THE CHICK BOOK 



59 



incubators to hatch early chicks, brooders to accommodate 

 them, and experience that enables him to carry them health- 

 ily through the early spring when conditions are unnatural, 

 then indeed he will feed his fall exhibits as he will his later 

 show birds, because there is little or no necessity for forcing 

 them; but if his chicks are late hatched, he must adopt heroic 

 measures to "bring them along" if he would gain a place 

 among the successful exhibitors. These late hatched, forced 

 youngsters seldom attain the size of those which are fed for 

 growth and vigor and allowed to develop size before putting 

 on the gloss and finish for the show room. 



What method of feeding is practiced to hurry these 

 young candidates along? 



A ration composed of animal matter supplemented by 

 fat forming foods; and during the closing stage the addition 

 of foods known to contain considerable oil. The first is in- 

 tended to hasten maturity; the second to put on weight, and 

 the third to put on the finishing touches — the gloss to the 

 feathers. Bulky vegetable food is added to keep the diges- 

 tive organs in good working order, and frequently condi- 

 ments are given to coax the fowl to eat more and more of 

 the concentrated food. Frequent change of food is neces- 

 sary so that the fowl shall not go "off its feed." Few. foods 

 are too expensive to be procured at this season, for winning 

 in the fall means sales for the winter shows. 



In the days when the wr.Her was exhibiting — where the 

 winters stole well into the spring and the big fall show 

 seemed to advance to meet the summer — ^the principal event 

 being held in August — many were the rations tried, and 

 feeding sometimes extended well into the evening hours. 

 "Little and often" was found to be a good motto, and only 

 at the last meal (abowt 9 p. m) were the fowls coaxed to eat 

 more than they wanted, then they got the tempting tit-bits 

 which had been saved for the last moment — scraps of meat, 

 green cut bone, bits of bread, oatmeal porridge, (well 

 sugared), cooked rice, cooked potatoes — fed by lamplight. 



Result: Winners at the fall shows; delicate birds 

 later on. 



These fowls were not allowed extensive range. They 

 were confined in yards about eight by fifty feet, in flocks of 

 eight or ten. Their roosting pens were kept scrupulously 

 clean; wooden floors well sprinkled with sand every week, 

 and droppings raked every day. They were confined to 

 the house during inclement weather. 



Tame? Sure! A little training in good sized coops 

 built upon the walls above the roosts — handling every day — 



A Closed Roosting Coop for Cool Weather. 



induced a confidence in their attendants that made all the 

 difference during show week. 



The daily food during these forcing days consisted of 

 mash early in the morning (a small amount), wheat, oats or 

 barley or buckwheat in litter at about ten a. m. and two 

 p. m. and corn at six p. m. Sunflower seeds were frequently 



given in place of the barley, wheat or oats, and during the 

 two weeks preceding the show, hemp seed was provided, or 

 liuseed meal mixed with the mash. Cabbage was hung in the 

 pens continually; grit of course always before them — some- 

 times put in their mash; and they had all the milk they 

 could drink. 



An Open Roosting Coop tor Warm Weather. 



We are enabled to present analyses of foods that have 

 been made by experiment stations throughout the country. 

 First it must be understood that analyses differ slightly be- 

 cause the foods analyzed differ in composition. It would be 

 extremely difficult to procure two samples of wheat that 

 contain exactly equal proportions of protein, carbohydrates 

 and fat; similarly with regard to other vegetable formation. 

 This applies also to animal matter. The quantities given 

 therefore are usually average quantities, yet are sufficiently 

 exact for practical purposes. 



Proportion of Protein and Carbohydrates and Fat in 

 Poods Used by Poultrymen. 



ROBT. H. ESSEX. 



