140 



THE GAME BREEDER 



vents Gapes. I also use these coops for 

 chickens and I never had Gapes in my 

 ilocks since I have used them. 



I feed the pheasant chicks on custard 

 for the first two days; this is made by 

 beating eggs and milk together, a table- 

 spoon full of milk to each egg and then 

 cooked dry; after the second day I mix 

 Spratt's pheasant meal with it, gradu- 

 ally increasing the quantity as they grow 

 older. I also feed Spratt's chickgrain. 

 I feed 5 meals per day. The first feed 

 is custard and meal, the next chickgrain 

 a,nd so on throughout the day. For 

 greens I feed lettuce only and from the 

 first day on and all they will eat.- 



When chicks are two weeks old they 



are so far advanced that there is little 

 danger of Gapes, they are then allowed 

 a grass run, 5 by 10 feet; here they re- 

 main until some time in October when 

 they are placed in the winter quarters. 



My eggs hatched very good this 

 spring. All chicks were strong and 

 healthy ; they are now half grown and I 

 still have all of them. Intensive breed- 

 ing must be watched very closely, it only 

 takes a few minutes to look after a pen 

 of birds, but thoroughness is required. Jj 

 I do not leave any feed lying around " 

 to get sour where the chicks can get it. 

 Lice I keep «down as much as possible.' 

 Freedom from lice, cleanliness and good 

 wholesome food account for my success 

 this spring is my belief. if 



THE BLACK HEAD DISEASE. 



CONTRIBUTION FROM THE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 



STATE COLLEGE. 



RHODE ISLAND 



Brooding With Hens. 

 At the end of the section on incuba- 

 tion we left the young poults for their 

 first night out of the incubator under 

 their foster mothers, occupying the 

 brooder coops located on the range where 

 the young birds are to be reared. Let 

 us imagine that we have before us a 

 field of five or six acres. It is not far 

 from the homestead for it can easily be 

 seen from the upper windows of the 

 house and walking over to the lot once 

 at morning, noon and night is no hard- 

 ship; it can be reached quickly in case 

 of sudden showers. On one side of the 

 ;field is a travelled road. Along this runs 

 a fence with poultry netting extending 

 up to a height of four feet; at the base 

 is a twelve-inch strip of one-inch mesh 

 securely stubbed. On two sides of the 

 field are low stone walls along the top of 

 which, but with the free lower margin 

 outside the wall, runs a three-foot strip 

 of poultry netting attached to stakes 

 driven at an angle; this is to keep out 

 the dogs. At the end opposite the road 

 is a patch of woods with a wall between 

 it and the field. One side of the field 

 is in brush The land is too stony for 



cutting hay. Across one corner runs a 

 small brook. On one side of the field 

 near the road is a small six by eight port- 

 able house, formerly an old hen house, in 

 which feed and feeding dishes, grit and a 

 few tools are kept. Spaced with some 

 regularity about the field are about 

 twelve to fifteen brooder coops each of 

 which at present houses an ordinary hen 

 and from twelve to fourteen poults re- 

 cently taken from the incubator. The 

 wire frames are in place before the doors, 

 and the occupants are still within. The 

 coops themselves, which are without 

 floors, measure about two feet square, 

 and have a simple shed roof covered 

 with roofing paper. They open to the 

 south. Attached in front of each coop 

 is a small yard made of wire frames one 

 foot high, put together in the form of 

 an oblong. Several satisfactory coops 

 and runs of this sort are on the market. 

 At the end of the run, which is covered 

 with poultry wire, is a door opening to 

 the range. 



The morning passes and nothing is dis- 

 turbed. About noon when the poults are 

 about thirty to thirty-six hours old, the 

 poultryman may be observed inspecting 



I 



