176 BOWEL TROUBLE IN CHICKS 



very apt to effect the flock quite seriously, and also 

 cause bowel trouble. Chicks must be kept comfort- 

 ably warm, and in order to carry this out 

 successfully the hover heat must be regulated in 

 keeping with the outdoor weather conditions. 



Next to chilling, indiscretions in feeding or care- 

 less feeding are the most prolific causes of this 

 disease among the baby chicks. Chicks must have 

 a variety of foods, and sufficient of each so that 

 they can properly balance their rations. Chicks fed 

 on one grain food, or kept on short rations, and 

 thus starved into eating something not good for 

 them at that particular time are easy 'preys to 

 bowel trouble. Good, clean commercial chick food, 

 put up by a reliable firm, is a safe food for the 

 chicks. The so-called chick feed which is nothing 

 more or less than fine waste fanned from grains 

 in the mills is, as a rule, a very poor feed, to say the 

 least, and the most expensive in the end, for one 

 pays for a lot of chaff and other material which the 

 chicks will not eat. 



Chicks in confinement cannot pick up the 

 vegetable matter which they could obtain if given 

 free range. It is therefore of the utmost impor- 

 tance that raw vegetable food be supplied in 

 sufficient quantities. During the early part of the 

 season when grasses, etc., are scarce, raw potatoes 

 or beets are a most satisfactory vegetable food, and 

 should be fed chopped up fine once a day. A little 



