r»i'±c© 23 Cents. 
 
 THE POULTRY KEEPER SERIES. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 ITS 
 
 P. H. JACOBS, 
 
 EDITOB OF 
 
 THE POULTRY KEEPER and FARM, FIELD MD STOCKMAN. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 W. V. R. POWIS, 
 
 Proprietor of THE POULTRY KEEPER, and PARI, III in HB BTOOKHAI. 
 
 69 i; tNDOLPB St.. Chicago, h l. 
 
THE POULTRY KEEPER SERIES. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS, 
 
 P. H. JACOBS, 
 
 EDITOR OF 
 
 THE POULTRY KEEPER, and FARM, FIELD AND STOCKMAN. 
 
 Published By 
 
 W. V. R. POWIS, 
 
 Proprietor of THE POULTRY KEEPER, and FARM, FIELD AND STOCKMAN 
 
 89 Randolph St., Chicago, III. 
 
 CHICAGO, ILL., U. S. A.: 
 
 1881. 
 
SF4n 
 
 THE POULTRY KEEPER SERIES. 
 
 BY 
 
 P. H. JACOBS. 
 
 3XTo. X. 
 
 POULTRY FOR PROFIT Price 25 Cents. 
 
 KTo. 2. 
 
 INCUBATORS AND BROODERS Price 25 Cents. 
 
 T&o. 3. 
 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS Price 25 Cents. 
 
 ZKTo. -3?. 
 DISEASES OF POULTRY Price 25 Cents. 
 
 ONE THOUSAND FACTS ABOUT POULTRY Price 25 Cents. 
 
TO THE READER. 
 
 In presenting the Poultry Keepek Series the author has consid- 
 ered it proper to arrange the subjects under appropriate titles, 
 thereby believing the readers will be better enabled to select those 
 portions which directly interest them. It is much better to present 
 different subjects in separate works, at a small cost for each, than to 
 refer to a larger volume containing much that may be foreign to the 
 reader's requirements. As the author has devoted many years to the 
 study of poultry, and also interested himself in breeding nearly all 
 the varieties, as well as conducted numerous experiments, he sin- 
 cerely trusts that the readers will reap many times the cost of this 
 work, and that each and all may be successful. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 The Authob. 
 
 Copyright, 1885, 
 
 BY 
 
 "W. V. IFt. POWIS. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/managementofyounOOjaco 
 
THE EGG AND THE CHICK. 
 
 In this little book, which, we devote entirely to the management 
 of young chicks, we think it proper to begin our subject with the 
 process of incubation itself. Everyone knows, says an eminent 
 authority, that an egg is composed of yolk and white in a thin 
 membrane, all enclosed in a shell very brittle and of various colors. 
 The yolk is composed of blood assimilated through, the working 
 power of the hen, and a proportion of oil drawn from the grain she 
 eats. The white is a thick mucilage derived from the green or 
 vegetable portion of her daily diet, while the membrane or skin is 
 made from the woody, fibrous substance of the same. The yolks, or 
 ova, grow in a cluster on the spine, and pass through a tuft of soft 
 skin between the lungs and the kidneys, one being formed every 
 twenty-four or thirty-six hours while the hen is laying, which is 
 enclosed in a very thin skin. On the maturing of the yolk this skin 
 breaks, letting it drop into the mouth of a funnel-shaped duct, in 
 length from fifteen to twenty inches, consisting of three divisions, 
 the terminus of each being an elbow. The inner side of this canal 
 is very soft and pliable, being composed of folds lapping partially 
 over each other, the last division being very much finer in texture 
 than the others. While passing through the first division, the 
 length of which is five inches, the yolk makes three distinct revolu- 
 tions and the white is put on in the same number of layers. In the 
 second, the same length as the first, the yolk, with the white around 
 it, gets its shape from the rotary motion of its course ; and also the 
 membrane which encloses it ; while in the third division the shell is 
 received, which is a thin fluid, in color to suit the breed. At the 
 turning of this division the duct is globe shaped, and here the egg- 
 turns and comes out big end or head fh-st. The egg is fertilized by 
 the influence of the male bird, which passes through a small duct 
 along the spine of the cluster of small ova. The yolk is suspended 
 in the center by two spiral cords, one end being attached to each 
 end of the yolk, the other end, passing through the white, being 
 fastened to the membrane lining the shell. These cords are laid 
 
6 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 "right and left handed," thus holding it with the heavy side down, 
 no matter in what position the egg may be held or placed. The 
 chick is formed entirely from the white, and here we see the use of 
 the three revolutions, in the first division. The first layer forms the 
 bone and sinew, the second the flesh, the third the skin and 
 feathers. The first part formed is the eyes, appearing as two black 
 specks, one on each side of the suspending cord at the large end, 
 next the skull bone between, and in order the neck, spine, legs and 
 wings. At nine days there is a complete circulation and life, and at 
 fourteen days the white is all taken up. The cords have now made 
 a connection in the stomach and protrude from the naval in a num- 
 ber of blood vessels and enclose the yolk in a network of smaller 
 ones, and through these the chick draws its nourishment from the 
 yolk, transformed to its original substance, blood. After the shell is 
 cracked, and the chick has gained strength, these two large blood 
 vessels draw into the belly what remains of the yolk, the naval is 
 closed, the course is all clear, and having cracked the shell all 
 round, the little creature gets its head against one end and its tiny 
 feet against the other, the parts separate, and out rolls the chick. 
 
 The subject may be further discussed with interest. According 
 to the views of experienced investigators, the productive powers of 
 a hen depend upon her constitutional capability and the feeding. 
 The statement that a hen has a certain number of germs of ovules 
 in the ovary at birth, and that these mature during certain periods 
 of her life, is simply bosh. It is a baseless, imaginary supposition, 
 and quite inconsistent with what is known as the laws of animal 
 growth. If these 600 ovules exist, at what time were they formed? 
 They must have existed in the young chicks, and if so, they must 
 have been in embryo in the eggs. This is not possible. It might 
 as well be said that every fat globule in the milk of a cow has been 
 numbered and provided for at the birth of the calf, because these 
 globules are produced by cell growth in precisely the same manner as 
 the ovules in the ovary of a hen. It was once said, years ago, that the 
 whole of a tree existed in embryo in the seed — the roots, stern, branches 
 and leaf. This is a parallel misstatement to that in regard to the hen. 
 The absurdity is apparent to anyone who thinks about it, and one is 
 as absurd as the other. The fact is the hen at birth has no apparent 
 ovules, nor is the ovary fully formed. This grows and matures as 
 the chick grows and increases in age and size, from the ordinary cell 
 growth, by which the bone, muscle and other parts of the fowl are 
 produced from the blood, which is made from the food. The food 
 is eaten and digested and changed into blood; the blood forms the 
 matter from which the cellular tissue of the animal is built up. If 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 7 
 
 the food, is not sufficient for all the wants of the animal, its life is 
 first sustained, then its sustenance is added to, but its reproductive 
 functions are not completed or set in action. For this full purpose 
 of a living creature, whether plant or animal, full and sufficient 
 nutriment must be provided. A hen will not lay eggs unless fully 
 fed, simply because the ovules in this ovary cannot be formed with- 
 out the necessary substances, which must come from the blood. 
 And these ovules are formed by an abundant growth of tissues in 
 proportion to the supply of food. The better a hen is fed, and the 
 more judicious care bestowed upon her, the more eggs she will pro- 
 duce. As some hens have been known to lay over 2,000 eggs in the 
 course of a long life, it is very clear that a large number of ovules 
 must have been produced somehow, although she was provided with 
 600 at her birth. The whole statement is one of those foolish "facts" 
 of "popular" science of which so many are turned out of the science 
 mills. Common sense is very much needed in the investigation of 
 every subject; and it is a great pleasure to observe that truth is 
 being elicited from day to day, and ignorance and superstition are 
 gradually passing away; yet, despite the claims of those who take the 
 above view, others maintain that the hen has in her ovaries, in round 
 numbers, more than 600 egg germs, which develop gradually and 
 are successfully laid. Of these 600 the hen will lay twenty in the 
 first year, 135 in the second year, and 114 in the third. In each one 
 of the following four years the number of eggs diminishes by 
 twenty, and in the ninth year she will lay at most ten eggs. In or- 
 der to obtain from them sufficient product to cover the expense of 
 alimentation, they should not be allowed to live over four years. 
 
 The Demand For Chicks. 
 
