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COMMERCIAL POULTRY RAISING 



tive material is capable of sustaining life for two or three days, or 

 until the chick is strong enough to walk about freely and pick up 

 food. Investigations have shown that this absorbed yolk con- 

 tains almost half of the original energy of the egg. It is a wise 

 provision of nature, with which it is folly to interfere. There 

 is no need for additional nourishment at this time, and to supply 

 any will invariably work more harm than good, in that it inter- 

 feres with the proper assimilation of the yolk. We might say 



{Courtesy U. S. Dep*t AgricuUure) 



Fig. 205. — Feeding frame for young chicks. It is wire-covered, and none but 

 the small chicks can crawl under the lower rail. 



that the chick's system is not ready for food until the third day 

 after incubation. 



This condition makes it possible to ship chicks hundreds of 

 miles without imposing any hardships through lack of feeding 

 and watering. It is a good plan, however, to place water before 

 the chicks as soon as they are removed to the brooder, preferably 

 water with the chill taken off, if the weather is cold. Care should 

 be taken that the little fellows do not wallow in the water and 

 get wet; therefore it is best to use shallow vessels protected in 

 some way so that the chicks cannot fall inside. 



