114 CHICKS 



the Standard Brahma. They are about the size of a Ply- 

 mouth Rock, but retain the Brahma characteristics. They 

 are slow growers and therefore keep soft longer than other 

 varieties. They may therefore be hatched in August and 

 September, in time to get a good start before real cold 

 weather sets in, and still be soft and tender in June when 

 the best prices are paid. 



After October fifteenth Mr. Smith hatches Barred or 

 White Plymouth Rocks exclusively. The cockerels are cap- 

 onized at a proper age, but the pullets are sold as broilers, 

 sometimes at a pound weight if the price is large, but when 

 the prevailing price is not forty to fifty cents a pound, they 

 are kept to the large broiler age and sold when they weigh 

 two and a quarter pounds. They then bring about thirty 

 cents per pound. The cockerels are sold at the same time 

 that the Light Brahma cockerels are, and also as capons. 



The Light Brahma pullets are ready for market in JIarch 

 or April and are sold then as they must be marketed before 

 they are laying to obtain a good ^rice. 



The Feeding System. 



The chicks are kept in the incubators until the twenty- 

 third day and then removed to the brooder house. Here 

 the temperature is kept to nearly 90 degrees for a time, 

 but is gradually reduced until the chicks are ready to be 

 removed to the colony houses. This reduction of tempera- 

 ture can be accomplished by adjusting the regulator if the 

 chicks are all of an age, or by taking the sand out from 

 under the hot water pipes if the age of the chicks in different 

 pens varies much. The smaller chicks are fed some good 

 mixed chick feted five times a day. Every morning a supply 

 of ground scraps and cut clover rowen is given, sufficient foi* 

 the entire day. The supply of rowen is intended to exceed 

 the demand so as to furnish a little scratcliing litter. Cab- 

 bages are suspended from the ceiling just high enough to 

 make the chicks jump a little to reach them. A little later 

 finely cracked corn, hulled oats and cracked wheat is sub- 

 stituted for the more complicated mixed chick feed. Water 

 is a constant running supply in each pen, furnished from a 

 \pipe laid through the center of the house. The chicks drink 



