so 



THE CHICK BOOK 



of time as loo much acid is quite fatal to small chickens. 

 Any high grade disinfectant would answer the same pur- 

 pose, the idea being to keep the house free from disease 

 germs and to help the sanitary conditions. 



G. H. POLLARD. 



BROODER CHICKS— FEED AND CARE. 



■ I want to tell you of my mode of feeding and caring for 

 chicks. After the chicks are hatched I leave them In the 

 machine at least twenty-four hours before placing them in 

 the brooder. This makes them strong and vigorous. As 

 soon as they are placed in the brooder I give them sand or 

 fine grit and water. I keep water by them all the time, good 

 clean, fresh water. 



My first feed is hard boiled eggs chopped up fine. After 

 that I feed millet scattered among the chaff that is on the 

 bottom of the brooder and run. I feed both millet and hard 

 boiled eggs at intervals (just what they will clean up and 

 wprk for) for the first week, after that I give them a feed of 

 cooked rice (cooked dry) for a change, also cut oats and 

 corn bread. As the chicks grow older I add whole wheat 

 and also feed some mash with a little blood meal in it about 

 twice a week. One of the great points in feeding and care 

 of chicks is "common sense and judgment," Study your 

 brood and you can see at a glance how much and what to 

 feed to supply their wants. 



I remember one season I tried not feeding any food or 

 .water for the first forty-eight hours, etc. Well, the result 

 was I lost all the chicks. As brooders (the leading machines) 

 are nearly all properly constructed it remains for the oper- 

 ator to do his or her part, which if done there will be no 

 trouble. I rear and have raised by farmers from 1,000 to 

 2,000 White Plymouth Rocks every year, and must say if the 

 farmers follow the above method of care and feed we lose 

 but few chicks. U. R. FISHEL. 



THE VALUE OP EXERCISE, LIMITED FOOD AND 

 EVEN TEMPERATURE. 



Our experience with brooders has been somewhat varied 

 and net all "clear sailing" by any means. We had some 

 very disheartening times while we were getting our "ex- 

 perience." 



The poultry journals are full of advice regarding the 

 operating of brooders. These methods sometimes seem di- 

 rectly opposed, and still, no doubt, they are the truthful ex- 

 perience of the writers. We believe that the greater num- 

 ber of failures with brooder chicks are caused by too much 

 heat and overfeeding. We do not believe that brooders can 

 be run successfully, generally, in cold weather without the 

 use of thermometers. Chicks taken directly from the incu- 

 bators and placed in the brooders will stand a far greater 

 amount of heat than is good for them. Consequently if we 

 judge altogether by their actions we may keep them at a 

 much higher temperature than is good for them. This is 

 reasonable, for we can so accustom a child to a high tem- 

 perature that it will be uncomfortable in a room under nine- 

 ty degrees, and none will deny that this amount of heat is 

 injurious to the child. Ninety degrees three inches from 

 the floor in the hover of the brooder is about right for the 

 first week. This should be reduced gradually to eighty-five 

 degrees the second week and to eighty by the end of the 

 third week. 



We have killed a whole lot of chicks, both in brooders 

 and with hens, with kindness, 1. e., with too much food. 

 NOW; we never feed oftener than three times a day from the 



very start, either with brooders or hens. This way works 

 well with us and we shall stick to it. The danger of over- 

 feeding with brooder chicks is especially great, as th^ do 

 not and cannot take as much exercise as those with hens. 

 Don't worry if they get hungry enough between meals to 

 scratch good and hard. This is the making of them. It will 

 help digest their food and ward off diarrhoea, which is only 

 the result of indigestion. 



All brooders should have an open runway or yard, and 

 the chicks should be accustomed to running in this for at 

 least a short time from the very start. Give fresh water to 

 drink from the first. Keep fine grit in the brooders all the 

 time. Keep the temperature right; have them take plenty 

 of exercisfe; feed only three times a day, and ' "what you 

 feed" will not be so important. 



We are very partial to millet seed. In fact we have said 

 that we could raise chicks on this alone, with water and 

 grit. Equal parts of corn meal, bran, shorts and clover meal, 

 baked with soda or baking powder, makes a good winter 

 feed. Stale bread, soaked soft and squeezed dry, Is an ex- 

 cellent food for starting chicks. Put chaff In the yards or 

 runs and sprinkle just a little millet seed in it and watch 

 them scratch for it. This is our way, no theory, all practice. 

 If your way is different, and you are successful, stick to it. 



W. B. GIBSON & SON. 



FEEDING THE BROODER CHICKS. 



1 have used several kinds of brooders. I first began with 

 outdoor brooders with bottom heat, but had little success, 

 but that was about twelve years ago, before brooders were 

 as well perfected as at the present time. For a while after 

 that I hatched with incubators and brooded with hens and 

 since have used top heat indoor brooders with success. 



The brooder with which I have had the greatest success 

 is one having a hot water pipe system, and with this I can 

 raise a larger per cent of the chicks hatched than with hens, 

 and the same number with much less trouble and expense. 



I feed chicks after they are about thirty-six hours old, 

 once every two hours through the day till about four weeks 

 old. No one need fear that any food is too fattening for 

 young chicks. They need carbonaceous or fattening food to 

 keep them warm while they are small and to sustain their 

 vigor during the period of rapid growth. There is no one 

 food which Is as good as cornmeal, either In mush or bread, 

 but I think a variety of foods is bettei' than any one alone. 

 A very excellent food for chickens is bread made from two 

 parl-p corn meal and one part wheat middlings, with two 

 tablespoonfuls of animal iheal added to each quart of the 

 mixture; this stirred to a stiff batter with sour milk. In 

 which enough soda has been dissolved to make it light, and 

 baked in thin cakes to be fed warm or cold. This bread may 

 form the main food till the chicks are large enough to eat 

 cracked corn, broken rice and small grain and the bread 

 may be supplemented by hard boiled eggs chopped fine, and 

 other palatable foods. I save the infertile eggs from the 

 incubators to boil for the chicks. After they can eat small 

 grain foods I feed a mash once daily of the same meal mix- 

 ture as described for bread, and a variety of grain foods, 

 such as steamed rolled oats, wheat and creacked corn, plenty 

 of oyster shells and grit, and clean fresh water, give access 

 to a good grassy run, and a clean brooder. In short, to get 

 the best results, chicks should be kept steadily growing from 

 the time they leave the shell till they are fully matured. 

 As they grow older they require proportionately more of the 

 bone and muscle forming food and less of the more fatten- 

 ing materials. 



The best way to care for the brooder is to clean It evprv 



