Feeding, Rearing, and Management of Chickens. 
51 
necessary care and attention, given by one who will devote a little time to the object. Chickens are 
now reared without the aid of the hen on any farm of magnitude, and there is an immense saving in 
time and expense effected. 
An artificial mother, with or without heat supplied, can be made at a trifling cost, and will be 
found to act admirably. The first can be made from an ordinary box, or boards, 12 to 15 inches in 
depth front to back, and from 15 to 20 inches in length, 6 to 9 inches in height at the front, sloping 
back to a height of 4 or 5 inches behind. (See Fig. 40.) This should have strips of flannel tacked 
lengthwise from the roof, and to just clear the ground, the lower edges of the flannel being cut as in 
Fig. 41. These strips should be about i inch apart, and will make a comfortable nestling ground for the 
chickens if cleaned and aired daily, and a little insect powder sprinkled among the flannel strips, to 
keep down insect pests. Ventilation should be obtained by boring holes a quarter of an inch in 
diameter around the sides, back, and top, to allow the foul air to escape. An artificial mother of these 
Fig 40. — Artificial Foster Mother for Chickens, with Heat Attachments. 
dimensions will accommodate 10 to a dozen chickens until they are 4 to 6 weeks old ; after that time 
they will not require any covering whatever if of the quicker-fledging varieties. A wired-in run, 
top and sides 5 or 6 feet in length, can and should be made to allow the chicks to run about, and obtain 
the benefits of the sun as they feel disposed, and if the foster mother is protected by a covering from 
the weather by a lean-to roof, very httle trouble, beyond keeping the mother clean and providing food 
and water, will be necessary for the chickens' welfare. 
An excellent idea, and one we have seen in operation on a Market Poultry Farm, where 2,000 to 
2,500 head of chickens are reared annually, is to have a number of these artificial mothers under one 
roof, the runs attached being divided from one another, these are made to extend outside the wall of the 
building about 3 or 4 feet, with holes cut in the wall for ingress and egress, and can be closed at will by 
having a trap-door attached, to shut down during hot, cold, or wet weather, and as half the run is inside the 
Fig. 41. — Showing Flannel cut in strips for Artificial Foster Mothers, Figs. 39 and 40. 
building, the chicks are not cramped for room. About an inch depth of sand is spread over the floor of the 
mother and run, the whole being built at an elevation of 2 feet from the ground. The wired tops, both 
inside and outside of the building, are on hinges, which allow of the run being cleaned out and raked 
over occasionally, the depth of the run being from 12 to 15 inches. As chickens do better in batches of 
20 or thereabouts, the runs are made of sufficient size to accommodate that number, which will answer 
until they are three weeks old. At this stage they are drafted into larger runs, built on the same plan, 
but which lead out into open yards. In this case, if the chickens are of a variety which fledge quickly, 
the artificial mother may be dispensed with, the natural warmth of their bodies while nestling together 
in a heap being quite sufficient, and it is surprising how they will progress under these conditions. The 
feeding troughs in use are of a novel design, being detachable, as shown in Fig. 42. Those 
for the open yards are as shown in Fig. 43. Many of the chickens being hatched during tht; 
