94 MY POULTRY DAY BY DAY 
and separate from each other, in their desire to secure a cooler 
environment. The conditions may be considered suitable when 
the chicks are sleeping quietly, more or less apart, and resting on 
the straw. 
As the temperature of the hover rises when chickens are placed 
beneath it, owing to the addition of their body heat to the heat 
of the lamp, it is best not to make any alteration in the latter for 
about one hour after the chickens have been moved from the 
incubator. As a rough guide the thermometer should then read 
90° F. From day to day this heat will tend to rise owing to the 
flock increasing in weight and heat-producing power ; the instruc- 
tions issued with the machine should therefore be followed and 
the condition of the birds should be carefully watched. As a 
general rule it may be stated that artificial heat should be gradually 
reduced until, at the end of about four weeks, the chickens no 
longer require it. 
When the chickens have been safely transferred from the 
incubator to the brooder their movements should be very restricted 
for the first forty-eight hours. To effect this, a strip of match- 
board enclosing a small triangular space of litter bed is placed 
outside the hover. In this space a suitable chick water-fount 
should be placed, and also a shallow hopper containing dry mash. 
The dry mash at this stage may consist of equal parts of dry 
wheat bran and rolled breakfast oats and should be kept con- 
tinuously before the birds. If the chickens are placed once or 
twice within the hover, they will readily learn to go in and out 
seeking the mash when they require it. The exercising ground 
can then be extended by degrees until the whole bed is available 
for scratching. 
After three days rolled oats should be omitted from the dry 
mash, for purposes of economy, but bran should be kept constantly 
before the chicks. Finely divided, fresh, and tender green food, 
such as lettuce or dandelion, should also be constantly available 
so that they may soon learn to eat it. 
A supply of chicken grit should be placed in a small box, and 
a sanitary water supply at all times is absolutely necessary. To 
