84, MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
that chickens may be reared successfully with wet mashes, but the 
care necessary is so great that only the very expert know how to 
handle the matter. I have heard of one poultryman, well known 
for his fat fowls in Smithfield market, who feeds his chickens mostly 
on milk and treacle. At least, so he says. I would not counsel 
any novice to try to follow in his footsteps. One reason why wet 
food is so dangerous is that when exposed to the air for some time 
it may ferment and turn sour. Nothing is more fatal to a young 
chick than sourfood. Sour rhymes with scour, and it is cause and 
effect. Another thing, moist food is sure to be trampled up by 
the chickens, whose feet cannot be clean. Wet mash is easily con- 
taminated, and though you may not see it, the birds suffer after it 
is eaten. 
People are tempted to give chickens moist food because they 
seem to like it better. They will take dry grain leisurely, but they 
will gorge themselves on a wet mash. That is another reason why 
they should not have it. Give the food dry and they will eat as 
much as is good for them and you will not lose chickens by bowel 
troubles. 
After a few days add a little biscuit meal to the food. This can 
be obtained at any corn-chandler’s. After a week or so, bran in a 
suitable box can be always before them. Let them eat as much 
dry bran as they wish. It is an excellent food for bone-making 
and will fill out the frame of the chicken. And from the very 
beginning do not forget green food. This must be chopped up 
very finely, and for this purpose the purchase of a “ crumbly 
cutter ”’ isrecommended. The green food may be of various kinds. 
Nothing is better than lettuce or newly cut grass. If these are 
unobtainable, a good cabbage will do. Any green stuff almost 
will be relished, provided it is cut small enough. At first I put 
mine through a household mincing machine and it served the 
purpose admirably. 
It is amusing to watch the baby chicks eat their first meal. 
As you scatter the food they come out and look. The mother 
hen sets the example. She starts tapping with her beak, and like 
a good mother she rarely eats any herself till she sees the flock 
