
POULTRY SUGGESTIONS FOR THE AMATEUR. Al 
Care of Young Chicks.—In order to have a good, early matur- 
ing pullet it is necessary that she get a good start. ‘The first 
few weeks’ care is responsible to a great extent for her success 
or failure eight months later. Feed, regularity of feeding, 
cleanliness, and plenty of grit and water are all important 
matters. Chicks should be carefully protected from storms 
and sudden changes of weather, since these together with the 
low vitality of the parent are responsible for more deaths than 
is improper food. Poultrymen differ considerably as to when 
the chick shall have its first food. Good results have been 
secured when chicks have been permitted to pick a little sand 
or fine grit from a clean board when about thirty-six hours 
old, and, when about forty-eight hours old, to eat bread crumbs 
moistened in milk and squeezed dry. After that almost any of 
the prepared chick foods may be fed about five times a day till 
the chicks are two or three weeks old, when they will do well 
on wheat screenings and need not be fed oftener than three 
times a day. It is advisable to let the chicks have access to 
green feed at all times. Fine clover hay, cut with an ordinary 
straw cutter, is excellent, and also makes a good litter to scatter 
the feed in. It is best, however, to give the last food at night 
on a clean board, letting the chicks eat all they will and then 
removing the board. At other times care should be taken that 
they be kept hungry, or at least sufhciently so to be eager to 
eat when fresh food is offered them. 

Fic. 14 —A good brooder lamp costing less than fifty cents. 
