POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 43 



In early spring no hen should be given more than a dozen or fifteen 

 chicks; but as the days grow warmer the number may be increased. 

 In June thirty-five are none too many. 



In warm weather be sure that houses and runs are placed where 

 they will be shaded from the mid-day sun. 



And bear one thing in mind — I would repeat it again and again: 

 Yarded chicks must have plenty of green food. 



What kind? 



Oh, any kind! Lawn clippings, clover, dandelion leaves, lettuce. 

 Anything green that they will eat is good. Twenty-five cents worth 

 of Swiss chard thinly planted in rows will furnish enough green stuff 

 for a hundred chicks from May to December; for this plant puts out 

 new leaves as fast as the older ones are broken off. 



Artificial brooding is a necessity in this commercial age. In no 

 other way could the immense number of chicks be furnished to meet 

 existing demanas. 



Artificial brooding is not recommended to the beginner. Better trust 

 the old hen at first. But if one is bound to try it, in the name of dol- 

 lars and cents, try it on nothing earlier than May hatched chicks 



The secret of successful artificial brooding may be summed up in 

 one word — warmth. 



We must supply steady heat, of the right degree, or trouble will 

 begin; and once started it goes rapidly from bad to worse. A chick 

 will live, though not thrive, on poor or insufficient food: but it will 

 neither thrive nor live without proper heat. Without going into details, 

 which is unnecessary, I will explain that the chemical changes where- 

 by food is made to sustain the body demand a high temperature. 

 If this is lowered, even for a little time, or if too high for a given 