 Before going further we will state that the fear on the part of 
 some is that the market for poultry and young chicks may be over- 
 stocked, and that prices for chicks, fowls and eggs may become so 
 low in price as to be unprofitable. Such has been the claim for fifty 
 years. When the railroads began to branch out in every direction 
 and open new avenues to market, it was thought that everything 
 would fall in price, and provisions be much cheaper. Turkeys were 
 then driven to market on foot, and so were hogs and sheep. Eggs 
 could be bought for six cents a dozen in some places, and even in 
 winter fifteen cents was considered a high price. At the present day 
 there is no section of our country that is without railroad facilities, 
 and yet we are not overstocked. Overstocking the market is not an 
 easy matter. It requires organized effort to do so, and with all the 
 
8 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 schemes and plans that may be made for so doing, the market only 
 remains in sneh condition for a day or two. If all the farmers 
 around Chicago should combine, and each keep 1,000 hens, with 
 incubators to assist in hatching the chicks, the Chicago market 
 coidd not be overstocked a week. Let it be remembered, too, that 
 Chicago is but one of the number of markets that are open to the 
 sale of poultry and eggs, to say nothing of the increased demand 
 which is always occasioned by an unlimited supply. 
 
 The poultry market cannot be overstocked. The greater the 
 number of eggs sent to market the larger the number of purchasers. 
 In proportion to cost, eggs are higher, as a usual thing, in price 
 than any other production of the farm. Despite the increase in 
 numbers of those who are engaging in the poultry business, the 
 supply falls short of the demand, and the greater the attempt to fill 
 the demand the wider the difference between supply and demand, 
 as may be proved by the fact that, although there is now more 
 poultry and eggs produced than in former periods, we are compelled 
 to import eggs from Europe in order to satisfy those who are willing 
 to purchase. There is no such thing as overproduction. True, there 
 may be times when large quantities may be shipped and remain in 
 market for a short time, being slow in selling, and depressing the 
 price somewhat, but the market not only reverts to its normal con- 
 dition, but the excess sent forward causes a corresponding reaction, 
 which not only enhances prices but elevates the apparently over- 
 stocked market to one demanding a greater supply. Production 
 creates demand. The natural law which prevents an oversupply 
 except at the expense of an undersupply in another direction 
 ordains that the extra demand for a certain article lessens the 
 demand for another, and consequently the purchasers who may be 
 added to those preferring poultry are taken from those who formerly 
 were purchasers of substitutes, which rule governs the production 
 and sale of commodities all over the world, and in thus admitting 
 that there may be overproduction of some articles there will be no 
 overproduction of all, and at no period can necessary articles of food 
 be scut to market in excess without at some future time finding 
 common level. As a scarcity arises it attracts attention and thus 
 enables us to maintain an equilibrium on all productions, but too 
 much cannot In 1 produced. 
 
 Then, again, if too much can be produced, which may be 
 admitted Tor comparison, there is never, nor can be, an excess in 
 quality. < tood poultry will sell, even if every storehouse and market 
 stall he piled up with carcasses. Buyers not only demand a supply, 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 9 
 
 but they are willing to pay well for the best. If poultry is to be 
 made a business, therefore, it is apparent that a small investment 
 for a sitting of eggs from a good strain of pure-breds is but a drop 
 in the ocean as compared with the profits to be derived from the 
 increased price which poultry of good quality always brings. 
 
 The Foundation of Success. 
 
 The foundation of success in hatching young chicks, either 
 under hens or in incubators, is vigorous, healthy parents. Many 
 parties collect eggs from anywhere and everywhere, whether the 
 season be cold or warm, and attach the same value to all, provided 
 the eggs are fresh. That is a point few overlook — the freshness of 
 the eggs — but while it is essential that the eggs be fresh, yet it is 
 still more important that they be procured from stock of good 
 quality and full of vigor. 
 
 Eggs from fowls confined in yards, no matter how well provided 
 for the hens may be, will not hatch as well as those from hens that 
 are in the full enjoyment of libeiiy and with unrestricted range, nor 
 will eggs from very fat hens give as good results as those from hens 
 in moderate condition. The eggs from pullets do not hatch as well 
 as do those from hens, and the eggs from hens mated with large, 
 coarse, clumsy cocks are not always as satisfactory as those from 
 flocks headed by an active, light and attentive cock. Eggs that 
 have been exposed to severe cold are sometimes useless, while those 
 from hens afflicted with even the slightest ailment may at times 
 disappoint the poultrymen. 
 
 Everyone who desires to raise chicks for market, if he expects to 
 buy eggs, should personally attend -to the improvement of his 
 neighbor's flock. The plan adopted by the writer of this proved a 
 successful one, and may be put in practice anywhere. Desiring to 
 raise broilers for market, using incubators for that purpose, the 
 principal difficulty was not only to get good eggs but to procure 
 them from suitable stock. Having a flock of two hundred fine, well 
 bred Plymouth Rocks, of which a large proportion were fully 
 developed, vigorous cockerels, those suitable for the show room 
 w r ere sold at fair prices. The remainder, though equally as good as 
 those sold, were deficient in a few insignificant points, such as a 
 twist in the comb, or a black or white feather on an undesirable 
 portion of the body, which defects, while debarring them from com- 
 petition for prizes, in no matter detracted from their merits as 
 suitable cockerels for crossing on common hens.- Noticing that our 
 neighbors, though willing to use pure-bred stock, were not partial 
 
10 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 to paying a fair price for cockerels, we quietly went among them 
 and offered to trade Plymouth Kock cockerels for scrub cocks. Our 
 offers were always accepted, and our neighbors intimated that they 
 would be happy at some time to show their appreciation of such 
 neighborly kindness on our part. We replied that we asked no 
 compensation except that when they had eggs to spare they would 
 allow us the first opportunity of purchasing them, as we were 
 willing to pay as high a price for them as could be procured else- 
 where. They did not see any imposition in our modest request, and 
 agreed to oblige us. Thus, we displaced their scrub cocks, Avhich 
 we sent to market, and were able to procure eggs that Avoidd hatch 
 chicks one-half Plymouth Eock, to say nothing of the fact that we 
 received flattering compliments for our liberality in exchanging 
 pure-breds for scrubs, while it is apparent to the reader that our 
 real motive was a selfish one. However, as Ave conferred benefit on 
 our neighbors, also, no doubt our selfishness was tempered with a 
 trace of justice. The incident is mentioned here as a case showing 
 that one can "love his neighbor as himself" in a manner conducive 
 to both morality and profit, and is certainly applicable to our readers 
 who desire to procure eggs from the best stock. It will pay to buy 
 eggs of pure breeds and give the cockerels to your neighbors every 
 season. 
 
 Feeding Chicks. 
 
 In our former two books in this series, "Poultry for Profit" 
 (No. 1) and "Incubators and Brooders" (No. 2), we gave full direc- 
 tions for the management of sitting hens and incubators, as well as 
 much that may be useful to many in regard to the management of 
 young chicks, and hence we are somewhat restricted in order to 
 avoid inflicting the reader with repetitions. 
 
 It is well, however, to lay down a course of feeding for the 
 chicks from the time they emerge from the shells to the time when 
 they are sent to market. Before doing so let us notice the fact that 
 all kinds of food have their special functions. Some are fat-pro- 
 ducing, and do not supply sufficient phosphates and lime for the 
 bones. Others are deficient in nitrogen, and do not furnish nutri- 
 tion for the muscles, feathers and internal structure. Hence, a 
 young chick may starve in the midst of plenty simply because it is 
 deprived of some particular element which the system demands. 
 Whenever this occurs, disease of the bowels is the result, and for the 
 first four weeks the chicks must be fed early, late, and often, and on 
 a variety of food. When Ave state that they must be fed early no 
 doubt some may object, but if chicks are to be made to pay, our 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG- CHICKS. 11 
 
 readers must be as willing to jump out of their beds on a cold morn- 
 ing, for the purpose of feeding them, as to get up at an early hour 
 in o:der to attend to the horses, cows, or other stock. It is business, 
 and demands attention. Another reason for feeding them early is 
 that there is a long period of time between supper and breakfast 
 during the winter months, and the more we shorten that interval 
 the better for the health of the chicks, and the faster they will grow. 
 Hence, in our bill of fare we fix the times, assuring our readers that 
 it is just as important to observe regularity in feeding as in the 
 manner in which it is done. 
 
 Preparation of Food. 
 
 Before stating how to feed we advise our readers to keep on 
 hand, always ready for use, a few of the following preparations, 
 which can be made cheaply, especially if one of Wilson's bone mills 
 is used, the price of which is only $5. 
 
 Preparation No. 1. — One pound wheat, one pound corn, one 
 pound oats, one pound buckwheat. Parch the whole until very 
 brown, and then grind the mixture to a fine powder. Now add to it 
 half a pound of finely ground bone, half a pound ground charcoal, 
 half a pound chalk, and two tablespoonfuls of common salt. 
 
 Preparation No. 2. — One pound fine bone meal, one pound 
 chalk, one pound ground meat, and one ounce each of salt, sulphur 
 and finely ground carbonate of iron. 
 
 Preparation No. 3. — Mix five pounds clean oats, five pounds 
 wheat, three pounds corn, and two pounds buckwheat. Grind the 
 whole together. 
 
