38 EGGS AND POULTRY 
anything is more nerve-racking and confin- 
ing work than a batch of newly hatched 
chicks every three weeks all through the 
spring, I have yet to find it. 
You have in mind the size flock you want 
the following year, say 200 pullets to add to 
your yearling hens, so you need to buy 500 
day old chicks. With good luck these 
would probably include about 200 pullets or 
perhaps a few more. Hatches as a rule will 
run about half cockerels. There would be a 
loss of some through natural causes—Io per 
cent. or more—the number varying accord- 
ing to hardiness of the chicks themselves, 
your care in bringing them up, and possible 
accidents. 
You will find that in addition to possible 
carelessness, rats, cats, hawks, etc., love little 
chickens, so it will devolve upon you as foster 
mother to watch the flock with a mother’s 
care. We will figure that you get your first 
lot of 166 on March 15 before which time you 
have ready two heated outdoor brooders (to 
be described later) which will take care of 
these 166 until about three weeks old. At 
that time have the second lot of day old 
chicks arrive, shifting the first lot to two 
colony houses (shown later) with heated 
