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CHAPTER VI. 
THE MANAGEMENT OF CHICKENS. 
Chickens should have no food whatever for at least twelve hours after hatching ; they not only 
derive no benefit from it, but we are more and more satisfied are actually the worse. We saw in 
Chapter IV. that at their entrance into the world they are provided by nature with the yolk of the 
egg, almost entire, for their immediate sustenance, and this is the only food they either need or 
ought to have. Even twenty-four hours’ abstinence will not have the slightest prejudicial effect, but 
any time between which occurs conveniently may be chosen for the first meal, and till that time 
arrives it is best if they can be left with the hen entirely undisturbed. Many persons take away 
those first hatched and put them in flannel by the fire, restoring them to the hen. when all are out; 
and if the eggs have varied much in age this procedure becomes a necessity, as the staler eggs not 
hatching till hours after the others, the hen would become too restless to remain with them were the 
earlier chicks left with her. But it is better , if it can be done, to leave the chicks with their mother; 
the heat of the living body appears to have an actually nourishing or vital power which no 
artificial warmth can possess, and when the little creatures have been under a hen, they never seem 
so happy and contented away from her. It is however necessary to visit the nest now and then, 
and to take away all the empty egg-shells, which otherwise cause great discomfort to the chickens. 
Dead eggs there should be none, all in which vitality has perished having previously been removed 
as directed in Chapter IV. 
Perhaps as good a plan as any, with regard to convenience of attending to the chickens when 
hatched, is to set the hen at night, when the chicks should be due about the same time, or in 
favourable circumstances during the afternoon. Then at night the nest can be examined, shells 
removed, and the hen fed upon her nest, after which she is sure to remain quiet the whole night, 
and may be shut in until the morning. Any eggs not hatched then may be suspected ; and in the 
great majority of cases all the chicks will be strong and lively, quite ready for their first meal. If 
only one or two eggs be still overdue we should not ourselves wait longer for them, as such very 
rarely thrive, and it is a great pity to run any risk with the healthy portion of a brood for the sake 
of a few weakly ones which may probably die after all. We speak from experience when we say 
that such is literally “ throwing good chickens after bad.” If an incubator or another sitting hen be 
available, it is of course easy to provide for the remaining eggs in this way ; if not, and the brood 
was a fair average, we would sacrifice one or two rather than endanger the rest. 
The first food of young chicks should consist of eggs boiled hard and chopped up, mixed 
with double its bulk of bread-crumbs, and the whole slightly moistened with milk. The hen also 
should be allowed to partake of this, giving her first, however, as much barley and water as she 
chooses to partake of. Hens are generally ravenous when the long period of seclusion is over, and 
to fully satisfy them with good grain at the outset saves both food and much restlessness after- 
wards ; for we never like to see a hen debarred the delicacies her chickens partake of during the 
nrst week or two — she needs them nearly as much as they do, being in very poor condition in 
almost every case. After a week or two, on the contrary, it is better to put the food for the young 