 Preparation No. 4. — Mix ten pounds clean oats, five pounds 
 corn, five pounds wheat, three pounds buckwheat, and one pound 
 charcoal. Grind the mixture fine, and add one pound chalk, one 
 pound bone meal, a quarter pound of salt, and five pounds coarse 
 bran. 
 
 Preparation No. 5.— One pound oatmeal, one pound rice, one 
 pound corn meal ; the mixture to be well cooked until thoroughly 
 done. Then add one quart of milk, and let it boil down till quite 
 thick, so that when cold it may be crumbled into pieces. If it burns, 
 scorches, or dries too much, no harm will be done. 
 
 Preparation No. 6.— One pound bran, one pound shipstuff, one 
 pound buckwheat meal, one pound oat meal, one pound corn meal, 
 one pound crude tallow, one quart milk, one ounce salt. Cook 
 well to a stiff mass. 
 
 Preparation No. 7.— Three eggs (well beaten), one quart milk, 
 
12 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 and one tablespoonful of salt. When it conies to a boil, thicken to a 
 thick mass with oat meal and corn meal mixed. 
 
 Preparation No. 8.— Cook enough rice in a pint of milk to make 
 a paste. Then add one egg (well beaten), a teaspoonful of tincture 
 of iron, and while boiling add enough of Preparation No. 1 to 
 thicken it to a crumbly mass when cold. 
 
 Preparation No. 9. — One ounce tincture of iron, one ounce pare- 
 goric, and one ounce tincture of camphor. 
 
 Preparation No. 10. — One ounce tincture of iron, one ounce 
 tincture of camphor, one ounce tincture of cayenne pepper, and one 
 ounce paregoric. 
 
 Preparation No. 11. — Oue pound fenugreek, one ounce ginger, 
 one ounce sulphur, one ounce carbonate of iron, and one ounce 
 chalk. 
 
 Preparation No. 12. — Equal parts of castor oil and glycerine. 
 
 The above preparations have their special purposes, which will 
 be explained as we proceed, and it may be stated that the poultry- 
 man should also lay in a supply of such articles as may be required 
 for ixse from time to time in the shape of medicines, stimulants, etc. 
 
 Ground bone meal for chicks may be procured of any seedsman, 
 especially from those in the large cities. Ground meat is the refuse 
 of soap-boiling factories, from which the fat has been extracted, and 
 the meat ground to a fine condition. 
 
 Bill of Fare. 
 
 The chick comes from the egg full, nature having made prepara- 
 tion for its nourishment for at least twenty-four hours, by allowing 
 it to absorb the contents of the yolk just previous to emerging from 
 the shell. Consequently the chicks should not be fed for twenty- 
 four hours, and thirty-six hours will be no inconvenience. 
 
 SECOND DAY. 
 
 Begin feeding as early as possible. Five o'clock is an excellent 
 time to fix upon, but if at four o'clock so much the better. Some 
 poultrymen get up early and feed by the light of a lamp. 
 
 The second day, however, is not so urgent, and feeding need 
 not begin until eight o'clock. Give hard boiled eggs, white and 
 yolks mixed, finely crumbled. Place the shells in a stove, let them 
 dry, ami then crumble and give them also. At noon give the same 
 Food, but place a little milk where they can reach it for drinking. 
 No wntcr will be necessary. At four o'clock do the same, and also 
 at eighl o'clock. Be sure ami keep a plentiful supply of gravel on 
 the floor for them, which should be very fine and mixed with sand. 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 13 
 
 THIKD DAY. 
 
 Be careful to keep the floor clean by cleaning it off every night 
 and morning, for such is indispensable to health, and never omit the 
 sand and gravel. At five o'clock give hard boiled eggs as before, 
 with the milk for drink. At eight o'clock give stale wheat bread 
 crumbs. At twelve o'clock give corn bread crumbs, at four o'clock 
 give wheat bread crumbs soaked in milk, and at eight o'clock give 
 hard boiled eggs as before. Here it will be noticed that we are 
 beginning to omit the eggs, which will cause disease of the bowels 
 if persisted in. Let the food be cooked except the milk, which 
 should remain convenient, all the time, in little vessels that permit 
 the chicks to drink without Avalking in it or in any manner 
 getting themselves wet. 
 
 FOURTH DAT. 
 
 At five o'clock give No. 6. At eight o'clock give mashed potatoes. 
 At noon give No. 1 (scalded). At four o'clock give No. 8. At eight 
 o'clock give No. 3 (scalded). 
 
 FIFTH DAT. 
 
 At five o'clock give No. 5. At eight o'clock give No. 4. At noon 
 give No. 6. At four o'clock give No. 7, and at eight o'clock give No. 8. 
 
 SIXTH DAT. 
 
 At five o'clock give No. 4 (scalded but cooked is better always) 
 to which may be added a little chopped onion. At eight o'clock 
 give No. 5, with a little chopped cabbage added. At noon give No. 
 1. At four o'clock give nothing but a little chopped meat. At eight 
 o'clock give No. 1. Be careful to scald the dry food with boiling 
 water, or cook it a little every time it is fed. 
 
 SEVENTH DAT. 
 
 At five o'clock give No 5. At eight o'clock give coarse oat meal 
 or screenings. At noon give No. 1. At fo„ur o'clock give a little 
 chopped meat. At eight o'clock give No. 7, mixing with it some 
 finely chopped onion. 
 
 EIGHTH DAT. 
 
 The chicks will now begin on their second week, and the eight 
 o'clock morning meal, and four o'clock afternoon meal, may consist 
 of coarse oat meal, sorghum seed, screenings, or any kind of small 
 grain or seeds, using whole wheat as soon as the chicks are old 
 enough to swallow such. Once a week cracked corn may be used, 
 and with every meal of soft food give chopped cabbage and onion. 
 At five o'clock give mashed potatoes, thickened with No. 1. At eight 
 o'clock, small grain, as mentioned above. At noon give No. 4. At 
 four o'clock, grain, as mentioned, and at eight o'clock give No. 6. 
 
14 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 NINTH DAY. 
 
 Be careful to add the cabbage and onion to each meal. At five 
 o'clock give No. 8. At noon No. 3. At night No. 7. 
 
 TENTH DAY. 
 
 At five o'clock give No. 1. At noon give No. 4, and at night give 
 No. 5. 
 
 ELEVENTH DAY. 
 
 At five o'clock give No. 6. At noon No. 8, and at night give No. 4. 
 
 TWELFTH DAY. 
 
 At five o'clock give No. 8. At noon give No. 4. At four o'clock 
 give a little chopped meat, and at night give No. 6. 
 
 THIRTEENTH DAY. 
 
 At five o'clock give No. 3. At noon give No. 8, and at night give 
 
 No. 7. 
 
 FOURTEENTH DAY. 
 
 At five o'clock give No. 1. At noon give No. 5, and at night 
 No. 6. 
 
 We have given a bill of fare for the first fourteen days, and have 
 varied it some, though endeavoring to make it as nourishing as 
 possible. Our object in thus varying it is to avoid disease of the 
 bowels, and also to supply the system with all the elements that 
 may be required. We suggest cooking the food for the reason that 
 raw meal of any kind is injurious. It may seem troublesome to 
 resort to so many preparations, but we simply suggest them, though 
 the ingredients only need be kept, so that they can be mixed as 
 required. Where hundreds of chicks are raised, however, it will be 
 found convenient to have the articles ready prepared. 
 
 In suggesting green food we do not confine ourselves to cabbage 
 and onions. Good tender grass, when it can be procured, cut into 
 half inch lengths, is excellent, and in winter good clover hay, cut in 
 the same manner, mixed and scalded with the soft food, will be 
 excellent. Turnip tops, kale, early rye, lettuce, or any green food, 
 will answer. A beet, turnip, or carrot, chopped fine, and fed raw, 
 is relished at times. It is the variety that keeps the chicks in health. 
 The grain may be changed as frequently as possible. Sorghum or 
 broom corn seed may be substituted for screenings at periods, and 
 also pop corn. Cracked corn should be given twice a week. Whole 
 wheat and buckwheat may be given as soon as they can eat such. 
 Instead of giving a bill of fare for days we will suggest one for weeks, 
 and mention that milk, though excellent, may be omitted as drink 
 whenfed in the soft food, if preferred. Although we did not so state 
 above, yet the eight o'clock, morning, and four o'clock afternoon 
 meals should be of grain. 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 15 
 
 THIKD WEEK. 
 
 Give No. 8 in the morning, to which should be added green 
 food. At eight o'clock give grain. At noon give a tablespoonful of 
 No. 2, with mashed potatoes, for twenty chicks. At four o'clock give 
 grain. At night give No. 6. 
 
 The above is for the first day. The second day give No. 4 in the 
 morning, with green food. At eight o'clock grain. At noon give 
 mashed turnips (or potatoes) thickened with No. 1. At four o'clock 
 grain, and at night give No. 7. 
 
