THE CARE OF POULTRY 37 



before feeding. The hens were kept in a small grass 

 run for the first ten days, after which they had the lib- 

 erty of a fifty-foot square pen with plenty of grass. 

 The chicks could run out on the lawn. From the time 

 they were a week old until the first of September their 

 principal feed was millet seed, whole wheat and bran, 

 with plenty of fresh water constantly before them, also 

 cut bone. After September i a mash was fed every 

 morning, consisting of two parts bran to one part each 

 of shorts and corn meal, by weight. To every ten 

 pounds of this mixture one pound of deodorized 

 blood meal was added. 



Two quarts of this mixture was scalded each 

 evening, and fed as a morning mash to twenty-five 

 chicks. Nothing more was given until roosting time, 

 when they were fed all the whole corn or wheat that 

 they would eat. During the day they had about the 

 usual range of town reared birds. At eight months of 

 age the heaviest cockerel weighed twelve pounds and 

 the lightest nine and one-half pounds. The pullets 

 weighed from seven and a half to nine pounds. As 

 little chicks they were never allowed out in the morn- 

 ing till the dew was off the grass. They were fed sys- 

 tematically, and as near the same time each day as 

 possible. I believe a single feed missed will tell on the 

 growth of a chick. 



Constant vigilance is the price of a show bird or a 

 good sized specimen for the breeding pens. My 

 earlier hatched birds were no larger than the later 

 ones, with the same care ; and I do not think much is 

 made in this cold northwest in hatching chicks before 

 May, at least. Get a chick out after the cold changeable 

 weather and spring rains, and then push him right 

 along with good care, regular and systematic feeding, 

 and the work is done. — [Rev. J. M. Acheson in West- 

 ern Poultry Journal. 



