HATCHING WITH HENS 65 



A variety of food is both appetizing and stimulating. The 

 boiled eggs and cracker and milk a,xe excellent for a change 

 and very nourishing, but, as with all soft and cooked foods, 

 they should not be given in sufficient quantity to entirely 

 satisfy the chicks' hunger, as the youngsters then become 

 ^ inactive. The old fashioned oatmeal is a fine food and makes 

 a good change. This may be best fed to the young chicks 

 dry, and as a scratch food. A little later hulled oats 

 makes another good food and change. 



Cracked com and whole wheat may be, fed in small pro- 

 portions when tl^e chicks are two weeks old, but they shoulc^' 

 not be given a full meal of these hearty grains at first unless 

 both are cracked especially fine. 



Feed Littl^ and Often. 



The more young chicks are fed the better, provided they 

 are not overfed at any time. The most expert chicken grow- 

 ers feed from five to eight times a day. "Little and often" 

 is the motto of good feeders. Brooder chicks should be fed 

 more often than those raised with hens. 



The reason is obvious. The hen will guarantee the chick 

 sufficient exercise, while a brooder chick exercises for his 

 food only in confined runs. The. more often it is fed, and the 

 less fed at one time, the greater amount of exercise the chick 

 lakes in procuring his food, the assumption being that he is 

 fed in a litter. 



Damp Mashes Advisable. 



After the chicks get to be a month old or more, it is advis- 

 able to give some soft food. The writer likes a mash made of 

 corn meal, flour middlings, in a very small quantity, and acme 

 feed or bran, the proportion being governed by the richness 

 of the iiigredients. This should always be mixed with boil- 

 ing water and allowed to stand and cook. It should be fed 

 warm, but not hot. It should be saltedand such ingredients 

 as bone meal, beef scraps and fish meal may be added. 



Other combinations are available and make excellent 

 mashes. That known as provender, consisting of ground 

 oats and, corn meal is. deservedly popular. Chicks like 

 variety in mashes as they do in other things. 



' The writer believes in mashes, both wet and dry, for grow- 



