SUCCESS WITH POULTRY 



71 



Just as soon as grass starts in spring, we begin putting 

 chicks in the outdoor brooders, and when they are four to 

 six days old we let them out on the ground in small yards in 

 front of the brooder. As soon as they get familiar with go- 

 ing in and out. and learn to go inside when' the weather is 

 stormy we give larger yards, running entirely around the 

 brooder, and finally when the thicks are three or four weeks 

 old we allow them free range. These chicks are fed same 

 as in the indoor brooders, except that cut grass is omitted, 

 as they help themselves to the fresh, growing article, and 

 the exercise they get in pulling it ofl and running around the 

 yards is a wonderful aid to growth. 



In my opinion an outdoor brooder should have a light, 

 cool chamber attached, where the chiek^ can feed and exer- 

 cise when very young, or when the weather is bad, and into 

 which they can retreat in ease the brood chamber should be- 

 come overheated. Outdoor brooders have some advantages 

 over those, indoor, but -they require more watchful care. 

 Their greatest point of superiority is that the chicks can be 

 ^ot out on the ground at a much earlier age, and in running 

 about their yard, picking the fresh grass, etc.j get much 

 healthful exerciss. When the weather gets very hot the out- 

 door brooder should be placed in the shade, and a shady run 

 provided for the chicks w.hen very young, as the intense 

 heat of the sun kills a great many. When running at large 

 the chicks will seek shade of their own accord. . 



"We like both kinds of brooders, use both, and would not 

 wish to be deprived of either. 



H. J. BLANCHABD. 



The Brooder Clhick from Egg to Maturity. 



Early in our experience of artificial brooding we became 

 convinced Of the fact that the ■ foundation of successful 

 brooding was laid months before the chick was hatched- By 

 this we mean that unless the breeding stock is in the best of 

 physical health we cannot hope for the best results in rais- 

 ing our young stock. Too many of the reasons assigned for 

 the large mortality among chicks are, to say the least, of 

 very uncertain signification, and not enough attention is 

 paid to the poor condition of the breeding stock, which is, to 

 our way of thinking, the main reason why a larger percent- 

 age of ohieks do not reach maturity. 



Our first attempt at brooding chickens artificially re- 

 sulted in disastrous failure, but by close observation and 

 many costly experiments, we finally adopted a method which 

 ■is giving us gratifying results, and we feel sure that those 

 who will try it will be pleased with it. 



It goes without saying that the eggs must be well incu- 

 bated, and every attention given them while under process 

 of incubation. We leave the chicks in the incubator forty- 

 eight hours after they come out of the shell. The morning 

 of the third day we take them out of the incubator aild carry 

 them to the brooders, which have been previously warmed 

 for their reception. We then give them their first feed, 

 which consists of whole wheat bread, moistened with muK. 

 We never place more than fifty chicks in each brooder, some- 

 times only forty. The temperature of the brooders is regu- 

 lated by tne disposition of the chicks on the brooder floor; if 

 well spread out, we know they have sufficient heat, if all 

 crowded in a corner we know they need more heat. That is 

 our thermometer, and a reliable one. 



We wis- here to relate an experiment we made, in order 

 to determine the length of time chicks can be left in the in- 

 cubator without food. Five chicks were left in the machine, 

 the ventilators wide open, and the heat regulated to 100 de- 

 grees. At first it was our intention to leave them in until 



tney showed signs of weakness, but on the fourth day our 

 courage weakened, and we fed them. They had up to this 

 time showed no other signs but that of being very hungry, 

 running to the glass front of the machine upon hearing the 

 least noise. We marked these chicks and let them riin with 

 the rest. At maturity two of the cockerels weighed eight 

 and three-quarter pounds each; three of the pullets six 

 pounds, six and one-quarter pounds, and six and one-half 

 pounds respectively. All of them lived to maturity and were 

 always bright. Since then we always left our chicks forty- 

 eight hours without food and believe this to be the. very best 

 way to start chickens growing. 



Contented. 



Our brooders are placed inside of a house eight by ten 

 feet, with yards eight by twenty-five feet, each brooder oc- 

 cupying a separate house. The floor of the brooder is car- 

 peted with cut clover, but the brooder house is filled in to 

 above the sills with clean, sharp sand. The chicks are left 

 in the brooder for two days, then let out into the house for 

 three or four days, then the slide door to the yard is left 

 open and they are given the run of their yards. When the 

 chicks are six weeks old we take away the fence to the 

 yards and give them the free run of the farm. 



For the first ten days of tneir lives our chicks are fed 

 only whole wheat bread moistened in mUk every foiir hours. 

 Water (warmed in cold weather) is always before them from 

 the start, and is renewed twice or four times a day according 

 to the weather. When the chicks are ten days, old we still 

 continue the wheat bread morning and night, the other two 

 feeds are made up of the following mixed grains: Cracked 

 wheat, 50 pounds; coarse oatmeal, 25 pounds; cracked corn, 

 10 pounds; millet seed, 5 pounds; fine meat scraps, 10 

 pounds. When fine meat scraps are not proenrable, boil 

 some liver, chop it up into fine pieces, and use that instead. 

 Some heresy hunters will pick up their ears upon reading 

 this and criticise us for giving meat to our young chicks, 

 especially wh«n given free range, but we know that it is 

 impossible to grow the finest chicks without the free use 



