

190 REPORT OF THE First AssISTANT OF THE 
In order to obtain information as to the cost of growing chicks 
by the methods in general use on farms, where skim-milk can be 
obtained, two lots of chicks were grown in pens. The pens were 
10x12 feet, having a tight wooden floor. The open yards con- 
necting with them, and which were deeply covered with coal 
ashes, were 11x20 feet. A hen was kept with each pen of chicks 
until they were pretty well feathered — with one pen seven and 
one-half weeks and the other five and one-half weeks. The chicks 
were of several breeds and crosses — B. Minorca, W. P. Rock- 
Light Brahma, Indian Game Cochin, cross; P. Rock-Minorea, 
cross. They were from one to three days old at commencement 
of feeding experiment, and the total cost of food from hatching 
until this time was less than one cent for each lot. During 
most of the experiment fourteen chicks were in one pen and six- 
teen in the other. More chicks were put in at the start, but the 
visit of a rat reduced the number. ‘The chicks and hens were 
weighed once a week. 
No green food was fed to one pen until the chicks were about 
six weeks old, and not to the other pen until eleven and one-half 
weeks old. The skim-milk, of which they had most of the time 
an abundant supply, was usually sweet. One pen (No. 11) was 
without milk for eight days (from Sept. 17 to Sept. 25), when water 
was substituted, and during this time they made a smaller gain 
for the food consumed than at any other. 
The results averaged for periods of one and two weeks are given 
in the following tables: 

