POULTRY OBSERVATIONS 7 a7 
' changed to other pens, and this time fully 35 per cent. of the 
food in question was left by the chicks to which it was offered. 
A careful examination of the feed was then made, and it was 
found to contain a fairly large percentage of musty grain, 
especially the corn, which appeared to form the major portion 
of the food. 
Another flock of 80 chicks was divided in a similar way, and 
to No. 1-Brooder a mixture of pinhead oatmeal, cracked corn, 
and cracked wheat was fed; to No. 2, the same mixture, to 
which was added about 25 per cent. (in bulk) of sawdust; to 
No. 3, the same, with coarse salt used instead of the sawdust ; 
and to No. 4, the same, with granulated sugar in place of the 
sawdust. In all four cases there was very little difference in 
the amount of food consumed. The salt and sugar were al- 
ways selected first, apparently owing to their bright appear- 
ance; but as a rule the chicks did not appear to relish them. 
By the fifth day over 75 per cent. of the chicks in pens 3 and 4 
died, while in pen 2 the chicks were very weak and droopy. 
No. 1 pen lost only one chick. From thesixth day inthe brooder, 
these chicks were all fed on a ration similar to No. 1, but by 
the ninth day only a few from Nos. 2, 3 and 4 were living, and 
these died soon after. 
A third lot of r10 chicks was then divided, and Nos. 1, 2 and 
- 2 were fed pinhead oatmeal, cracked corn, and cracked wheat, 
while the fourth had the coarse salt added to its mixture. The 
results in this case were similar to those in the former test. 
On the third day in the brooder, pen No. 2 had coarse salt add- 
ed to their feed, and while they did not eat all the food placed 
before them, still, they had apparently eaten a fair share of the 
salt. These chicks began to die within twelve hours, while 
those fed salt from the first did not die for three or four days. 
On the sixth day a third lot was offered salt, and in this case 
only a small portion of it was eaten; but the effects were 
equally disastrous. On the ninth day the chicks in pen 4 were 
offered salt, but they carefully avoided it. 
A fourth test was made, using the musty chick feed, and in 
this case it was noticed that chicks eight or nine days old used 
