18 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 
chicks is inferior to the higher priced sittings 
of eggs, but if one is not so particular as to 
type and show purposes, this method is very 
satisfactory. The day-old chick business is 
founded upon the principle that it is not ad¬ 
visable to feed the chick for the first forty- 
eight hours of its life, because just before the 
chick emerges from the shell, it absorbs the 
remainder of the yolk of the egg, and it is ex¬ 
ceedingly dangerous to feed the chick any food v 
during that period, as the chick will be sure to 
experience digestive troubles, if any thing be¬ 
sides water and grit is given to the chicks for 
the first two days. Therefore, these chicks 
are placed in a well ventilated box and sent 
by parcel post often as far as a thousand miles, 
with no loss in mortality. For one that has 
no incubator or mature hens, this offers a very 
satisfactory method of starting out in the 
chicken business. There are commercial hatch¬ 
eries all over the country that make a business 
of purchasing hatching eggs from raisers of 
purebred poultry, and hatching these eggs in 
mammoth incubators, selling the chicks as soon 
as hatched, in the manner described. 
Thus, the one interested in getting a start 
