines too hot, which is a much 

 greater evil than a little cold would be. Mothers should never 

 be allowed to go above 80 degs., and, except in summer, 

 below 65 degs., but the margin between these two is sufficient 

 for the variations of the weather. It is true that the chicks 

 will not get so close to the tank, if hotter, but too much heat 

 makes them tender, and it is to be remembered, that the heat 

 from their own bodies increases the temperature, so that in 

 summer if the mother was 80 degs. before they went into it, 

 it would probably be ten or fifteen degs. higher after they had 

 been in for a time. The best test is to put the hand against 

 the bottom of the tank, when it may be accepted as all right 

 if just warm and comfortable, but if the hand cannot be kept 

 against the metal it is too hot. Overcrowding is also very 

 dangerous, and we would not be inclined to put more than 

 forty chicks a week old, or twenty-five above that age, into 

 one machine. Nor is it wise to keep them in it too long ; 

 for, if healthy and strong, they may, when five or six weeks 

 old, be transferred to the cold mother, which, as we have 

 already described, is simply one without any water tank ov 

 heating arrangements. The state of the weather and the 

 strength of the birds will, however, largely decide this 

 question. As' to teaching the birds to eat, which the hen 

 does, this only needs to be done with the first brood. The 

 way to proceed is to put some food on a piece of board, 

 and tap the same with a pencil or piece of stick, to which 

 imitation of the hen's pecking the chicks will readily answer. 

 Later broods can have an older chick put with them, and it 

 will in this respect act a maternal part. 



