04 



THE CHICK BOOK 



FEEDING THE CHICKS. 

 We have had experience in raising chicks in brooders 

 lor many years and we have been successful. We never 

 put more than seventy-five chicks in a lot and we use the 

 dry food method entirely. Some years ago we found that 

 it was not possible l:or us to give the chicks the time neces- 

 sary to success, as our fruit business at times claims almost 

 all our attention. We therefore dropped the brooders, re- 

 taining our incubators and giving the chicks to broody hens, 

 placing the hens in the house formerly used for brooders 

 until the weather allowed us to put them outdoors. 



The method of feeding which we employ for chicks 

 after being fed for a week or so on crumbs, boiled rice, etc., 

 is for morning: One quart sifted cereals, ground fine, one 

 pint wheat bran, two ounces meat meal and moisten just 

 enough to adhere slightly together. Noon, feed cracked 

 corn, barley, hulled oats. Peed just what they will eat up 

 quickly. .At night we feed cracked corn, hulled oats, wheat, 

 and a mixture of any small grain we may have. We find 

 that the meat meal bas been a great help, and all our chicks 

 made splendid growth in bone, and we have not the propor- 

 tion of puny birds that are so common in nearly every flock. 

 We prefer hen-raised chicks for many reasons, and we 

 will name some of them. First, you do not get so many 

 crowded in a bunch; second, the hens exercise them hunt- 

 lug bugs and teach them to hunt for something to eat in- 

 stead of lying around waiting for the feeder to come; third, 

 our hens will average ten chicks each and thirty hens will 



raise us three 

 Ihiutrdred chi'cks, 

 which is as many 

 as we -wish for 

 OUT present quar- 

 ters. We give 

 Game hens Game 

 diicks, as they 

 will hover them 

 tiDitil full feath- 

 ered and raise 

 nearly all given 

 them. White Wy- 

 andottes leave them in six or seven weeks to do for them- 

 selves, and they get colds and the attendant diseases and 

 die off. We would rather raise one well developed chick 

 than twelve poor ones, and by our method we have few 

 culls. S. D. & J. W. RILEY. 



Fla- 10— Slatted rront Coop with Door at 

 Side. 



Fla. 8-9— Half-way Coops to Use Betweea 

 Brooder and Fla- 10. 



THREE GOOD COOPS-MOVING THE YOUNG STOCK 

 —COOKED FOOD AND GRAINS. 



I send a pencil sketch of coops used by me. No. 8 is 

 the old A coop for hen and chicks. I have found this to be 

 about as satisfactory in the long run as more expensive ones. 

 No. 9 is a little 

 more expensive 

 and if made right 

 is very conven- 

 ient, easily kept 

 clean and safe 

 from night prow- 

 lers. I often 

 make use of 

 these coops as a 

 half-wav house from tlie brooders to coop or house No. 10, 

 as I can limit the number of chicks to suit size, weather 

 and either conditions. If the wea-ther is coldi and damp I 

 often use a jug of hot water, set in tbe middle of the 

 coop. It is a good thing and the chicks alppretiiatte it, as 

 one cau soon tell. 



I use one incubator, and with it I have three brooders- 

 No. 1, one hundred chick; No. 2, three hundred chick; No. 3, 

 five hundred chick size, so-called. 



They go from the incubator to brooder No. 1, which I 

 have ready for them with a temperature of about 90 degrees 

 to start with; from No. 1 to No. 2, then as age and size war- 

 rant they go to No. 3. No. 2 has outside runs; No. 3 is an 

 outdoor brooder and chicks have a good grass yard and 

 plenty of shade. I bunch them up in small colonies of 

 about fifteen in the No. 9 coops. Fresh water and grit are 

 where the chicks can get to them all the time. 



The food question is one that bothers me more or less. 

 All my fowls, old or young, get one cooked ration every day 

 — in the mornings. For this I use oats, com chop, clover 

 (cut), bran, shipstufE and beef or blood meal. This is pre- 

 pared the night before, and as soon as the young stock get 

 old enough they get a portion, the same as the old stock. I 

 feed corn chop, wheat and millet, green cut bone and vege- 

 tables, table scraps, and anything I can find that is good f<jr 

 them. I aim to give my chicks as much variety as possible. 

 Oat groats is a principal factor in my food for growing 



chicks. 



E. M. DURHAM. 



A Shelter Coop tor Crowing Chicks. 



"'i.Tr- 