 Alternate the two methods, using one the first day and one the 
 second, and continuing until the end of the week, when the chicks 
 will then be three weeks old. 
 
 FOURTH WEEK. 
 
 Give No. 8 every morning. At eight o'clock grain. At noon 
 give mashed potatoes or turnips thickened with No. 3, Avith a table- 
 spoonful of No. 2 to twenty chicks. At four o'clock give grain, and 
 at night give No. 6. Always add green food to the noon meal, but 
 omit it in the others. At night add a teaspoonful of ground meat 
 for every ten chicks to No. 6. Three times a week a small piece of 
 beef, or liver, may be chopped fine and boiled with the mashed 
 potatoes. 
 
 FIFTH WEEK. 
 
 Give the same except to substitute No. 5 for No. 8. At noon use 
 No. 1 and No. 3 mixed. No. 2 may be also used with No. 5. This 
 diet may be continued until the chicks go to market. 
 
 Hints During Feeding. 
 
 Never feed on the ground, but always on a clean surface, which 
 will prevent gapes and other diseases. Little troughs are best, 
 which should be shallow, and low enough for the chicks to eat with- 
 out difficulty. Be careful to clean out the troughs as soon as the 
 chicks have finished their meal, as any excess of food left over will 
 ferment quickly and generate disease. 
 
 No fixed quantity can be estimated as to how much a chick will 
 eat. A healthy chick will eat more than a sickly one. The proper 
 course to pursue is to give them as much as they will eat up clean at 
 a meal, care being taken to remove the surplus, except the grain, 
 which they should scratch for. 
 
 In winter but little water will be required, but it should be pro- 
 vided plentifully in summer. It should never be allowed to freeze, 
 nor should the chicks tread in it, or soil it in any manner. The 
 vessels should be so constructed as to allow them to drink at a small 
 aperture only. 
 
16 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 When the chicks are raised in brooders they may be called to 
 their feed by giving a few raps or taps on the bottom of the brooder. 
 They will understand the call before they are two days old. 
 
 Pnt ten drops of tincture of iron in every pint of the drinking 
 water as a tonic, and change the water morning and noon. 
 
 Should the chicks show signs of costiveness of the bowels, by 
 the vents clogging up, Avash the parts in warm water, and anoint 
 with No. 12. Give the sick chick three drops of No. 10, and if it does 
 not improve give one-quarter of a teaspoonful of No. 12. The sick 
 chicks should be separated from those that are healthy. 
 
 In cases of looseness of the bowels, with scalding of the rear 
 parts, wash the parts with warm water and anoint with No. 12. 
 Then give one-quarter of a teaspoonful of No. 12 with three drops of 
 No. 9, and add a pinch of No. 11 with the soft food, three times a 
 day until the chick is well. 
 
 'Should the whole brood show signs of diarrhoea feed on No. 8 
 in preference to other preparations, and if the chicks do not 
 improve Avithin twenty-four hours give No. 1 in the morning, No. 
 5 at noon, and No. 8 at night, but when thus dieting leave out the 
 green food, and add a teaspoonful of No. 11 for twenty chicks. 
 Should no improvement take place add also a teaspoonful (to the 
 night meal only) of No. 10. 
 
 Should constipation attack the brood, feed three times a day on 
 a mixture of mashed potatoes and turnips, to which finely chopped 
 onion is added, and thickened with No. 1. 
 
 Many of the bowel diseases arise from colds. If a chick once 
 becomes chilled it never recovers from the shock, and the effects of 
 cold are charged to the feed, when in fact it is due to the chick 
 becoming exposed at some time or other. 
 
 About 90 degrees is the proper temperature for a brooder, and 
 the heat should never get over 100 nor below 70. 
 
 A few chicks together will thrive and grow faster than when 
 crowded. One-half the failures are due to crowding. In a majority 
 of cases the chicks trample the excess of number to death until the 
 minimum is reached, and the poultryman should save them the 
 trouble, and himself loss, by reducing the number together to the 
 lowest possible number in the first place. 
 
 Should you at any time find a dead chick in the brooder when 
 visiting the chicks in the morning it is an excellent indication that 
 the chicks are overcrowded. 
 
 A brooder may not be overcrowded the first week and yet be 
 
 overcrowded the second week, as growth accomplishes that which 
 numbers fail to do. 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 17 
 
 Not over fifty chicks should be placed in a brooder, and they 
 should be gradually thinned out as they grow until finally fifteen 
 chicks of fair size are allowed to remain. 
 
 In feeding if you notice a struggle on the part of some to reach 
 the feed provide more troughs. The accommodations should be 
 ample. A few small troughs, placed at different parts of the brooder, 
 are better than one long trough. 
 
 Dampness is fatal to chicks, even when very slight. Conse- 
 quently the surroundings of the drinking vessels should be dry, as 
 well as the floor. 
 
 Always keep sand and fine gravel sprinkled over the floor, as 
 well as a little ground bone and oyster shells. 
 
 Cold boiled rice is one of the best of foods for bowel disease. 
 
 A little tallow added to the soft food is excellent for chicks if 
 given two or three times a week. 
 
 Chicks raised in the house entirely, provided everything is kept 
 clean and pure, will thrive better than those that run out, especially 
 if supplied with a variety of food. 
 
 Top heat in brooders is better than bottom heat, as bottom 
 heat conduces to leg weakness, but the chicks Avill crowd with top 
 heat unless it be supplied to every part of the brooder. The floor, 
 however, may be kept slightly warm. 
 
 The best way to feed grain or seeds is to have a box, about one 
 or two inches deep, filled with dry earth, over which the grain 
 should be scattered so that the chicks may scratch for it. Chaff, 
 sawdust and finely cut straw are also excellent. As long as the 
 chicks scratch it is good evidence of thrift. Always endeavor to 
 make them work if possible. 
 
 Finely cut straw makes an excellent bedding at night, and the 
 same may be said of dry dirt. 
 
 Never let a chick go too far from the brooders on cold or damp 
 days, as they are liable to become chilled and perish before they can 
 return. 
 
 If the soft food (as the different preparations here given are 
 styled) be mixed aud cooked into cakes, the same as bread, it will 
 be more wholesome than when fed in a soft condition, but No. 8 
 may be fed with advantage in a somewhat softer condition (using 
 milk) as a change of diet, whenever preferred ; cr the soft food con- 
 sisting of potatoes will answer. 
 
 A mess of boiled beans, thickened with No. 1, with a tablespoon - 
 ful of No. 2, for twenty chicks, given three times a week will be 
 found excellent. 
 
18 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 Other Methods of Feeding. 
 
 Some divide the day into four parts after the first week, and 
 three parts after the fourth week, hut in order to have the chicks 
 groAV rapidly they should he fed at least four times a day. 
 
 The first day they may he allowed to fast, while the hard boiled 
 eggs may he given the second day. The third day the first meal, at 
 five o'clock, should he hard boiled eggs. The second meal, at ten 
 o'clock, should consist of well cooked rice and oat meal, thickened 
 with enough corn meal to make a stiff dough, the corn meal being 
 added while the mass is boiling. The third meal, at three o'clock, 
 should be shipstuff bread, which is prepared by mixing shipstuff 
 (seconds flour) Avith milk, adding salt to taste, and allowing it to 
 cook as bread, crumbling it into fine pieces when cold, and if stale 
 so much the better. The fourth meal, at eight o'clock, .may consist 
 of the same as that for the third meal, giving milk as drink. 
 
 The above diet should continue for the first week. Begin 
 the second week by feeding, as the first meal, the following mixture: 
 Equal parts of corn meal, shipstuff, bran, buckwheat, rice and oat 
 meal. Let the mixture boil until Avell done and dry, then add one 
 egg, beaten in enough milk to stir well, and again boil until quite 
 thick, and let it cool. 
 
 After the second week a regular routine may be kept up. Mix 
 an egg with a pint of milk. While boiling add oat meal, corn meal 
 and shipstuff until it becomes quite thick, and feed for the first 
 meal. Give nothing but grain for the second meal. The third meal 
 should be of a variety, and is prepared by boiling a piece of beef 
 (liver, lights, or any refuse portion will answer) until well done and 
 in fine condition. While it is boiling add potatoes, turnips, finely 
 chopped grass, clover, or anything that may serve the purpose. 
 When well done thicken with a mixture of equal parts of buckwheat 
 meal, oat meal, corn meal, bran, rice flour, and shipstuff. Before 
 feeding add a little salt and red pepper, with a teaspoonful of bone 
 meal to t wenty chicks. The last meal may consist of bread made by 
 cooking corn meal, bran and shipstuff together. 
 
