SUCCESS WITH POULTRY 



77 



will always have an appetite. 'When chicks are four or five 

 weeks old I feed only twice a day. Feed whole wheat and 

 corn just as -soon as they can eat it. Always have plenty 

 of grit standing around for them, and give them fresh drink- • 

 ing water. Keep the brooders and brooder houses clean and 

 look for mites each time you clean brooders. ■Saturate the 

 sides and bottom of the brooders with coal oil once in two 

 weeks, and then the mites will not trouble you. 



The foregoing is for chicks raised on a farm where there 

 is plenty of range. I also find that farm raised chicks, as a 

 rule, make stronger and healthier chicks at maturity and 

 ojight to be sold at better pricSs than' those raised on small 

 city or town lots, but they seldom are. You find that city 

 breeders always -ask double the price for their inferior stock, 

 although it is no better than that raised on the farm. The 

 best chickens for either the show room or for business are 

 those that are raised on the farm which have unlimited 

 rage. EMANUEL SOHIEBEB, Ohio. 



ers are helped in their struggle to make poultry pay I shall 

 feel repaid for my effort. 



A. A. HAETSHOEN, New York. 



Brooding and Feeding Clucks. 



In raising chicks in brooders the first thing to be consid- 

 ered is. the brooder. A brooder should be used that will give 

 the chicks plenty of warm fresh air. Some people have the 

 erroneous idea that air must be cold in order to be fresh, 

 whiph of course is false. A brooder may be so ventilated 

 that the outside air is sufficiently warmed before reaching 

 the chicks. Due attention should be given to see that it, 

 is kept at the right temperature, for if the temperature be 

 kept too low or too high for a considerable length, of time 

 the result will be an unnatural growth of wings, and weak 

 sickly chicks. The chicks snould be kept so that they will 

 lie down and go to "sleep and not be obliged to huddle to- 

 gether to keep warm, neitlier be forced to the coldest corner 

 of the brooder to cool off. 



Another thing to be considered is the number to be 

 placed in one brooder. The brooders that I use are two and 

 one-half by three feet, placed in one end of coops, which are 

 three by six feet. Such a brooder will accommodate seventy- 

 five chicks nicely; we have raised more than that, but that 

 number or less is better. 



Aftef the right brooder, with the right temperature and 

 the right number of chicks are obtained, the next thing to be 

 thought of is the food and drink. 



There are many different methods of feeding, many of 

 which we have tried with good results, but perhaps as good, 

 if not the best method of leeding, for the first four or five 

 days is oat flake and millet, with a few bread crumbs fed 

 four times a day. After that gradually work them 04 to a 

 mixture of eornmeal, wneat middlings, and wheat bran, with 

 a few beef scraps for their mixed food, and cracked corn and 

 wheat, which should be given after they have eaten their 

 mixed food. Close attention should be given to the drop- 

 pings, and if they do not become hard in two or three days 

 a little black- pepper may be mixed with bread crumbs moist- 

 ened. Care must be taken that none of their mixed food be 

 sticky or gummy. 



Another and perhaps one of the most important things 

 to be looked after in raising chicks is their drink. They 

 should have fresh water placed in -clean drinking fountains. 

 A fountain that can not be opened and cleaned never should 

 be used, for a slimy substance will form on the inside of 

 the fountain and unless removed' will surely cause bowel 

 trouble. OVLany persons have lost nearly all their chickens 

 from this cause and then wondered why they are not suc- 

 eessful. If Vy reading thgse suggestions some of your read- 



Better Too Much Heat Thau Too Iiittle. 



How easy to rear young chicks if we only knew what 

 to feed, how to feed, when to feed, and how much to feed, 

 and a thousand other hows, ifs and ands. 



In our years of experience in rearing chicks in brooders 

 and by mother hens we find the results about the same in 

 regard to the number raised and cost of food. But chicks 

 reared in brooders are more peaceable and quiet and mjoh 

 easier handled, hence make better show birds. We also find 

 that we are not troubled so much with lice and disease, for 

 the simple reason that remedies are more easily applied. 

 Again, we have the use of the hen in the breeding yard, and 

 save the food which she would eat if left ■ with the chicks. 

 This is a large gain in rearing thousands of chicks per year, 

 as the food for young chicks is quite costly. 



Our method of raising chicks in brooders is as follows: 

 After leaving chicks in . -e incubator or under the hen until 

 twelve or thirty hours old, we place them in the heated 

 brooder, with the thermometer registering ninety degrees, 

 allowing the temperature to fall until the chicks are three 

 weeks old, after which we use no artificial h-eat. 



In regard to pen room, I have raised as high as two 

 hundred chicks in brooders four by eight feet, and one hun- 

 dred and sixty-five chicks in brooder three and a half by 

 six feet, and only lost one chick, and that one in the small , 

 brooder) this season. We never have' had as good results 

 with small brooders. We leave our chicks in brooders the 

 first two or three weeks, according to the weather, and give 

 them a run in the yard ten by twenty feet, until six to eight 

 weeks old, after which we place them on the farm. After 

 trying many experiences, with good as well as poor resultsi" 

 we find this the most successful of all, with no extra trouble 

 or expense. Any one can rear a brood of chicks in this way. 



We ofter a few suggestions in regard' to feed and heat 

 while chicks are in brooders and small yards. If you wish' 

 to avoid bowel trouble, give clabber milk once a day. We ' 

 have learned this rule: Better have chicks two degrees too 

 warm than one too cold. When chicks are too warm they 

 will scatter over brooder and when too cold will crowd over 

 one another, smothering weaker chicks. 



We always feed one teaspoonful of sulphur in food to 

 fifty chicks, twice per week during dry w'eather. This w© 

 think aids the feathering. IRA T. MATTE80N, Ohio, 



How to Successfully Raise Brooder Ohlcks. 



One of the first things to be considered in raising brood- 

 er chicks successfully is tie parent stock which must be in 

 perfect health, properly fed and given abundant exercise to 

 insure fertile eggs and strong- chicks. -A first-class iiicubator 

 must be selected, one that will Hatch from 75 to 90 per cent 

 of fertile eggs, and when you get such hatches you j?iU get 

 strong chicks that will live if properly cared- for.. The next 

 thing to be selected is a brooder, and this is equally if not 

 more important than the incubator. You must get a brooder 

 that imitates a hen as ciosely as possible; one that will let 

 in any amount of fresh air; one that his ..a 'round cylinder 

 with no corners for chicks to crowd in, and one easify heated 

 with a lamp that will not blow out or sihoke. I prefer the 

 single bropders to the pipe system. In winter heat your 

 house to 60 and 70 degrees and keep your brooder's 90 de- 

 grees at the start, gradually lowering the temp'erature after 

 twelve days, or do not let the chicks get chilled at 'any 



