Raising Incubator Chicks 169 



it with a watering pot till it sends up no dust when 

 scratched about. It should not be wet, of course, 

 but must be moistened enough each day to keep 

 it from being dusty. It is an interesting fact that 

 grown poultry enjoy dry litter to scratch in and 

 thrive in it, while little chicks will suffer from dried 

 feet and leg-weakness if they stay long on dry 

 litter. The nearer we can approximate their 

 litter to the earth they would naturally scratch in, 

 the stronger they will be. 



Fence Them In. — ^At first little chicks may not 

 know jUst where to. go for warmth, and will tend 

 to crowd into comers, so it is best to place a fence, 

 made from chicken wire, a foot wide, in a ring about 

 the brooder, a foot or so from the curtain. Their 

 water fotintain and feed pan can go inside for a 

 day or so. The third day they will be used to the 

 new house, and can then wander about at will, 

 returning when they get chilly. 



The feed for incubator chicks is just the same as 

 that for hen-hatched chicks, and the grit, shells, 

 charcoal, and cracked bone are fed in the same 

 way. A light tapping on the pan will bring them 

 ' ' scampering to their egg and rolled oats, and 

 the chick feed, scattered about in the slightly 