 Such a diet will answer till the chicks go to market. It is not 
 advisable to give more than one soft mess a day. If preferred a 
 good and cheap bread may be made, which will answer well, pro- 
 vided the potatoes and green food be given regularly. The follow- 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. ID 
 
 ing method of making bread gives a complete food, and will keep 
 for several days. Mix equal parts of bran, shipstnff, oat meal, corn 
 meal, buckwheat meal, and half as much bone meal, intimately 
 together. Place in a pot a quart of beans and a quart of rice, with 
 enough water to cook it well. Add a quart of milk, two tablespoon- 
 fuls of salt, a teaspoonful of red pepper, and a teaspoonful of tinc- 
 ture of iron. When the rice and beans are thoroughly cooked add a 
 pound of crude tallow, and slowly thicken with the grain mixture 
 until thick enough to easily crumble when cold. When adding the 
 grain throw in a little fine charcoal or parched bran. It will be 1 »es1 
 to make the mixture into cakes and bake in an oven. It can be 
 improved if a piece of beef or a little fresh bullock's blood be added 
 to the beans and rice while cooking. 
 
 The bread, being well cooked, can be easily digested, and will 
 supply all the requisites of bodily growth. Three times a week a 
 few pinches of sulphur may be given at any one of the meals to a 
 brood. The bread may also be crumbled and soaked in milk as a 
 morning food, and will answer for every meal if the potatoes and 
 green food are given once a day. 
 
 As variety, however, is best, it will be found of great advantage 
 to cook rice and milk together and let it become cold. Then 
 crumble it up and the chicks will relish it very much, especially if 
 an egg is first beaten into the milk and a little tallow or suet be 
 added while cooking. 
 
 Buckwheat and oat meal are expensive, but it is not necessary to 
 use them singly, but they may be included in the b ulk of cheaper 
 kinds. Beans and rice are also expensive, but when boiled and the 
 soup thickened with meal they make a large quantity of nutritious 
 and cheap food. One of the prime essentials is that of feeding 
 chopped onion and cabbage raw. An onion, finely chopped, will 
 answer for quite a large number of chicks, and after the second 
 week a proportion of meat, cooked, should be given at least three 
 times a week. 
 
 French poultry keepers, according to Boswell, generally cook 
 the grain intended for fowls they wish to fatten. They boil it till 
 the farina swells and softens, so as to burst the enveloping mem- 
 brane. It is the general opinion that burst grain is better than dry 
 for fattening poultry, and, whether this is founded upon accurate 
 experiment or not, it is of importance to ascertain the difference of 
 expense between the tAvo, and whether more or less is eaten of the 
 one than of the other. To discover this M. Keauniur caused four 
 pint-measures of each of the six common sorts of grain to be boiled 
 
20 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 till they were well burst, and lie found the increase of bulk in each 
 
 sort was the following: 
 
 Pint Measukes. 
 
 Four pint-measures of oats, after being boiled to bursting, filled 7 
 
 Four pint-measures of barley, after being boiled to bursting, rilled 10 
 
 Four pint-measures of buckwheat, after being boiled to bursting, filled 14 
 Four pint-measures of maize, after being boiled to bursting, filled 
 
 above • 15 
 
 Four pint-measures of wheat, after being boiled to bursting, filled a 
 
 little more than 10 
 
 Four pint-measures of rye, alter being boiled to bursting, filled nearly 15 
 
 Rice swells considerably more by boiling than any of these six 
 sorts, but it is seldom given to poultry, except for fattening, under 
 the notion that it tends to whiten the flesh. 
 
 To ascertain whether the boiling altered the liking of fowls for 
 any of the particular sorts, experiments, varied in every possible 
 way, similar to those already detailed, were made by M. Reaumur. 
 The fowls were furnished Avith two, three, four, five and six differ- 
 ent sorts; sometimes all the kinds were devoured alike, and at others 
 nothing but dry grain, and a third nothing but boiled. All that 
 could be collected from these experiments was that the greater 
 number of fowls prefer boiled grains to raw, though there are many 
 of them that show a preference to the dry grain on certain days, 
 and no permanency could be discovered in the preference shown 
 for any sort of burst grain. Some fowls, for example, which one day 
 preferred boiled wheat, would on other days make choice of buck- 
 wheat, or maize, or barley, and sometimes, though more seldom, 
 even of rye; but rye, either boiled or raw, is the least favorite sort 
 of grain. It follows, as an important conclusion from such experi- 
 ments, that we may make choice of the sort of grain which happens 
 to be cheapest, without much, if any, disadvantage; always except- 
 ing rye, when other sorts are to be had on reasonable terms. 
 
 Other experiments were required to show whether there is any 
 economy, or the contrary, in feeding poultry with boiled grain, and 
 this was readily ascertained from knowing first, how much dry grain 
 sufficed for one or more fowls, and then boiling the same quantity 
 and trying how much of that would in like manner be sufficient. 
 The experiments made with the different sorts of grain were as 
 follows: 
 
 Rye, although so very considerably increased in bulk by boiling, 
 instead of being more filling, becomes less so, and more of it is eaten 
 when boiled than when raw. Oats, although increased in bulk 
 nearly one-half by boiling, are not on this account rendered more 
 si i Hieing for the fowls, which in two days consume four pint- 
 measures of dry oats, in the same period eat seven pints of them 
 when boiled, so that there appears to be no economy in the addi- 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 21 
 
 tional trouble. Mowbray says that oats have a scouring tendency, 
 although they are recommended as promotive of laying, and in the 
 south of England are much used for fattening. Buckwheat swells 
 still more than oats, by boiling, but fowls will consume fourteen 
 pints boiled in the same space of time that four dry ones would be 
 sufficient. Mowbray pronounces it an unsubstantial food. Maize (or 
 corn) is said to be more profitable boiled than raw. When kept long 
 upon it they begin to dislike it, and it is perhaps on this account 
 that less of boiled maize is consumed. The saving is supposed to be 
 one- third or one -fifth. 
 
 Fowls which would have eaten two pints of dry barley a day 
 ate but three pint-measures of the boiled grain. Therefore, as ten 
 pint-measures of boiled barley are produced from four pints of dry, 
 three pints of the boiled are equivalent to no more than six-fifths of 
 a pint of the dry, consequently the experience in dry barley is to 
 that of boiled as ten-fifths to six-fifths, that is, as ten to six, or as 
 five to three, showing a saving of two-fifths by giving boiled instead 
 of dry barley. 
 
 We have found by experience that barley is more profitable and 
 effective when boiled than when raw. if given warm, but not hot, 
 we have known it to hasten, materially, the period of laying, and to 
 promote, in a high degree, the health and comfort of the hens. 
 
 Wheat, as shown in the preceding table, increases in bulk by 
 boiling, nearly the same as barley, and these interesting experi- 
 ments prove that the use of boiled maize, barley or wheat is a 
 matter of economy. The expense of fuel must be taken into account, 
 but in the routine of almost any domestic establishment this must 
 be comparatively trifling. It may not be unnecessary to repeat that 
 there is no profit, but only the loss of fuel, time and trouble, in 
 boiling oats, buckwheat and rye. 
 
 The Growth of Young Chicks. 
 
 The reader may no doubt consider that a large amotmt of work 
 is being laid off to be performed, but we can only reply that if you 
 suppose raising chicks for market requires no labor our advice is 
 not to invest any money in them. It is all work and attention, both 
 early and late, and the slightest neglect may change a prospective 
 
 profit to a total loss. We are asked how much is required for f 1. 
 
 and how much will a chick weigh at a certain age. We can assure 
 our readers that by systematic and judicious feeding we have had 
 them to weigh two pounds when they were eight weeks old, and we 
 have had the same breed of chicks to weigh only a pound and a 
 quarter at the same age, both broods being attentively cared, for, 
 
22 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHIUXS. 
 
 and fed well. It was the quality of the food that made the difference, 
 and not the quantity. A little extra meat and milk, with greater 
 variety, gave a difference, and yet the smaller chicks always had as 
 much as they could consume, but the food was inferior to that 
 allowed the larger ones. Our economy resulted in a loss from the 
 smaller chicks but a profit from the larger ones. 
 
 We cannot refrain from mentioning an experiment made for the 
 purpose of carefully noting the growth of chicks to a certain age, 
 and which was made known in the Farm and Garden, with which we 
 have for years been connected. The chicks were carefully weighed 
 at the end of each week, and the result was as follows: 
 
 The egg weighs 2 ounces. 
 
