48 



CHICK BOOK 



often to sun and air brooding apartment. Dry mash used 

 for brooder chicks should be same as recommended for heli 

 chicks and may be kept before them all the time. After 

 second week the heat of brooder can usually be gradually 

 reduced. Read and follow manufacturers' directions. Ac- 

 cording to season chicks can .generally be weaned when six 

 to eight weeks old but if weather is cold it is best to supply 

 h^at; at night until they are well feathered. 



Feeding Oro wing Chicks 



Chicks three weeks old, whether brooded by hen or 

 artificially, will take about the same ration. It is well to 

 keep before them all the time a dry mash like that advised 

 under heading "Care of Newly Hatched Chicks" and they 

 may have this mash until full grown. 



For first three weeks supplement their chick food ration 

 with feedings of boOed cracked ricp or wheat. This should 

 be thoroughly cooked until soft., and almost dry and should 

 be lightly seasoned with salt while cooking. They should 

 also have raw potato cut in chunks for them to pick at. 

 Fresh green ,food, cut cabbage, grass, clover, grain sprouts, 

 etc., should be supplied freely every day after the first few 

 days until they are grown. Plenty of green food is neces- 

 sary and heavy grain feeding cannot be safely conducted 

 without it. Unless chicks have run where they can get 

 plenty of grass, green food must be supplied regularly. 



Keep the dry mash, grit, granulated raw bone (dry), 

 granulated charcoal and pure water always before them, in 

 covered food troughs or hoppers. Supply the food and 

 water in a shady place. Change water often in hot weather. 

 When chicks are three weeks old begin to replace a part of 

 the chick food with cracked corn and small wheat. Increase 

 the amount of grain so fed until by the time they are two 

 months old the chick food has been discontinued. At this 

 age they should be fed three times daily until maturity and 

 allowed liberal range. They can have the same ration as the 

 laying hens from now on and an excellent dry mash for chicks 

 eight weeks old and older may be made as follows: 



Coarse wheat bran 200 pounds 



Fancy wheat middlings „.100 pounds 



Best dry cut clover 200 pounds 



Yellow gluten feed 100 pounds 



Yellow corn meal 100 pounds 



Linseed meal (old process) 50 pounds 



Best fine-ground beef scrap 100 pounds 



Directions: Dump all of above on clean board floor 

 and thoroughly mix with scoop shovel. Keep in sacks or 

 bins and feed in food hopper 

 to growing stock or laying 

 hens. Fig. 3, (on next page) 

 shows a simple and conven- 

 ient covered food trough for 

 feeding dry mash or other 

 food to growing chicks. Di- 

 mensions may be made to 

 suit available lumber. 

 Trough proper should be 

 made by nailing together a 

 3 in. and 4 in. strip. 



Inxportance of Shade 



While sunshine in 

 wholesome quantities is good 

 for chickens of all ages some 

 provision must be made to 

 supply shade in hot weather 

 to prevent losses from sun- 

 stroke. Berry bushes sup- 

 ply admirable shade. Grow- 



ing corn or other grain gives grateful shelter in hot, 

 sunny weather. Canvas and board shelters should be 

 supplied when stock cannot have shelter or bushes, shrub- 

 bery, trees or growing grain. An orchard makes an ideal 

 summer run for growing chicks. 



Canvas or awning cloth tents or shelters stretched over 

 common slat'ted "A" coops afford excellent shelter in ex- 

 posed locations and can be easily arranged (illustration page 

 47). Even weeds may be made to serve for shelter from 

 the hot sun. Whatever you do don't fail to provide shade 

 of some sort. 



When the chicks begin to show a disposition to go to 

 roost at night provide open-front roosting coops made from 

 packing boxes, piano boxes or supply the portable coops 

 which may be obtained of any poultry supply depot. Don't 

 be afraid that roosting young will cause crooked breasts. 

 Crooked breast bones are the result of faulty nutrition and 

 insufficient mineral food and not of early roosting. Supply 

 plenty of green food and an abundance of dry granulated 

 raw bone, (oyster shells also after the first month) and you 

 need not fear crooked breasts. Proper food, green food and 

 plenty of mineral food in shape of bone and shell will also 

 prevent leg weakness. 



Hawks, Neighbors' Cats and Other Vermin 



Hawks and crows often make life a burden to the 

 poultryman in chick time where the growing chicks range. 

 It is a good plan to erect poles about the chicken range- and 

 run wire or strong twine zig-zag from these, high enough to 

 allow head room. From these lines suspend at frequent 

 intervals strips of white and colored cloth, bright bits of tin 

 and pieces of bright glass. This is the most effective crow 

 and hawk scare we know of and it is well worth the expense 

 and labor. Crows often become so bold that no other 

 scare-crow will keep them from stealing young chicks. If 

 bits of bright tin and glass are so hung that they will strike 

 and jingle in the breeze the "scare" will be still more effective. 

 Hawks generally come at a regular hour every day and 

 may be watched for or followed to their nests and killed 

 with their broods. They can also be trapped by setting 

 steel traps on tops of high poles on which they alight. Crows 

 are so uncertain and crafty that they will often steal chicks 

 before your eyes and get away. 



Chicken-stealing cats (the neighbors' pets) are often a 

 prolific source of trouble. If warning the neighbor does not 

 keep the cat at home, keeping the cat away from your chicks, 

 you are justified in shooting or killing that cat in any way 



you can. In congested settl- 

 ed districts shooting is dan- 

 gerous and forbidden by or- 

 dinances and your angry 

 neighbor may cause you 

 trouble by complaint that 

 the shooting breaks town law 

 on account of the nearness 

 to buildings, so don't be in 

 a hurry to use a gun. There 

 is an easier and more quiet 

 way. 



A good strong box-trap, 

 big enough to catch a big cat, 

 baited with a bag of catnip 

 tied to the spindle, if set in 

 the chicken yard, will soon 

 catch the chicken thief. The 

 trap should have a "V" 

 shaped opening in one side 

 large enough to let the cat 

 put its head out and this 



Flock of ten weeks old White Wyandottes feeding in front of packing 

 box colony house. 



