GROWING EXPERIMENTAL CHICKENS IN CONFINE¬ 
MENT 1 
By C. A. Herrick, Assistant in Parasitology , J. E. AckerT, Professor of Zoology and 
Parasitologist , and Bertha E. Danheim, [Assistant in Zoology , Kansas Agricul¬ 
tural Experiment Station 
INTRODUCTION 
This paper is an outgrowth of a research begun in 1916 by one of the 
authors (Ackert), who undertook a series of studies on the life histories 
of fowl cestodes. Early in the work it was realized that the raising of 
large numbers of chicks in confinement presented a problem in itself. 
Although the chicks made rapid gains during the first two months, they 
soon began to show signs of lameness, and in a few weeks became so 
weakened and abnormal as to jeopardize the experiments. On con¬ 
sulting the literature of the subject, it was found that other investiga¬ 
tors had experienced somewhat similar difficulties. 
Drummond 2 , after a series of tests, concluded that a diet sufficient to 
produce normal development under range conditions was insufficient for 
chicks raised in the laboratory. By using a mixture of chicken feed, 
cabbage, and charcoal, and by replacing the water with milk, Funk 3 
was able to reduce greatly the mortality, even though the chicks were 
kept in small cages. Osborne and Mendel 4 succeeded in raising to 
maturity some apparently normal fowls by supplying crude fiber in the 
form of paper pulp and blotting paper as a “ballast.” Difficulties most 
nearly identical with those of the present writers were experienced 
in the rearing of chicks by Hart, Halpin, and Steenbock, 5 who state 
that “ In the rearing of baby chicks in confinement a difficulty serious 
and obscure in its etiology is the one characterized by poultrymen as 
* leg weakness.' This trouble usually develops in 4 to 6 weeks after hatch¬ 
ing, but the writers have seen it show itself 4 to 6 weeks later. The 
principal symptoms shown by the bird are, first, an unsteady gait, 
developing into difficulty of locomotion with a tendency to remain 
squatted a good part of the time; a pronounced ruffled condition of 
the feathers; an anemic condition of the wattles and comb; and a 
swelling of the leg joints, which is sometimes permanent. A loss of 
appetite accompanies these conditions and usually death follows sud¬ 
denly.” These symptoms are very similar to those shown by the earlier 
lots of the writers' chicks, except that they retained a good appetite 
for grain and often lived for several weeks. 
Hart, Halpin, and Steenbock, by incorporating 10 per cent of paper in 
the ration, succeeded in raising normal chicks in confinement for 18 
§£i Accepted for publication June 25, 1923. Contribution No. 65 from the Department of Zoology, Agri¬ 
cultural Experiment Station, Kansas State Agricultural College. 
2 Drummond, Jack Cecil, observations upon the growth op young chickens under labora 
Tory conditions. In Biochem. Jour., v. 10, p. 77-88, 1 pi. 1916. ___ rlM _ 
* Bunk. Casimir.' the study op certain dietary conditions bearing on the problem op growth 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
agj 
Vol. XXV, No. is 
Sept, is, i 9*3 
Key No. Kans. —S7 
( 45 *) 