 Chick newly hatched weighs. li 
 
 " 1 Aveek old " 2 
 
 " 2 weeks old " 4 
 
 " 3 " " " 6| " 
 
 4 " " " 10 
 
 5 " " " 14 
 
 6 " " " 18^ 
 
 " 7 << " " 23i " 
 
 8 " " " . 28" 
 
 9 " " " 32 
 
 " 10 " " " 36 " 
 
 " 11 " " " 41 
 
 The chicks experimented with were Plymouth Kocks, though 
 considerably mixed Avith other bloods. They were fed mostly on a 
 mixture of bran, oat meal and corn meal, moistened Avith milk or 
 water, and baked, sometimes merely cooked Avith boiling water. 
 Whole Avheat and skim milk cheese served as a variety during the 
 first four Aveeks, and the cake Avas sometimes made richer by the 
 addition of a little animal meal (pulverized dried bone and meat). 
 Out of quite a large flock, not one chicken died from disease. They 
 were fed very regularly, three times a day, and all they would eat up 
 clean. A flock which increased tAA^o pounds in weight a day con- 
 sumed less than six pounds of corn meal, or its equivalent in other 
 food, in twenty-four hours; and what vegetable or animal matter 
 they could pick up, Avhich, in spite of unlimited range, did not 
 appear to be very much ; at least, they were always hungry when 
 they came to their meal. From the above, you will see that the 
 actual expense of making one pound of "spring chicken" Avas in this 
 case not more than four cents. The market price in cities during 
 July varied betAveen tAventy and twenty-eight cents. We might 
 have grown these chicks still faster by giving them a greater variety 
 of food, but did not attempt to force them. Or Ave might have grown 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 23 
 
 them slower, but with less expense, had we made them shift for 
 themselves. There were no grasshoppers. 
 
 Let us analyze the weights and notice the ratio of gain. The 
 first week the chick did not quite double in weight, but the second 
 week it doubled exactly. The third week, though not doubling 
 in weight, the gain was greater than during the second week, and it 
 is apparent that for some cause or other the ratio was not equal to 
 that before and after the third week, the gain being only 2£ ounces, 
 while during the fourth week the increase was 3g ounces. The fifth 
 week the gain was still greater, and the ratio is given below: 
 
 Chi k newly hatched 11 ounces. ' 
 
 " gained 1st week a « 
 
 2d " . '" 2 
 
 3d " " 21 
 
 4th " 3I 
 
 5th " ' '4 
 
 " " 6th " U « 
 
 7th " 5" 
 
 8th " 4i 
 
 9th " 5 " 
 
 " " 10th '•' 4 
 
 11th " 5 
 
 The greatest gain, considering the age, was made when the 
 chick had attained the age of seven weeks, the chick then weighing 
 23J ounces, or very close to li pounds. When nine weeks old the 
 weight was exactly two pounds (32 oz.). 
 
 Although the weights here given refer to that of a single chick, 
 the experiment was made with a small brood, and an average arrived 
 at. The term "chick" is used here simply for convenience, and we 
 call particular attention to the fact that the cost of making each 
 pound of "chicken" was four cents, but it may be further stated, by 
 way of repetition, that they Avere not forced, and could have been 
 made to weigh a little more, or by attempting to make three cents 
 grow a pound of "chicken" the growth would have been less. The 
 quality of the food is the secret of growth, and we have always 
 claimed and demonstrated that, from the time the chirk is hatched 
 until it is groAvn, the cost per pound of "chicken" at all ages is five 
 cents, as a maximum limit, but if the ftVe cents is not judiciously 
 expended it will not produce half a pound. 
 
 The Profits From Chicks. 
 
 The profit depends upon the season of the year in which the 
 chicks are hatched. About the loth of January is the beginning of 
 the broiler season, which ends about the first of June. • The prices 
 
24 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 are highest during March and April, and chicks that weigh half a 
 pound retail from 75 cents to $1. Then the chicks that weigh three- 
 quarters of a pound are preferred, which are followed by those 
 weighing a pound. A good rule for prices is the following: The 
 sum of seventy-five cents is the price to be expected from half a pound 
 to six months of age. This uniform price runs in this manner: A 
 half-pound chick sells at $1.50 per pound, or seventy-rive cents per 
 chick. A three-quarter pound chick sells at $1 per pound, or 
 seventy -five cents. A pound chick sells at seventy-five cents. A 
 one and one-half pound chick sells at fifty cents per pound, or 
 seventy-five cents, and so increases in weight and decreases in price 
 until the chick weighs six pounds, and sells at twelve and one-half 
 cents a pound, or seventy-five cents. Of course, the prices sometimes 
 vary, but we can safely assert that if half-pound broilers reach the 
 marls et in March, and the chicks brought in continually until the 
 season for "spring chicken" is over, there Avill be no difficulty about 
 prices. The figures given are retail prices for one dozen chicks. 
 
 Observe that in the experiments given the chick weighed ten 
 ounces when four weeks old. Let us leave off two ounces for a 
 margin and consider eight ounces for four weeks of age. The cost 
 will be just two cents for food. Now let us suppose that instead of 
 selling the chick for seventy-five cents we leave a great margin 
 in prices, and call it twenty -five cents. We will then have twenty- 
 three cents clear profit from an expense of two cents for food. In 
 the experiments, however, the chicks gained a quarter of a pound 
 the next week, and, while weighing ten ounces at four weeks of age, 
 reached fourteen ounces when five weeks old, having gained a 
 quarter of a pound the fifth week, and as the ratio was more than a 
 quarter of a pound each Aveek thereafter (often reaching five ounces), 
 we may safely claim that up to the age of three pounds a chick will 
 gain, at least, one-quarter of a pound per week as follows: 
 
 Chick 4 weeks old h pound. 
 
 " 5 " " | « 
 
 " 6 " " 1 
 
 " 7 " " 1} 
 
 " 8 " " H 
 
 " 9 " " 1^ 
 
 " 10 " " 2 
 
 " 11 " " 2} 
 
 " 12 " " 2i 
 
 " 13 " " 2 : l 
 
 " 14 " " 3 
 
 In the experiments the chick weighed two pounds at eight 
 weeks of age, but we have allowed two extra weeks for a safe average 
 for an entire brood, as some of the chicks may be sickly, or inferior, 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 25 
 
 but we could have easily put down that a chick will weigh three 
 pounds when three months old (thirteen weeks), for we have had 
 them to weigh four pounds at that age. 
 
 Another experiment demonstrated that chicks double their 
 weight every ten days until they are forty days old, hut such rule is 
 not infallible, as we find the gain greater at some periods than 
 at others, but the cost of food for the second experiment was one 
 cent a week until the chicks were ten weeks old, when the expense 
 increased, but so did the weights. It is admitted, however, that the 
 chicks were not as well fed and provided for as they should have 
 been. The cost was of course less than one cent until the fifth week 
 which was exactly one cent, and when the tenth week was reached 
 the total amount expended for each chick was exactly ten cents for 
 ten weeks, the small amount eaten the first four weeks leaving a surplus 
 which was added to the latter period of the experiment. The weight 
 of a chick at the end of six weeks was exactly eighteen ounces, or a 
 pound and two ounces, the cost being six cents. Let us now look at 
 the table and notice how it compares with the others, we doubling 
 the Aveight of the chicks every ten days. 
 
 Chick at hatching 1| ounces. 
 
 '• 10 days old 2A 
 
 " 20 " " 5 
 
 " 30 " " 10 
 
 " 40 " " 20 " 
 
 Now compare it with the first result, which we gave in weeks, 
 and Ave find that in three weeks (twenty-one days) the chick weighed 
 six and one-fourth ounces, while in the case just mentioned the 
 chick, in twenty days, weighed five ounces. We are satisfied with 
 the close result. In thirty days the chick doubled from five ounces 
 to ten ounces. In the result by weeks Ave find that the chick four 
 Aveeks old (twenty-eight days) weighed ten ounces, only tAvo days 
 difference in ages betAveen them. In forty days the chick weighed 
 twenty ounces, having doubled again in ten days. In the result by 
 Aveeks Ave find the chick at seven weeks old (forty-two days) weigh- 
 ing tAventy-three and one-half ounces, and as the tAvo days differ- 
 ence is something it partially compensates for the heavier weight, 
 but Ave have demonstrated, by tAvo different experiments, that a 
 chick will double in weight every ten days until it is forty days old, 
 and that, though not doubling after that time, the ratio of increase 
 is, hoAvever, very rapid. 
 
 It is conclusive, also, that a chick Avill gain at least one quarter 
 of a pound every Aveek, on an average, until it is three months old. 
 
 In one experiment Ave made the cost of food four cents a pound, 
 
26 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 and in the other we made it more, but as the cost of food for the six 
 weeks was six cents, and the chicks weighed about eighteen ounces 
 (a pound and two ounces), the cost was a fraction over five cents a 
 pound, but the ratio was reduced as the chicks advanced in age, as 
 the gain in flesh was greater, and hence, in order to leave a fair 
 margin, we can confidently state that the maximum cost of a pound 
 of "chicken" from the shell to maturity, is five cents, but maturity 
 means the moment a chick becomes a fowl, as it is easily made plain 
 that a fowl, when once it has reached the limit of its weight, may 
 become five years old, and yet not weigh an ounce more, but con- 
 sume any amount of food. Thus, young x>oultry can be produced 
 the cheapest. 
 
