NATURAL HATCHING AND REARING I63 



pieces and hook them together. The coop is easily 

 taken apart and laid away in the fall. 



Milk in any form is a good drink and food for 

 young chicks; it furnishes both food and drink. But 

 they must have water too. The milk must be placed in 

 vessels in which the chicks cannot get their bodies or 

 they will get all daubed up with it. Great care is 

 needed to keep the vessels clean. 



Bowel trouble is commonly caused by the chicks 

 getting chilled, sour, putrid food, or improper feeding. 

 Rerrove the cause and give a little charcoal in the food 

 and baking soda in the drinking water and the trouble 

 will usually quickly disappear. 



The question of how much will a chick, gain, is an 

 interesting one. The following is about correct: The 

 eggs weigh two ounces ; the newly hatched chick 

 weighs one and a quarter ounces ; at one week old, 

 two ounces ; three weeks old, six and a quarter ounces ; 

 four weeks old, ten ounces; five weeks old, fourteen 

 ounces ; six weeks old, eighteen and a half ounces ; 

 seven weeks old, twenty-three and a half ounces ; nine 

 weeks old, thirty-two ounces ; ten weeks old, thirty-six 

 ounces ; eleven weeks old, forty-one ounces. 



WATER FOR YOUNG CHICKS 



Fresh, clean water should be kept before the 

 young chicks all the time. Some advocate giving 

 water several times a day and removing the dish as 

 soon as all the chicks have had a drink. This is too 

 much work for most poultry keepers. There is no 

 harm in keeping a drinking fountain before them if 

 the water is clean and pure. For baby chicks a com- 

 mon teacup filled with water covered with an inverted 

 saucer and then turned upside down, makes an ideal 



