SUCCESS WITH POULTRY 



63 



exercise they need to 'insure health. Seratehing or hustling 

 aTound for their food insures vigor. Chickens when growing 

 should have liberal grass range. If their quarters are lim- 

 ited they should be supplied with some kind of green' food, 

 and at all times should be housed in a clean, dry place. 

 J. H. JACKSON, Massachusetts. 



Fresh Air— Lots of Light— Oats and Wheat and Ideal Food. 



, After the thicks hatch I let them stay in the nest until 

 they ■ are twenty-four hours old. For the" first three days I 

 feed on bread crumbs and keep fine chick grit before them 

 at all times, so that the- can help themselves. I prefer this 

 to mixing it in the mash. After the chicks are three days 

 old I feed in the morning a mash of oats,wheat and corn 

 ground together, at the rate of two bushels .of oats to one 

 each of wheat and corn. With this I mix some bran, and 

 twice a week add some animal meal. I mix this the night 

 before with boiling water and in the morning I feed what 

 the chicks will eat up clean. At noon I feed cracked wheat, 

 and at night cracked corn. "When the chicks are large 

 enough I feed them whole wheat and a larger size of cracked 

 corn. I also feed oats and table scraps when we have them. 

 I give fr«sh water twice a day and use drinking fountains, 

 "so they will not foul the water. 



I house the chicks in houses nine by six feet, with oai« 

 window and a door of one-inch mesh wire netting. This 

 kind of house gives fresh air and good light. Chicks are 

 yarded in large yards until three months old and then have 

 free range. I clean th-e houses three times a week and 

 keep the lice out of them. Chicks raised in this manner are 

 strong and vigorous and in the fall are in fine shape to sell 

 for breeders or to go into winter quarters for layers. You 

 will notice that I feed , largely oats and wheat and a very 

 little of corn. Oats are the best bone and muscle 'builders 

 we have, and if I could feed but one kind of grain, I would 

 use wheat, so by combining the two we have an ideal food 

 with just enough corn to balance it. With the food and care 

 I give my growing stock I can raise'a large percentage.of 

 the chicks hatched, and .while I do not raise chicks by the 

 thousands I am doing a good business and raise more each 

 year. I have had chicks weigh three pounds at foijrteen 

 yeeks old, and to lay at the age of four months and seven- 

 teen days. I have a few pullets that have laid two hundred 

 eggs in a year. While I do not encourage early laying it 

 shows that chicks' hatched early and kept growing will be- 

 gin to lay early when, eggs bring a good price. I prefer 

 to hatch chicks in March and April for winter layers. - 



A. P. WINSLOW, Maine. 



Plenty of iHleat and a lOhance to Keach It--Causative Feeding 

 I ha"ve no hard and fast method of feeding,' as my aim 

 is to have strong, healthy chicks that will grow on good food, 

 even if not perfectly balanced, also to raise fowls as near 

 perfection as is possible. The winnings of my birds at lead- 

 ing shows vouch for exhibition quality, and a record of 242 

 eggs from a -pullet in 1899, speaks for the practical side. 

 For brooder chicks my method is first, plenty of heat and a 

 brooder where they can select the degree they wish. I want 

 it fully 100 at the warmest place. 



The rations are steel cut oatmeal, finely ground glass, 

 and charcoal for five days; then I begin to 'give little bits 

 of lean meat, and in a week I mix a good soft jfood of corn- 

 meal, bran, middlings and meat meal, and feed lightly. All 

 feeding must be what the doctors call causative. Watch 

 your, chicks. If they grow at once and keep at it, your 

 method is good; if not, you must try to find the cause and 

 change just a little. If yon add meai and it affects the 



bowels just a little, simply hold it off a day. But if judg- 

 ment is added to feed, meat makes the fowls grow to per- 

 fection. If the chicks are confined for eight weeks I of 

 course add some xegetables, and after two weeks finely 

 cracked corn. If you keep them growing for four weeks and 

 get tliem out in the open air after two weeks you have 

 almost a sure thing of it. 



Pen of Light Brahmas, Reliable Poultry Parm. 



For chicks with hens I use oatmeal and cracked corn, 

 about half and half. I do not use flake oats. By all means 

 get granulated oats and feed dry food at the start. I have 

 started hundreds when out in the fields on just corn, only I 

 want it sweet,- and free from mouldy grains, and second, I 

 want "it finely* cracked— about the size of one-third of a 

 wheat grain. I. feed the dry. food a week, then begin with 

 the mash, once or twice a day. If dry weather comes and 

 they do not grow to suit me or as they should, I feed one 

 feed a day pure meat, especially to Leghorns or any that 

 feather quickly. Chicks cannot grow on wind, although air 

 -is ..essential.. I am. a firm believer in plenty of good bal- 

 anced food four times a day, 



W. W. KULP, Pennsylvania. 



Give Sand, Grit and Fresh Water — Ke^p Diflereut Aged 

 Chicks Separate— Afford Kange. 



We have always hatched our chickens with hens, but 

 this year I purchased an incubator and we shall try to hatch 

 with the machine and give the chicks to the hens to raise. 

 In the first place we try -to have as fertile eggs as possible, 

 and after making nestS for the hens that want to sit, we let 

 them sit a day or two before giving them eggs. This settles 

 the nest and gives them a chance to find out if they really 

 want to sit. We give to each hen thirteen eggs, selecting 

 those" of as good shape and as near the same size as pos- 

 sible. I have come to the conclusion that thirteen eggs 

 are all one hen can cover. If you give them more they will 

 surely break some, and in the end you do not get any more 

 chicken^. "Vve always set from four to fifteen hens at one 

 time, and then when they are through hatching we give each 

 hen 'fifteen chickens as far as they will go, and reset those 

 that are not given a brood. I prefer to set about twelve 

 hens at one time, as a flock of eighty or one hundred chick- 

 ens live and grow better if they are all of one age than if 

 they are from one to three weeks of age. 



We do not take the chicks out of the nest until Ihoy 

 are from twenty-four to forty-eight hours old. We feed 

 rolled oats (a cheap grade), which are fed dry, and also 

 make a cake composed of equal parts of corn and oats 

 ground together, to which we add a little bran and shorts 