 Late Hatched Chicks. 
 
 It is often asserted that late hatched chicks are not profitable. 
 Let us examine the matter. If we are willing to admit that "figures 
 do not lie," we can easily solve the problem in a few moments. It 
 must be granted that our estimate for food given here was made for 
 early chicks, which were hatched in cold weather, at a time when 
 green food is scarce, and prices higher for milk and other articles, 
 and it is therefore plain that if the prices are low the cost per pound 
 is also lower than when produced during winter, and is not equal to 
 five cents a pound. But, however, we will allow five cents as the cost 
 per pound, even in summer, and estimate upon that basis. Chicks 
 always sell for a few cents per pound more than fowls, and we 
 make an example by supposing a chick weighing two pounds sells for 
 fifteen cents a pound, which is thirty cents. As the cost of produc- 
 tion will be five cents a pound, or ten cents for two pounds, we have 
 a clear profit of twenty cents, or two hundred per cent. But, saj r s 
 some one, perhaps, there is a certain time of the year when fowls and 
 chicks do not realize more than ten cents a pound. We deny that 
 chicks not over three pounds sell at such a low price in the large 
 cities, but admit that they sometimes sell at that price when over 
 three pounds in weight. But in order to be generous Ave will grant 
 that two-pound chicks may at some particular time sell for ten cents 
 a pound, which is twenty cents for the chick. As the cost is ten 
 cents for the two pounds we have ten cents profit, which seems very 
 small, but is, nevertheless, one hundred per cent profit on capital 
 invested for food. Though ten cents profit on one chick is not a 
 large sum, yet it amounts to many dollars where thousands of chicks 
 arc raised for market. 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CRICKS. 27 
 
 The Best Breed For Market Chicks. 
 
 A market chick should be plump in body, have yellow skin and 
 legs, and, strange to say, attractive plumage, as the feathers some- 
 times deceive inexperienced buyers. And we will here remark 
 that it is not easy to fatten a grouping chick, but as broilers are sold 
 alive the feathers, legs, head and bones all assist in making up the 
 weight. In an experiment with breeds we found that up to the 
 weight of one pound the chicks of all the breeds were very close 
 together in the average, but after a pound weight was reached the 
 larger breeds gradually gained upon the smaller kinds. 
 
 A crossed chick is usually hardier, and grows faster, than a pure- 
 bred chick. The fastest growing chick is produced by crossing a 
 Plymouth Eock cock on a hen that is half Houdan and half Brahma. 
 The best chick for the table is produced by crossing a Pit Game 
 cock on hens that are half Dorking and half Brahma, but they are 
 not as hardy as the first mentioned cross. To procure a first-class 
 market chick cross a Dorking cock on large Brahma or Cochin hens. 
 Mate the produce of the cross with a large, vigorous Game cock. 
 Then cross the Game-Dorking-Brahma hens with a Plymouth Rock 
 cock, and the chicks will possess a combination of good qualities 
 that cannot be surpassed. 
 
 But as many persons do not wish to extend their time of opera- 
 tions in order to produce the best hens let them grade up their 
 common flocks with the use of Brahma cocks, in order to get large- 
 bodied hens, and then use Plymouth Bock or Wyandotte cockerels. 
 In the above crosses we have kept in view the yellow skin and legs, 
 but if the color is no object we can safely recommend the Langshan 
 as one of the best and hardiest breeds of chicks known. In fact, all 
 the Asiatics are hardy, and although a well feathered chick may be 
 attractive, yet a chick that feathers slowly is more easily raised than 
 one that feathers rapidly, as the production of feathers is a great 
 drain off the system, for the slower the progress of feathering the 
 greater the weight attained, and hence our readers should keep 
 these facts in remembrance at all times. A dash of Asiatic blood — 
 Brahmas, Cochins or Langshans— shoiild always be infused in the 
 brood, and let us enjoin you never to use a scrub cock. The hens 
 may be mongrels, if preferred, but the male should always be a 
 thoroughbred. 
 
 Do not waste your time attempting to raise market chicks from 
 such breeds as Black Spanish, Polish, Hamburgs, etc. The Leg- 
 horns may do well if crossed on large hens, but one-fourth Leghorn 
 
28 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CRICKS. 
 
 blood is enough. Do not use the same cockerel more than one 
 season, and always sacrifice "points" for vigor and activity. Should 
 a certain cross prove unprofitable do not repeat it, but always have 
 one yard for experiments, as there is no knowledge so beneficial and 
 lasting as that gained from practical application of that which may 
 be suggested, no matter from what source it may be derived. 
 
 DISEASES OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 The diseases peculiar to young chicks are different from those 
 that affect adults. Hence, in treating of disease we confine ourselves 
 to such as the young broilers are subject until they reach the market, 
 deferring the matter of diseases of fowls for No. 4 of this series. One 
 of the main obstacles the poultryman has to contend with is 
 
 Leg Weakness. 
 
 Leg weakness usually arises from two causes— rapid groAvth, and 
 too much underheat. Should leg weakness appear it will generally 
 be the result that the chicks have good appetites, are heavy in 
 weight, and to all appearances apparently well, excepting that they 
 are weak on their legs. The rapid growth, due to high feeding, 
 causes an undue development of fat and tissue in comparison with 
 bone formation and strength, the chick sometimes being nearly 
 helpless, and often moving on its knees. The difficulty is not 
 necessarily dangerous unless the chicks are crowded, as the active 
 ones soon trample to death any one of their number that is unable 
 to help itself. This is one of the evils of crowding chicks together, 
 and causes greater loss than from any other direction, as every 
 member of a brood gives his sole purpose to that of self-preserva- 
 tion, showing no mercy to another. Should a chick become sick, 
 and fall in the brooder, every other chick seems disposed to walk 
 upon him, and should a sick chick be so situated as to be in the line 
 of pressure he is doomed. Like a panic-stricken crowd rushing from 
 a building in danger the one who falls is sure to perish. 
 
 Bottom heat also causes leg weakness when the heat comes from 
 the bottom exclusively. This is due to a slight attack of rheumatism, 
 caused by chicks becoming accustomed to artificial heat on the legs 
 and thighs to such a degree that they are easily affected in the 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 29 
 
 lower members when exposed, and is, therefore, increased by damp 
 weather. 
 
 The best remedy for leg weakness is to remove the chicks so 
 affected from those that are healthy. Give finely powdered bone 
 meal in their soft food — a teaspoonful daily to one dozen chicks is 
 sufficient— and give them tincture of iron in their drinking water a 
 teaspoonful of the tincture to one quart of drinking water being 
 sufficient. Vary the food as much as possible, and see that they are 
 provided with a warm, dry location. 
 
 Bowel Diseases. 
 
 Young chicks are subject to constipation and diarrhoea. The 
 first may justly be called dysentery, and is due to colds and diet. 
 For the first two weeks young chicks may seem apparently well, and 
 then gradually drop away one by one until only the few strouger 
 ones are left. Dysentery we may class as cold on the bowels, and 
 results from the chicks becoming chilled at some time or other. If 
 a young chick becomes chilled, and is then resuscitated immediately 
 by warmth, it will apparently recover and be as well as ever, but, 
 like a child that has caught cold, the effects will be seen in a day or 
 two after. Any obstacle that causes a check to the chick exerts 
 some injury, and the chick is liable to cold on the bowels, or even 
 the croup. When the rear parts seem clogged up, and accumula- 
 tions take place, the chick may be treated in the manner stated on a 
 previous page, but heroic treatment sometimes becomes necessary 
 when a whole brood is affected, as is often the case. Each chick 
 must be handled, and carefully attended to. The parts must be 
 washed with tepid water, thoroughly cleaned and wiped dry, and 
 the chick must at no time be allowed to become chilled dming the 
 process. Then anoint with a mixture of castor oil and glycerine. 
 Should the chicks be weak, give each one a teaspoonful of milk, with 
 one drop of tincture of iron, three drops of paregoric, and as much 
 quinine as can be held on a nickel five- cent piece for every ten 
 chicks. This mixture is an excellent invigorating tonic, and will 
 assist them very much. It should be done twice a day until they 
 improve. Before giving the tonic, hoAvever, give a teaspoonful of 
 castor oil for every four chicks. 
 
 Should diarrhoea appear, give castor oil as before, and a tonic 
 composed of tincture of iron one part, brandy two parts, and pare- 
 goric two parts, two drops being sufficient for each chick twice a 
 day. These tonics may be given in twice their bulk of water. 
 
