62 



StrCCESS WITH POULTRY 



weeks old some Wheat is fed tlie same as the millet, and 

 cracked corn and oats come along later. 



We use a good deal of green food. When grass cannot 

 be had, beets, sweet potatoes, and .onions are used, some- 

 times chopped and fed in' the mash, and sometimes fed, 

 alone-. From the time the chicks are a week old we^-have 

 some sort of green vegetable food where they can pick at it 

 when, they wish. iGreen mustard is something th^y like 

 and is a splendid food. Animal food in some form is fed 

 -steadily after the first week. We have used blood meal, 

 meat meal, and scraps' from the butcher shop and find all 

 are good and that a change is desirable. 



Charcoal is kept in reach of the chicks from the first 

 and at times they eat quite freely of it. We have tried 

 the green ground bone idea and like it, except for the hard 

 slow work and the difficulty in getting fresh bone when 

 wanted, so we have dropped it and keep granulated bone 

 where they can eat as much as they like, and that is con- 

 siderable. This ds not a substitute for grit, but is fed side 

 by side with it. Fresh, clean water is kept within reach of 

 the chicks from the first day and thej~. are allowed to 

 drink all they want. Milk is also given freely and we think 

 it an excellent food. 



Subjects of iExperiment at Rhode Island lOxperiment Station. 



As the chicks become older and are turned out to hustle 

 we lik« te have a patch of green oats for them to run in. 

 As the oats head out the graih begins to' fall, the chicks 

 will jump for it, and not only get plenty of exeroisoj but ob- 

 tain one of the very best of foods for bone and feather 

 growth. Wie like oats for a food from that time on, and 

 last year we tried feeding' them in bundles, as they came 

 from the binder. The experiment proved so satisfactory 

 that we shall try it more extensively this year, 



What to feed is of no greater importance than how and 

 when to feed. We feed our young chicks five times a day 

 until a month old, after that three times. We try to feed in 

 such a way that food will not be wasted by being tramped 

 upon, or by being left to spoil. We remove the food -dishes 

 after every meal and try to give only as much as they will 

 eat up clean. W-e have come to the belief that there is more 

 danger in overfeeding than any other one thing, and that 

 much cholera, roup and other diseases so-ealled are merely 

 the result of over-feeding and indigestion. We have paid 

 dearly to learn this lesson, and like many other people with 

 'dearly bought experience and well-founded belief, we still 

 find that it requires constant care to keep from doing the 

 very thing we know we should not. Our idea is to feed 

 plenty, but do not over feed. 



STEUTHEES SISTERS, Illinois. 



wa,r.m brooding, and this during cold weather I usually se- 

 - cure by the use of flannel-lined boxes or baskets, placed in 

 the house near the fire. When they are ready for their first 

 feed, they are placed with the hen and their bill of fare is 

 limited. They are not given any water the first day. For 

 food they have lightbread crumbs very fine and egg that 

 has been boiled half an hour and mashed as smooth as I can 

 do it with fork or spoon. One egg to two slices of bread is 

 given and I salt and pepper the egg- as if for my own eating. 

 To this bread and egg, I add a generous handftU of shell 

 meal. By "shell meal" I mean egg shells that have been 

 thoroughly dried, and then rolled till a fine meal. Long be- 

 fore the wee ones are due to hatch, the shells from the eggs 

 used in my kitchen are -thrown into a pan that stands on a 

 shelf on the back of the stove. There they dry out thor- 

 oughly, and can be' easily rolled. 



This food ,is given five times a day for four or five days. 

 Peed the hen whole corn, then -she will not eat so much of 

 the chick food. G-ive them water after the first day, where 

 they can go to it at pleasure. After the first four or five 

 days give millet seed for the 10 a. m. and 3 p. m. feeds. In 

 a few more days give rolled oats, (such as we use on our 

 table) at one of these houl^s. 



After a week old they are given fine grit till they are 

 large enough to use the Mica Crystal grit.- My young fowls 

 have the run of the whole place, fields, pasture, barn lot, 

 every place in fact but the breeding yards, and they even 

 go there as long as they a^e small enough to squeeze be- 

 tween the pickets. Some of my fences^are woven slat and 

 . wire fence. In this wjde range, they pick up a great deal of 

 their living, often coming up at night with crops so full 

 that they care little for their evening food. 



MES. W. B. CHANDLEE, Illinois. 



Warmth an Essential— Egg Shell "Meal" and Prepared 

 Foods. 



The method of feeding that has given me the best re- 

 sults with young chicks, for the first twenty-four, thirty-six, 

 even forty-eight hours, is nothing. All they need then is 



Not What You Feed, but How Yon Feed It. 



To hatch and raise chicks with success one must have 

 eggs from healthy, vigorous stock. The next thing to look 

 out for is lice. If hatched by hens, dust the sitter well at 

 least twice during the hatch and the last time about three 

 days before the chicks are due. Give her another dusting 

 when chicks are about a week old. Chicks must be watched 

 closely and when seen standing or drooping around you will 

 generally find the cause is lice. The greatest loss with chicks 

 is from over-feeding, which causes bo'wel trouble in differ- 

 ent ways. I find by keeping them a little hungry they thrive 

 better in every way. When first hatched chicks should be 

 put into a warm coop or brooder, with plenty of coarse sand 

 on the bottom. Do not feed for at least twenty-four hours 

 after hatching. They will pick out considerable grit from 

 the sand, and it puts them in a fair way to receive their 

 first meal. For the first two or three days I feed only stale 

 bread or crackers soaked in milk, squeezing it out and dry. 

 After that I begin to feed millet, cracked wheat or corn and 

 oatmeal. When about two weeks o'd I feed fine cracked 

 corn, that being their last meal at night. By keeping away 

 ^tne soft food it does not give them a chance to get their 

 * downy feathers damp, which is a great drawback to young 

 chicks. Their drinking dish should be made so they can get 

 only their bills into it, and it should also be kept very clean. 

 After four or five weeks I feed a mash that contains 

 about one-tenth beef scraps of some kind. I find it is not 

 so much what you feed as the way you feed it, for I have 

 seen chicks fed every well known food, with plenty before 

 them, that uid not thrive. If your chicks seem out of con-, 

 dition, stop feeding them one or two meals and you will find 

 (them much livelier. If they are nibbling at food all the 

 time they will stand around more or less and not get the 



