AMERICAN POULTRY CULTURE 
retarded and much loss may result. The cockerels 
themselves will fare better when away from the 
females, for then they will not hesitate to eat all 
they need and will have no chance to waste their 
energies. 
Teaching Chicks to Roost. The chicks should 
be taught to roost as soon as they are removed from 
the brooders or weaned from the mother hen; they 
get more good pure air when roosting than when 
huddled together in a pile on the floor, and the gen- 
eral conditions of cleanliness and health are better. 
There will be no danger of causing ‘‘crooked breast 
bones,” providing the perches are made wide 
enough. Four or five inches makes a nice width 
until the chicks are large enough that the shape of 
their bones has become fixed. These perches 
should be placed only a few inches from the floor 
at first, as then there will be less difficulty experi- 
enced in getting the chicks to use them; they should 
be gradually raised as the chicks get older, in order 
to get them further removed from the droppings 
under the perches and the resulting foul air near 
the floor. The chicks will need a little watching 
the first night or two, to see that they do not huddle 
in a corner instead of going on the roost, but after 
that they will prefer to perch. 
By the time they are moved to the colony coops 
the chicks ought to be able to eat whole oats and 
corn that has been very coarsely cracked. Birds 
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