2A 



THE CHICK BOOK 



bottom of the brooder is covered with, coarse sand, which I 

 allow them to work in about an hour or two before feed- 

 ing — then I feed them the corn bread crumbled up fine, put- 

 ting it on the floor in the sand. By this time the little fel- 

 lows are getting hungry (having absorbed all the egg food 

 that nature has left for them from the egg) and they begin 

 to eat the little bread crumbs and sand with a pretty good 

 appetite. Only feed them a little. In about two hours or 

 more I put in a little more of the corn bread, and so on, 

 feeding four or five times the first few days. When they 

 are three days old I give them a little warm water to drink, 

 but not much. After drinking I take out the little water 

 pan, and again In the afternoon give them a little more. 

 When three days old, I boil an egg thoroughly done until 

 the yolk crumbles and feed them that, changing off with 

 the bread crumbs. After four or five days old I begin to 

 feed, them a little rolled oats or fine cut oatmeal and some 

 small bits of meat reduced small enough so they can eat it. 

 ^ Now I vary feed quite a little. Feed boiled potatoes, oat 

 meal, corn bread, chopped onions and potatoes, ground com 

 and whole wheat. When two weeks old I feed them ground 

 corn mixed with bran and shorts, one part corn to two parts 

 bran and shorts. I pour hot water over the mixture, scald- 

 ing it, but only enough to mix it in a stiff or crumbly mass 

 and feed when cool. 1 never feed wet and sloppy food, as it 

 creates bowel trouble. We aim to keep our chicks in 

 medium small runs until feathered out, then we give them a 

 good deal of range until about half grown, and then I turn 

 them out to all the range they want, allowing them to go 

 at will over the farm. 



After chicks leave the brooder I divide them into broods 

 of fifteen to twenty to each coop, giving them plenty of 

 fresh air at night, except when it is cold, then close brood 

 coops up so as not to chill them. There are lots of good 

 brooders made, and if properly run they are a success. 



There is a great deal in keeping the proper heat for the 

 little fellows, and proper food and regular attention. Never 

 allow your chicks to get chilled if you can help it, and after 

 the second week don't let the heat in the brooder run over 

 80 degrees, and at night always see that the little fellows 

 are snug under the hover, and when you feed always leave 

 them a little bit hungry, and the next time you come to 

 feed them they will all be glad to see you. 



C. B. SAYERS. 



BBOOD COOPS AND METHODS OF BBOODINa. 



In answer tp your letter asking me to give my experi- 

 ence in raising chicks with incubators and brooders and my 



way of feeding 

 young chicks, I may 

 say that I have had 

 experience with in- 

 cubators and brood- 

 ers in a small way 

 only, as it is qual- 

 i t y not quantity 

 that I have been 

 striving for the last 

 fifteen years. I try 

 to mature only 

 about five hundred 

 birds each year, and 

 those as good as 

 possible. 

 The first forty chicks I hatched I put in a brood house 

 nine by sixteen feet, with a partition across the center, giv- 

 ing them one-half of the house. Attached to this house I 

 have two yards, one for each part of the house. These yards 

 are nine by sixteen feet each, and I keep them dug up for 



Home-made Brooder Coop. 



Home-made Brood Box. 



the chicks to scratch in. Next to these yards I have a grass 

 run, and as soon as the chicks have been in the house a few 

 days I give them full range, always feeding and watering 

 them in the yard or house. They soon get used to the place 

 and will go in and out themselves. In this house I place a 

 home made brood 

 box about three by 

 three feet, and two 

 feet high. At the 

 side of the box down 

 near tie bottom I 

 make a small door 

 for the chicks to run 

 in and out. The top 

 I use as a door, hung 

 on leather hinges, 

 with a small pane of 

 glass in it to admit 

 light. This lid I raise 

 and lower for venti- 

 lation. In the center 

 of the box I place a 

 wire screen about the size of a peck measure, and the first 

 night or two, or any night that the weather should be cold, 

 60 that there might be danger of the chicks crouching or 

 piling up, I place a lantern in this center screen. 



When my second hatch of one hundred and one chicks 

 were three weeks old I took them out of my brooder again 

 to make room for the third hatch, which I found this time 

 to be one hundred and two chicks from one hundred and 

 nineteen eggs. The second hatch of one hundred and one I 

 put in the other half of the brood house and handled them 

 the same as the first lot. I found when I took the second 

 lot to the brood house at three weeks old that I had lost 

 two chicks, leaving ninety-nine strong, healthy chicks. The 

 two hatches that I put in the brood house were put in the 

 last of April and the first of May, and until the time of this 

 writing (July 12th) I have lost but one chick. 



The third hatch of one hundred and two chicks at three 

 weeks old I took out of the brooder again to make room for 

 the fourth hatch, which proved to be one hundred chicks 

 from one hundred and twenty eggs. 



The third hatch of one hundred and two and all chicks 

 hatched at this time of year at three weeks old I put out- 

 side in a home-made brood coop made three feet wide, five 

 feet long, four feet high on high side and two and one-half 

 feet high on low side. The whole top I hang on hinges, 

 and use it for a lid or door. In the center of high side I 

 place a pane of glass so as to open and shut, with a wire 

 screen over the inside of opening. In each end of the coop 

 up near tbe top I leave an opening covered on inside with 

 wire screen. Over these openings on the outside I hang a 

 lid to open and shut for ventilation, which, when open, 

 forms a roof to keep out the storm. In one end of coop 

 down at the bottom I make a small door for the chicks to 

 go in and out, and in the other end of coop I place a brood 

 box made the same as the one described for the brood house, 

 and when the chicks are old enough I take out the brood 

 box and put in place of it a roosting rack made out of slats 

 placed a little way apart, so as to admit air from the bottom. 

 This rack is made so as to fit in one end of the brood coop 

 on cleats nailed to sides of coop ten inches from bottom, so 

 that I can take the rack out to clean it. In front of this 

 rack and hinged to it I place a slat gate which drops down 

 from rack to fioor, forming a gate to keep the chicks from 

 running under the roosting rack and also forming a ladder 

 for the chicks to run up and down on. 



I put these brood coops around in different parts of the 

 yard under trees, placed so that the morning sun will strike 



