14 



THE CHICK BOOK 



feedingi,-as-too much or too little heat -will wipe out a whole 

 brooderfuljof chiciis before one is aware anything has gone 

 wrong. Another thing — in the night when there is a change 

 in the, weather from one extreme to the other, one will, 

 many a tiime, save a bunch of chicks by going out and 

 changiiig the lamp flame, either up or down, as may be 

 necessary. No matter if you are sleepy, if you wish to 

 raise the greatest number of chicks, you must attend to this 

 duty. 



Ast/o feeding, we have wheat, oats and corn, equal parts 

 of each ground together, and, with one-third its bulk in 

 bran mixed with water to a stiff mass, a little soda added, 

 and sometimes two or three eggs to a gallon of the food. 

 This we put in a deep _______ 



pan and bake thor- ^^^^T* 



oughly for two h9urs in 



a good hot oven. We usf 



this food crumbled fine 



with a little more dry 



bran added for the first 



four days and feed three 



times a day just what 



they will eat up clean. 



At noon, after the fifth 



day, we feed a little 



wheat, cracked corn and 



millet seed until they 



can eat cracked wheat, 



oats and com, when we 



feed equal parts of 



wheat and oats, but 



only half as much corn. 



After the first week we 



add a small quantity of 



green cut bone every 



week day in the evening 



food. When they are 



five weeks old we feed 



whole grain morning 



and noon and soft food 



(not cooked) and green 



bone at night, until they 



a: r e nearly matured, 



when we omit the noon 



feed entirely. 



We keep them in their 

 regular brooders until 

 they can do without the 

 heat; then they are 

 changed to a cold brood- 

 er for a week or ten 

 days, and from there to 



our open front roosting coops. They remain in these coops 

 until they become troublesome to the smaller ones, when we 

 put the first hatched lot in our large pens, separating the 

 males and females. 



We give our young chicks unlimited range of an old 

 orchard, except during the first two weeks, when we use a 

 small pen ten feet square around each brooder for fifty 

 chicks. We never put more than that number in one 

 brooder. 



For our early chicks, for green food, we use a small 

 amount of clover meal in their food. Young chicks should 

 be placed on the ground just as early as possible after the 

 second or third day. The little chicks in cool weather 

 should be placed in a sunny spot and In extremely liot 

 weather in the shade. Close attention to details and all ef- 

 forts to make the chicks comfortable are well repaid by 

 faster, better growth. CLARK & TROLL. 



7°Ae Heater which Feeds the Pipe Systems In a New Jersey Brooding House. 



KEEP THE BBOODEB CLEAN— WHAT TO TEED— 

 HENS BBINO LICE. 

 Yes, I Lave had some experience raising chicks with 

 brooders. As to the number of chicks to a brooder, I have 

 yet to find one that would accommodate more than thirty or 

 forty chicks for me. There is much danger of over-crowd- 

 ing where more than forty are placed in the same brooder 

 Special care is needed to keep the chicks very clean, and 

 the fresher and cleaner the surroundings of the chicks the 

 less liable one is to lose them. 



In regard to feeding— I like pin-head oatmeal or rolled 

 oats for the first four or five weeks, with a change to bread 

 and milk or Spratt's patent chick food. An excellent change 



also and one that pro- 

 duces growth is fine 

 out green bone. As to 

 the quantity, I give 

 them what they will eat 

 up clean. I would much 

 rather keep them a little 

 hungry than have them 

 stuffed with food. 



I feed about five times 

 a day the first week; 

 after that four times a 

 day till they are near- 

 ly grown. Cracked corn, 

 w h © a| t, buckwheat, 

 ground oats and green 

 cut bone is what I give 

 them from six weeks 

 old upwards. I keep 

 plenty of grit before 

 them, also plenty of 

 fresh water in. clean 

 fountains or dishes. 



When weather per- 

 mits I allow them to 

 run at will, giving them 

 practically free range. I 

 have five acres devoted 

 exclusively to White 

 Wyandottes and raise 

 about two hundred 

 chicks on the home 

 place. I farm out extra 

 ones on different farms. 

 I find that they do much 

 better in small num- 

 bers. It is not how 

 many I try to raise, but 

 how many good ones. 

 I raise some by natural way, but have to be on the alert for 

 fear of lice. But frequent use of lice killing powders and 

 lice killing paints will keep them down and ouit. All my 

 weaned chickens are quartered in i-oostlng coops where they 

 get plenty of air and grow fast. 



C. S. WEJTMORE. 



FIVE DOLLABS AN HOtJB EABNED BY BAISINQ 400 

 BBOODEB CHICKS. 



I had a little experience a few years ago which I think 

 will illustrate the possibilities of chicken growing on a lim- 

 ited area and may interest and benefit some of your readers. 



During the latter part of March I got out a hatch of 

 Light Brahma chicks, four hundred and one in number. I 

 kept them in the brooder house for a few days, then, being 

 short of room, put them outside in two outdoor brooders. 



