44 



CHICK BOOK 



and layng stock, as at that time we were feeding mashes 

 several days a week. 



The first season we used this home-made chick food our 

 little flock did so well that soon some of our neighbors began 

 making inquiries as to the cause, with the result that there- 

 after we wer« not obliged to do our own grinding. For the 

 privilege of using our mill to grjnd their own chick food, the 

 neighbors ground ours for us. Perhaps some of our readers 



a little at first until they become accustomed to this raw 

 vegetable food, then in a few days give them all that they 

 will clean up daily. Raw vegetable food or green stuff of 

 some sort is absolutely necessary to properly balance the 

 supply of dry grain and beef scrap, which is kept always 

 before the little chicks. 



In addition to the green stuff or vegetables it is well to 

 supply some supplementary food to stimulate the appetite 



commercial chick food, will find our old-time home-made 

 substitute a valuable one for feeding their little flocks. 



Other Chick Foods 



As a rule the beginner will find that it pays best to buy 

 a good commercial chick food rather than to attempt to 

 manufacture his own. Generally, manufacturers who pro- 

 duce chick food in large quantities are able to buy a much 

 better grade of grain, and by means of perfected milling ap- 

 paratus are able to turn out a cleaner and much more whole- 

 some article than that which is prepared on the home plant. 



A first class chick food should be free from all mustiness 

 or stale odors. It should be clean and entirely free from 

 dust. It should present a clean, bright, wholesome appear- 

 ance, and on holding a sample to the nose you should not be 

 able to detect any musty or rnoldy odor. Many samples of, 

 commercial chick food that we have seen contain altogether 

 too much millet. An excess of millet is undesirable and ^s 



who find it diflBcult to obtain good, clean, bright and new and prevent the chicks from getting off their feed. For such 



purpose there is nothing better than thoroughly cooked 

 wheat or cracked rice. Cracked rice of good quality can 

 usually be had cheaply. Wheat used for this purpose should 

 be sound, clean, and of the best quality obtainable. The 

 grain should be boiled thoroughly, first seasoning the water 

 lightly with salt. Boil until the grains are very soft and 

 almost all of the water has been evaporated. Do not stir 

 any more than is absolutely necessary while cooking, as it 

 is desired to have the grains remain as nearly whole as pos- 

 sible. This cooked food should be allowed to thoroughly 

 cool before feeding. When ready to feed remove the amount 

 you intend to give the fiock and sprinkle over it a little raw 

 bone meal. Give as much of this food as the chicks will 

 clean up in from fifteen to twenty minutes. Feed on clean 

 boards and spread out sufficiently to give all chicks free ac- 

 cess to it without the necessity of tramping all over the food. 

 Feed this supplementary food two or three times a week. 

 From the time the chicks are a few days old until they 

 are three weeks old, as a supplement- 

 ary ration it will often be beneficial to 

 feed thoroughly hard boiled infertile 

 eggs that have been tested out from 

 the incubator. These may be given 

 two or three times a week, gradually 

 reducing the frequency of feeding as 

 the chicks become older. We simply 

 cut the hard boiled egg in halves and 

 let the little chicks have it to pick 

 at shell and all, or the egg may be 

 crushed and fed on the feed-board if 

 desired. For chicks three or four days 

 old one egg to each twenty-five chicks 

 is sufficient. After that give them at 

 one feed what they will clean up eagerly 

 in from fifteen to twenty minutes. 

 Do not forget that it is necessary to keep pure, fresh 

 water before the chicks all the time, and keep the drinking 

 vessels clean. Filthy drinking water will quickly get the 

 little birds out of condition. 



Give your flock plenty of wholesome food. You cannot 

 grow them successfully on a starvation diet, and there is 

 practically no danger when feeding dry food of overfeeding 

 healthy, vigorous growing chicks. Be sure to supplement 

 their dry grain with variety food of some sort, as advised 

 above, to stimulate their appetites and keep them in good 



BROODER AND WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCK CHICKS ON THE FARM OF U. R. FISHEL 

 On the farm where thia view was taken thousands of White Plymouth Rock chicks are hatched 

 in incubators from early in January until June. They are reared in brooding houses with adapt- 

 able hovers afterward being removed to out-of-door brooders similar to this one later going into 

 the fields where they occupy colony coops until they are finally moved to winter quarters. — F. L. 

 Sewell. 



liable to cause digestive disturbance in the little chicks. In 

 post mortem examinations of hundreds of little chicks fed 

 on dry grain chick food, those that died of indigestion almost 

 invariably showed considerable quantities of undigested 

 millet seed in their little crops and gizzards. 



An excellent chick food can be made from the following 

 formula: Sifted corn grits or fine cracked corn with the 

 meal and coarser particles sifted out (use only the best, hard, 

 yellow corn), 50 lbs.; cracked or steel cut amber or red 

 wheat (the best, hard, sound grain obtainable), 30 lbs.; 

 cracked barley with hulls sifted out, 10 lbs.; steel cut oats or condition. 

 C grade oat meal, 8 lbs.; golden millet, 1 lb.; granulated raw 

 bone, 1 lb. 



Weaning the Chicks 



Supplementary Foods and Green Food 



In addition to the dry grain food and beet scrap kept 

 always before the chicks, they require some supplementary 

 food for variety and to keep their digestive organs in good 

 working order. Where a liberal grass range can be obtained 

 the supply of vegetable food is close at hand prepared by 

 nature, and it is not necessary to give anything in the vege- 

 table line in addition to the fresh green grass easily obtain- 

 able by the chicks. Where chicks are confined we advise 

 beginning on the second day to feed raw potatoes or raw 

 beets cut in large pieces for the chicks to pick at, Give only 



Begin early to wean the chicks from chick food, usually 

 not later than the 10th day or the end of the second week. 

 With chicks that are fed on prepared chick food begin to 

 give a little sifted fine cracked corn or corn grits, and a little 

 small hard red wheat, to take the place of a portion of the 

 chick food. Gradually increase the proportions of cracked 

 corn and wheat and decrease the quantity of chick food as 

 the little birds become accustomed to the new ration until 

 you are feeding them almost exclusively on cracked corn, 

 whole wheat, beef scrap and the usual allowance of vegetable 

 food or green stuff, with an occasional feeding of cooked 

 grain or rice. Feed the cooked food less often as the chicks 



