NO ARTIFICIAL HEAT 



ABOUT FIVE HUNDRED CHICKS RAISED EACH SEASON WITH PRACTICALLY 

 NO ARTIFICIAL HEAT AND COMPARATIVELY NO LOSS -IT SOUNDS EASY- 

 BUSY FARMER'S WIVES WOULD DO WELL TO GIVE THIS METHOD A TRIAL 



MRS. L. L. WHITE 



IT IS really amusing to note how aptly illustrated is the 

 old saying, "All roads lead to Rome" by the different 

 methods given for feeding, either young or old fowls. 

 Having been repeatedly asked for my way of feeding little 

 chicks, shall begin at the very machine and tell how I handle 

 the little tots to get them up out of the way so quickly. 



About the time I think they will put in their appear- 

 ance, I place my big "goods" boxes in sheltered, sunny spots, 

 just where I intend to leave them as long as needed. Hay 

 loft trash is scattered on the floor and little wire runs (made 

 by using twenty feet of twenty-four inch wide, one inch 

 mesh wire netting, tacked to old broom handles at each end) 

 are placed in front of the boxes. One end of the broom is 

 sharpened to a point so that it can be pushed or driven into 

 the ground about six inches. The wire is stretched in a semi- 

 circle from each side of the front of the boxes. Drive three 

 or four stout sticks at different parts of the circle to hold 

 the wire curved so that the wind will not move it. Then 

 the future home of the chicks is ready and the only thing 

 to do is to scatter food and place the water fountains. 



While the chicks are small these water fountains are 

 made from old baking powder cans with little holes punched 



in the top edge 



zo" . about one-half 



inch deep, then 

 the can is filled 

 with water, in- 

 verted in a saucer, 

 or can top, quite 

 a bit larger than 

 the water can, and 

 these do very well 

 indeed. 



I raise five or 

 six hundred chicks 

 each season in two hatches. I used to raise splendid 

 droves of Mammoth Bronze Turkeys, but the dogs put 

 me out of the business. I keep all my hatch in one of 

 the incubators, putting in all the first hatched ones, 

 as I exchange eggs for chicks from one machine to an- 

 other. When ready to take the Httle fluff balls out of the 

 machine I have my little heatless brooders that hold 

 fifty chicks until a month old all bedded and ready; then 

 open the machine, grab right and left all that are thoroughly 

 dried and fluffed and drop into the brooder. I close the 

 incubator again quickly and rush upstairs. My machines 

 are all set in the cellar, which while not particularly damp 

 yet contains sufficient moisture so that I never need water 

 in any shape inside of the machines. 



For best results never put the later hatched chicks in a 

 brooder with a lot of first ones, for they will not stand much 

 show, the first ones being so much lustier. However, the 

 later ones grow up to be just as strong if given a chance by 

 themselves, so put them all in one brooder together. These 

 heatless brooders are boxes 12x20 feet, filled half full of fine 

 blue grass hay. From two to four days I keep them in 

 these boxes, merely covering the boxes at night with a woolen 

 blanket turned back at each corner so as to give them air. 

 For forty-eight hours they really need nothing but sleep. 

 When from forty-eight to ninety-six hours old I take the 



OPEN 



brooders out, place them in the back part of the large boxes, 

 scatter a little fine grit around in the run, also a little com- 

 mon, bulk, rolled oats and crushed wheat, which I make 

 myself by grinding through an old coffee mill. Then I fill 

 the fountains and turn the "tigers" loose. Veritable little 

 tigers they are, so hungry and thirsty and how they "hip- 

 pity skip" all around their enclosures! These larger boxes 

 have holes in the sides for fresh air and if the weather is 

 extra cold I put a three gallon jug filled with hot water in 

 the center of the big box just before I retire. 



Cull at Eight Weeks 



For the 'first three days, of course, they need watching 

 to see that they learn to run back in the brooders when cold 

 or sleepy. After that until eight weeks old they use the 

 goods boxes and heatless brooders. At that age they are 

 ready to be culled and you can sell for broilers all faulty- 

 looking ones. 



For feed the first three or four days they get what I 

 first named, then I add fine granulated bone and meat scraps 

 and I stop grinding the wheat. The rolled oats are almost 

 "cut out." I lose almost none, except by accident or a too 

 hungry cat. The chicks get no corn until they are at least 

 six weeks old, then 

 I keep chops, bran, 

 bone and meat 

 scraps, all mixed, 

 in hoppers where 

 they can get at it 

 all the time. There 

 is no danger of 

 overfeeding young 

 growing stock if 

 they have the range of a good sized yard. Of course they 

 fly out of the little enclosures within about three weeks' 

 time, so then I prop up two or three places so they may run 

 under instead of climbing over. 



In a week's time my little ones are really up and out of 

 my way and cause me very little trouble. I aim to have 

 all my chicks hatched by the 20th of April and the birds 

 mature so that they begin to lay before winter sets in. 



. A COLD BROODER 



ON THE plant of King Brothers in a Wisconsin city, 

 we found this cold brooder being used for the chicks. 

 The upper floor of the 30x80 foot house is used 

 for a brooding house, being heated with hot water, while 

 the chicks are kept in cold hovers, which are boxes twenty 

 inches square and twelve inches high (see illustration). 

 The upper half of this box is arranged like a cover so that 

 it can be opened wide and on each side of the cover is bored 

 three one-half inch holes for ventilation. There is a frame 

 that sets on cleats to which flannel is tacked so that it sags 

 low enough to come in contact with the backs of the chicks. 

 The room has windows reaching to the floor on the east and 

 south sides so that the chicks get plenty of sunshine. Each 

 little chick pen is 4x16 and the floor is first covered with 

 glass sand and then with ground clover. 



CLOSED 



