454 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXV, No. IX 
all fertile, and yielded a hatch of 18 strong chicks. They were of average 
normal size, exceeding in weight an equal number of chicks taken at 
random from the College Poultry Farm. Their gains in weight likewise 
slightly exceeded those of the latter. These chicks (offspring of those 
grown in confinement) grew to maturity, laid at the usual age, and 
behaved normally in all respects. One of them is shown in Plate i, A. 
More rapid growth and generally better results were obtained in 1921 
by beginning with buttermilk chick feed mixed with skim milk, and 
gradually changing to a ration of equal parts of wheat and com chop 
as a scratch grain and a hopper-fed dry mash consisting of equal parts of 
corn meal, bran, shorts, beef scraps, and one-third part bone meal. This 
lot received green alfalfa after the first week and skim milk after the 
second. Although these chicks were in transit eight days, having their 
vitality greatly reduced, they averaged in weight 163.3 gm. in seven 
weeks and attained an average weight of 1,927.9 gm. at the age of 7 
months. They laid their first eggs when 5 months and 22 days old, and 
continued to lay well until they were discarded in May, 1922. Plate 2, 
B, shows a group of these fowls shortly before they were discarded. 
Similarly, in May, 1922, 150 baby chicks shipped from Michigan were 
started on the buttermilk chick feed. From the first these chicks made 
gains which compared favorably with the average daily growth for 
chickens of this breed. Under conditions similar to those of the previous 
lots, 125 of these fowls reached maturity without any sign of leg weakness, 
and began to lay at the early age of 4 months and 27 days. 
Some workers have experienced greater difficulties from leg weak¬ 
ness and other disorders with chicks hatched in late summer or fall 
than with those hatched earlier in the year. This has not always been 
true here. In the fall of 1921, 50 baby chicks were secured from Ohio. 
They received the same care as those hatched in the spring, and, although 
some were smothered, none of the survivors showed the slightest signs 
of leg weakness. They began to lay when 5 months and 7 days old, 
and the ovaries of all but one contained well-developed eggs when the 
chickens were discarded the following May. 
However, in September, 1920, a lot of 50 chicks made good gains for 
about eight weeks, then they began to suffer from leg weakness. Soon 
all contracted it, and many died or were killed. Nine that recovered 
began laying at the age of 5 months and 4 days. Concerning the onset 
of the attack, the first abnormal symptoms appeared when the chicks 
were rapidly increasing their weight and plumage. Restlessness and 
perverted appetites appeared, the chicks showing an avidity for grain 
and an aversion for green feed and skim milk. The lameness and other 
characteristic symptoms soon followed. Whether or not the season 
of the year (fall) was effective in producing the abnormal appetite of 
these chicks is problematical, but the short, more or less cloudy days of 
late autumn are not conducive to activity for fowls raised in confinement, 
DISCUSSION 
Among the apparent factors of the production of abnormal chickens 
in the first experiments here were insufficient litter and crowding. In 
the course of two months these factors probably reduced the activity 
of the chicks, and paved the way for perverted appetites and leg weakness. 
With these difficulties obviated, and under the conditions described, 
several hundred chickens have been raised to maturity without develop- 
