BROODING THE CHICKS 75 



After two or three days of using baby feeds of 

 the kinds mentioned, it is customary to change to 

 regular chick grain. As a matter of fact, the com- 

 mercial chick foods, which are altogether the best 

 for the amateur to use, may be fed from the very 

 first. After a few weeks he can change to cracked 

 wheat, cracked corn and Kaffir corn if he desires, 

 or he may keep right on with the commercial chick 

 feeds, which are a combination of many grains, in- 

 cluding kinds which the chicks like particularly well 

 and which they will work hard to get. If a soft 

 feed which is likely to sour is used at first, feeding 

 time should come four or five times a day, but if oat 

 meal or the regular chick feeds are depended upon, 

 three times a day is often enough from the first, 

 when the chicks are with a hen. There may be 

 grain in the litter all the time, but no harm will be 

 done, for the chicks will be guided by the hen to a 

 large extent in the matter of eating and she seems 

 to have a proper instinct about these matters. If 

 there is too much food in sight, she probably will 

 cover it up. 



After the tenth day a hopper of ground feed and 

 beef scraps may well be kept within reach of the 

 chicks at all times. They will eat a lot of it and 



