SUCCESS WITH POULTRY 



69 



I have made small houses, six by eight feet, with a win- 

 dow and door in front. In a corner of this''house I place the 

 brooder, and after the chicks are three days old I give them 

 the run of the house. On; pleasant days the 'door to this 

 house is left open and the chicks are given the run of the 

 yard. In stormy weather they are kept in the house. On 

 the floor of this house is four to six inches of chaff and into 

 this the food is placed. At the end of eight or ten weeks 

 the brooders are removed and roosts are put in their place. 

 The young are left here until placed in winter quarters. 



For food for the first four weeks I use bread soaked in 

 milk, squeezed dry as possible, millet seed, cracked wheat, 

 and oat groats. After the fourth week cut green bone is fed 

 twice a week in place of bread and milk, and cracked corn 

 alone for night food. Chick grit, granulated bone and. dry 

 bran is kept before them at all times. Be careful and not 

 overfeed. Small chicks will commence to scratch as soon as 

 hungry, and they should bo kept at it. 



It is needless' to say attention to details is necessary to 

 success. Clean the brooder frequently and keep the sur- 

 roundings in a sanitary condition. 



Fresh, pure water should be kept before them. G-et the 

 chicks out on the ground as soon as possible if but for a few 

 minutes ev-ery day. ' 



With me the brooder chicks and their care is a source 

 of pleasure, and their attention means a friendship between 

 us which is noticeable when they become adult fowls. 



DR. O. P. BENNETT, Illinois. 



The Temperature of the Broader Is of First Importance. 



"W'6 have been raising chicks since 1893 and with the 

 exception of the first year we have raised nearly all of 

 them in brooders. We have at times raised nearly every- 

 chick put into them, and again, we have lost every solitary 

 one, with many varied and interesting experiences between 

 the two •extremes, but the method with which we have had 

 the best success is that which we here describe.- 



When the chicks are hatched we have the brooders all 

 ready and warmed to a tempera'ture of ninety degrees, which 

 we consider nearly a perfect temperature (that is ninety de- 

 grees in the coolest part of the hover and not exceeding one 

 hundred degrees in the warmest). We place the chicks un- 

 der the hover and for one week keep the temperature at, or 

 as near ninety degrees as it is possible to keep it. The sec- 

 ond week, if all has gone well, we reduce the temperature to 

 eighty degrees, and after the second week alid for as long as 

 the chicks need the heat in a brooder we run it at seventy to 

 eighty degrees, or at whatever temperature the chicks seem 

 to be contented. We consider the beating part of this brood- 

 er business of more importance than the method of feeding, 

 as too m1ich or too little heat will wipe out a whole brood- 

 erful of chicks before one is aware anything has gone wrong. 

 Another thing — in the night when there is a change in the 

 Tyeather from one extreme to the other, one will, many a 

 time, save a bunch of chicks by going out and changing the 

 lamp flam«, either up or down, as may be necessary. No 

 matter if you are sleepy, if you wish to raise the greatest 

 number of chicks, you must attend to this duty. 



As to feeding, we have wheat, oats, and corn, equal 

 parts of each ground together, and, with one-third its bulk in 

 bran mixed with water to a stiff mass, a little soda added, 

 and sometimes two or three eggs to a gallon of the food. 

 This we put in a deep pan and bake thoroughly for two 

 hours in' a good hot oven. We use this food crumbled fine' 

 with a little more dry bran added for the first four days 

 and feed three times a day just what they will eat up clean. 



At noon, after the fifth day, we feed a little wheat, cracked 

 corn and millet seed until they can eat cracked wheat, oats 

 and corn, when we feed equal parts of wheat and oats, but 

 only half as much corn. After the first week we add a small 

 quantity of green cut bone every week day in the evening 

 food. Wihen they are five weeks old we feed whole grain 

 morning and noon and soft food (not cooked) and green bone 

 at night, until they are nearly matured, when we omit the 

 noon feed entirely. 



We keep them in their regular brooders until they can 

 do without the heat; then they are changed to a cold brooder 

 for a week or ten days, and from there to our open front 

 roosting coops. They remain in these coops until they be- 

 come troublesome to the smaller ones, when we put the first 

 hatched lot in our large pens, separating the males and fe- 

 males. 



We give our young chicks unlimited' tange of an old 

 orchard, except during the first two weeks, when we use a 

 small pen ten feet square around each brooder for fifty 

 chicks. We never put more than that number in one 

 brooder. 



For our early chicks, for green food,' we use a small 

 amount of clover meal in their food. Young chicks should 

 be placed on the ground just as early as possible after the 

 second or third day. The little chicks in cool weather 

 should be 'placed in a sunny spot and in extremely hot 

 weather kept in the shade. 



CLAEK & TEOLL, Ohio. 



Keep the Brooder dean— What to Feed— Hens Bring lice. 



Yes, I have had some experience raising chicks with 

 brooders. As to the number of chicks to a brooder, I have 

 yet to find one that would accommodate more than thirty oi 

 forty chicks for me. There is much danger of over-crowd- 

 ing where more than forty are placed in the same brooder. 



Special care is needed to keep the chicks very clean, and 

 the fresher and cleaner the surroundings of the chicks the 

 less liable one is to lose them. 



In regard to feeding — I like pin-head oatmeal or rolled 

 oats for the first four or five weeks, with a change to 

 bread and milk or Spratt's patent chick food. An excellent 

 change also and one that produces growth is fine cut green 

 bone. As to the quantity, I give them what they will eat 

 up clean. I would much rather keep them a little hungry 

 than have them stuffed with food. 



I feed about five times a. day the first week; after that 

 four times a day till they are nearly full grown. Cracked 

 corn, wheat, buckwheat, ground oats and, green cut bone is 

 what I give them from six weeks old upwards. I keep plenty 

 grit before them, ,also plenty of fresh water in dean foun- 

 tains or dishes. 



When weather permits I allow them to run at will, giv- 

 ing them practically free range. I have five acres devoted 

 exclusively to 'White 'V^yandottes and raise about two hun- 

 dred chicks on the home place. I farm out extra ones on 

 different farms. I find that they do much better in small 

 numbers. It is not how many I try to, raise, but how many 

 good ones. I enclose films, from which to produce photos. 

 Select any that will help you to explain. Take notice that 

 gome are of hens and their broods. I raise some by nature's 

 way, but have to be on the alert for fear of lice. Some 

 films will show chicks, when six or seven weeks old, feeding 

 in front of their roostiig coops, which are used after wean- 

 ing time. C. S. WETMORE, New York. 



