WHY CHICKS CAN BE SHIPPED 277 



with sufficient impetus to carry other breeders over their fluctua- 

 tions in power. As the baseball fan would say — He's a good 

 pinch hitter. 



Many were prejudiced against the day-old-chick trade at one 

 time, and a few are still opposed to it. They feel that baby 

 chicks, above all creatiires, seem so tiny and delicate as to re- 

 quire the utmost care and attention for the first hours of their 

 existence, and that to ship them hundreds of miles at the mercy 

 of a cardboard box is little short of barbarous. Others . ask : 

 "Will the little fellows survive the shipment in express cars with- 

 out being chilled, or without permanent injury to their vitality 

 and productiveness?" 



Natural Provision. — Let us consider these fears: Chicks re- 

 quire neither food nor drink for the first couple of days of their 

 life. Practically the only attention needed consists of reL>t, 

 warmth and air. During the period immediately following in- 

 cubation the chick is sustained by the assimilation of the yolk 

 of the egg. The general practice is to allow the chicks to remain 

 in the incubator for about twenty-four hours after the hatch is 

 completed, then to place them in the brooder for another day 

 before giving them food. In fact, some poultrymen do not give 

 their first feeding until after the third day, believing that this 

 much time is required for the proper assimilation of the yolk. 



In any event it is this provision of nature which gave rise to 

 the possibility of shipping chicks long distances while they were 

 in this dormant state. This natural provision was greatly 

 aided by the invention and perfection of special boxes or carriers, 

 which were designed with the idea of conserving the warmth 

 radiated by the chicks themselves. See Fig. 175. 



The principle of this shipping box for chicks is much the same 

 as the fireless cooker or the vacuum bottle, both of which were 

 regarded rather skeptically at first. The principle is based on a 

 very simple law, that of retaining heat or cold by non-conducting 

 enclosures, and corresponds to the insulation in a refrigerator. 



One of the best packages yet devised for the shipment of baby 

 chicks is that made from corrugated fibre-board, than which 



