ARTIFICIAL INCUBATING AND BROODING 



and the best germicide for that germ, but for other disease 

 germs, and it is a germicide which we sliould use as a preven- 

 tive; if we use sunHght and fresh air freely we shall have very 

 little trouble with disease germs. 



OVERCROWDING 



Just a word about overcrowding the chicks in the brooders; 

 overcrowding is a prolific cause of disease and death in brooder 

 chicks. We do not mean when they are babies; at that time 

 two or three times as many chicks can be brooded together in 

 one brooder as can be safely let run together three or four weeks 

 later. As we said before, chicks double in size very quickly, 

 and the brooder space which was large enough for the family of 

 babies has become crowded quarters for practically the same 

 number of chicks grown twice the size. What then shall we 

 say when by the time the chicks are four or five weeks old they 

 are four times as large as when first put in the brooder? Under 

 these conditions the chicks are crowded together and the weaker 

 ones get pushed down and are trampled or suffocated; many 

 that do not actually die under these conditions have health 

 impaired and are weaker for life. We know a poultryman who 

 bought half a dozen brooders of a well-advertised make, and 

 they brooded the chicks admirably for two or three weeks; then 

 he began to find two or three and sometimes as many as five 

 or six dead in a brooder in the morning; but not until he had 

 actually lost by such overcrowding fully twenty-five per cent 

 of the chicks entrusted to these brooders did he come to realize 

 that he had twice too many chicks in them. Thus does nature 

 revenge herself upon us. She has a way of "getting even" that 

 furnishes sharp lessons sometimes, and we are wise if we give 

 heed to her admonitions. 



START WITH HOPPER FEEDING 



UNDER PROPER CONDITIONS CHICKS MAY 

 BE HOPPER' FED FROM THE START— GRIT, 

 CHARCOAL AND FRESH WATER NECESSARY 



H. A. NOURSE 



HOPPER feeding does not often begin with the first food 

 fed to little chicks, but under favorable conditions it 

 is successful from the start. Once in the last week of 

 May, I took from a large incubator sixty-two chicks that were 

 left after the stronger ones had been taken out. One had a 

 crippled leg and two others were apparently of little account. 

 They were in the incubator forty-eight hours after the hatch 

 -was finished and were placed in a brooder located in a house 

 with a dirt floor. The floor of the brooder was six inches above 

 that of the house and dirt was banked in to form an incline 

 between them. Directly in front and five feet away was a full 

 window which was never closed. 



The chicks were placed in the brooder just before dark and 

 a board set on edge near the hover to keep them from getting 

 away from the warmth during the night. This was moved 

 back a little next morning to allow the chicks to run about in 

 front of the hover. About poon the first day this board was 

 removed and a small hopper containing dry chick food was 

 set about three feet from the brooder. A fountain of water 

 was placed near it and a handful of fine grit was scattered about 

 the pen. No attempt was made to drive the chicks to the 



food, but when they hegan to crowd together outside they were 

 driven back to the brooder to get warm. Before the end of the 

 first day they were eating from the hopper and it was after- 

 wards refilled as often as was necessary. The brooder was 

 kept clean, a fairly e\-en temperature was maintained and plenty 

 of finely granulated charcoal, grit and fresh water were always 

 within reach of the chicks. After three days the chicks were 

 given a small yard in front of the house. 



At the end of three weeks, when we were obliged to aban- 

 don the experiment, sixty of those chicks were alive and had 

 made rapid and vigorous growth. 



HOPPER FEEDING HENS AND BROODS 



At about the same tim.e that the experiment explained 

 above was tried hoppers containing two parts chick food and 

 one part whole corn, well mixed, were placed in the coops of 

 ten broody hens that had finished hatching the day before. Each 

 of these hens had twelve chicks. These hoppers were never 

 empty, fine grit, charcoal and fresh water were supplied and 

 the coops frequently cleaned. Just at sundown on pleasant 

 days the hens were let out to exercise. 



The chicks made good growth and very few were lost. 

 After a few days the little fellows began to eat the whole corn, 



52— CONDITIONS FOR GOOD HEALTH 



which was intended for the hens, and were often seen with their 

 crops bulging with it. They seemed to digest the large kernels 

 readily, for they lived and thrived. 



At the end of two weeks wheat and cracked corn in equal 

 parts were gradually substituted for the chick food in the hop- 

 pers and were continued in use until the chicks were weaned. 

 This reduced the labor of caring for these broods to the mini- 

 mum and the results were all in favor of the method. 



Although the results of these experiments were very grati- 

 fying, I do not feel justified in giving the methods unqualified 

 recommendation. Both were tried during warm and fairly 

 dry weather when the chicks could spend most of their time in 

 the open air on the green grass. Under equally favorable con- 

 ditions as good results could always be obtained. But whether 

 the same methods could be used successfully in cold weather, 

 when the chicks are confined to pens in a brooding house, and 

 have no exercise except that obtained by scratching in the 

 litter, can best be ascertained by experiment. If hoppers can 

 be used successfully under such conditions, it would save hund- 

 reds of dollars to operators of large brooding houses. 



66 



