PouivTRY Raising in Colorado 
II 
BROODERS 
The large unit brooders, heated by oil burners or by coal stoves, 
capable of furnishing warmth for from 500 to 1,000 or even more 
chicks, seem to be the coming brooder where larger numbers of chicks 
are raised. This Station has not tried them out, but feels satisfied that 
they are satisfactory because of the good words spoken for them by 
many Colorado poultrymen. It seems that with this type of brooder 
especially, plenty of heat must be furnished to prevent crowding. Cer¬ 
tainly the brooder house should be well built for use during the early 
part of the season. 
. FEEDS AND FEEDING 
Variety is the price of health. If the hen has considerable range, 
grain is all that need be provided during the summer months. In the 
winter, and also if confined in summer, everything must be provided. 
For best results fowls should have grains, greens, m:eats. How much 
of each cannot be stated, but equal amounts of two or three grains, 
whole, and the same proportions in the mash, will be found not far 
wrong. Probably too much wheat and not enough com is fed to our 
poultry in the irrigated sections. Corn is our most important poultry 
feed and should always appear in the ration. Oats, because of o'ften 
being of poor quality, is not as desirable as corn or wheat, and may be 
fed in smaller quantities, or eliminated. Milo and kaffir are good 
feeds, but not quite as valuable as corn. When they are purchased, 
it should be because they are lower in price than corn. 
Ther-^ is no excuse for not furnishing plentv of greens to poultry in 
winter. When they have free access to the alfalfa stacks they are pretty 
well supplied. However, root crops will add to the value of the feed 
because of their succulence; they can be raised in abundance or can be 
cheaply bought. Mash once a day, especially in cold weather, is not 
only an appetizing meal but a means of utilizing many waste products. 
Small potatoes and cull onions, cooked and mixed with bran and shorts, 
make an excellent and cheap ration. 
A good method of feeding is to furnish wheat or oats in the litter 
for the morning feed to induce exercise; the mash at noon when loaf¬ 
ing is least objectionable; an abundant feed of corn, kaffir or milo 
at nig'ht. 
The best feed on the farm' and the one least supplied to the hens 
is milk. It is preferable to commercial meat feeds when it can be had 
without stint. It was determined by experiments at the Purdue Ex¬ 
periment Station that hens, furnished all the buttermilk, sour milk or 
sweet milk they wanted, did as well as those furnished more expensive 
feed in the form of beef scrap. 
FEEDING BABY CHICKS 
It might be very appropriate to say “feed them anything,” better 
yet “feed them everything,” for we find about everything being fed to 