 If any signs of bowel disease appear the first object to be 
 
30 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 examined should be the drinking water. It should be always fresh 
 and clean. Next, observe the food, and change it. Hard boiled 
 eggs, when fed continuously, often cause constipation. By noticing 
 the food it will be a guide to the treatment. If green food is not 
 being fed allow finely chopped onion (tops and bulb) and if green 
 food is being fed cease its use for a day or two. Always make a 
 complete change. In diarrhoea a little boiled milk and rice, salted 
 to taste, and a teaspoonful of ground ginger added for each gill of 
 the mess, will be found excellent and nourishing. Cold oat meal 
 porridge, seasoned with a small proportion of salt and red pepper, 
 makes a good change from the rice, but whenever a new food is 
 tried do not change it as long as it is proving beneficial. 
 
 One of the best tonics for young chicks is to use one gill of lime 
 water, to which is added one spoonful each of quinine, brandy, 
 tincture of iron, and tincture of ginger. Shake well before using, 
 and give five drops to each chick twice a day. Always keep sick 
 chicks warm, and do not allow the slightest dampness on the floors, 
 or permit the chicks to go among the wet grass or in the dew. And 
 if too much soft food is being fed, substitute grain in some dry form. 
 
 Feathering. 
 
 Some chicks shed out little feathers in a few days after being 
 hatched, as the Leghorns, while others, such as the Brahmas and 
 Cochins, remain nearly naked till well advanced. They sometimes 
 show no signs of disease, but gradually begin to droop, cry contin- 
 ually, and finally die from some apparent unknown cause. Usually, 
 the difficulty is due to a heavy drain on the system for the elements 
 that compose the feathers, which may be lacking, the chick starving 
 for proper nourishment though fed liberally. And not only should 
 they receive the proper food but it should be given often. It is well 
 known that many birds, the pea fowl for instance, feather so rapidly 
 that the young ones fly and perch upon fences and even trees in a 
 very short time after being hatched, and should a single meal be 
 neglected in feeding them it sometimes proves fatal. Chicks, 
 though feathering rapidly, do not make the progress in that respect 
 as is done by young turkeys and pea fowls, but at the same time the 
 change from down to feathers is rapid enough to demand constant 
 feeding of the best quality of food. It is a knowledge of this fact 
 that prompted us to suggest our various preparations, and it will no 
 doubt be noticed that Ave recommended the phosphates, carbona- 
 ceous matter, and also nitrogenous food, as well as sulphur and iron. 
 The chicks need a variety at such time and should be well supplied 
 with all they require. 
 
MA NA GEMENT OF YO UNG CHIC ' A S. 31 
 
 The chicks that do not feather rapidly, and remain naked until 
 qnite well advanced, if kept warm and dry will usually prove the 
 hardiest of the brood, growing quickly, and when lifted with the 
 hand will be above the average in weight. When matured such 
 chicks are usually better feathered than those that feathered earlier. 
 Not being compelled to supply the growth for feathers they grow 
 fast in bone and flesh, are less liable to diseases, and reach a weight 
 for market sooner than the others. Warmth is equal to good feed- 
 ing, and economizes in expenses. 
 
 Gapes. 
 
 Cholera and roup seldom attack broilers, for, although roup is 
 due to colds, and carries off the adults, the gapes and cold on the 
 bowels are the diseases most prevalent among young chicks. When 
 the chick seems to gasp frequently it is a sure indication of gapes. 
 The gapes never occur among a brood when the feeding places are 
 clean. It is a standing menace on old-established farms, where the 
 yards are filthy and the food is eaten from the dirt. If the chicks 
 are well kept no gapes will appear. Should the disease attack the 
 brood, hoAvever, one of the best remedies is to feed cooked meal, in 
 the shape of dough, and, while the dough is warm, mix intimately 
 a teaspoonful of spirits of turpentine to each pint of food. Should 
 the chicks refuse to eat, give each a pill of the dough, first adding 
 to the pill one drop (or two) of the turpentine. Eepeat the dose, if 
 necessary, but once usually suffices. As an assistant to the tur- 
 pentine the chicks, in an hour after receiving the turpentine, may 
 be placed in a box (soap box will answer) and a mixture of one part 
 turpentine, one part wood tar, and a few drops of coal tar, should be 
 burned in the box, so as to surround the chicks with the dense 
 fumes, compelling them to breathe the same until nearly suffocated. 
 Should they be exhausted, a few drops of ale or vinegar will soon 
 refresh them. 
 
 As to what constitutes the gapes may be explained by stating 
 that as long ago as 1797, Dr. Wissenthal, of Baltimore, gave an excel- 
 lent account of a parasite infecting the trachea of fowls and turkeys. 
 He says: "I have seen the whole windpipe completely filled with 
 these worms, and have been astonished at the bird's being capable 
 of respiration under such circumstances." The worm, which is a 
 nematoid parasite (Sclerostomasyngamus — Syngamus trachealis of 
 some authors), has been found in the trachea of the tirrkey, common 
 fowl, pheasant and partridge (European), and in various storks, 
 crows, and in small birds of several species. The female worm 
 measures five-eights of an inch in length, the male one-third of an 
 
32 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 inch. The mouth is situated at the extremity of the body and is 
 furnished with six prominent, horny lips. The body is smooth and 
 ends in an abruptly pointed tail, which folds more or less upon 
 itself in the case of the female worm. The male has a sucker-like 
 bursa or pouch at the lower extremity of his body. The ova are 
 large for so small a worm, being fully 1-250 of an inch in length; 
 active embryos may at times be seen in them. The two sexes are 
 frequently found firmly united together, and it is probable that the 
 eggs can only be liberated by the death and decomposition of their 
 parent. If the infested fowl does not succumb to their ravages, they 
 are probably, after a certain time, expelled, and dying on the 
 ground the ova and embryos are liberated by the decomposition of 
 the matei-nal body. 
 
 The larval parasites then burrow into the soil or into decaying 
 vegetable matter, and there pass through certain metamorphoses, at 
 the completion of which, though still in a larval condition, they are 
 ready to be returned to the proper habitat of the adult worm, viz., 
 the trachea of certain birds. Introduced into the mouth with food 
 or drinking water, they make their way to the air passages, and there 
 commence their ravages, and reproduce their species, to again pass 
 through the same cycle of changes. 
 
 ITEMS OF INTEREST. 
 
 Fob the first twenty-four hours warmth is more essential than 
 food, for should the chick become chilled in the slightest degree it 
 may prove fatal. Hence, in removing them from the incubator to 
 the brooder do so as quickly as possible. 
 
 Chicks Avill recognize any signal as quick as they do the "cluck" 
 of the hen. Whenever you approach them tap on the brooder with 
 your finger, and you can call every one to your hand. Should you 
 wish to disperse them cough harshly and they will scatter in every 
 direction. Should you stand by the brooder very attentively for a 
 few days you will find that whenever you are absent they will cry 
 continually until you return, when the noise will cease, to be 
 repeated whenever you leave again. 
 
 Be kind and gentle to the chicks from the time they are out of 
 the shell till sent to market, and they will become very manageable, 
 which saves much labor and time. 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 33 
 
 Little chicks, like all young stock, are fond of enjoyment. 
 They will thrive much better when they have an opportunity for 
 exercise. Not that it is necessary to allow them to run outside in 
 yards, but that conveniences should be provided for them in the 
 brooder houses. A little pen, one inch high, into which sawdust, 
 chaff, or finely cut straw is placed, will afford an excellent place for 
 them. Scatter screenings, coarse oat meal, sand, ground bone, fine 
 charcoal and ground oj r ster shells in the material for them to scratch 
 out, and a few quarts of dry earth will also be of assistance, as they 
 will work industriously if given an opportunity. 
 
 As long as a young chick is scratching in litter it is an infallible 
 indication that the chick is in perfect health. 
 
 A great many diseases of chicks may be cured by what is called 
 family treatment. A few grains of powdered chalk and two drops of 
 paregoric will often cure diarrhoea, and the same treatment given 
 them as is given children will be found very beneficial. Laudammi 
 is too strong to be used for chicks, but tincture of camphor is 
 excellent. For a young chick two drops in double its quantity of 
 water, twice a day, of such medicines, is sufficient. 
 
 Always salt the food to suit the taste, as salt is beneficial to 
 poultry as well as other stock. Bi-carbonate of soda (bread soda) is 
 excellent, a grain once a day, in a small quantity of water, being an 
 excellent remedy for diarrhoea when caused by an excess of green 
 food. 
 
 Fenugreek, which is the active ingredient of cattle and horse 
 condition powders, is excellent for fowls. Used in the proportion 
 of a teaspoonful daily for every twenty chicks, given in their soft 
 food, it will tend to cure debilitated chicks, and increase the 
 appetite. As a tonic, one part fenugreek, one part carbonate of iron, 
 one part ground ginger, one part pulverized charcoal, and one part 
 ground chalk, mixed together, is one of the best known. Give a 
 teaspoonful, twice a day, to every twenty chicks, in the soft food. 
 
 Too much soft food, unless fed very cleanly, will cause the gapes, 
 especially if any portion is left over. Hence, after feeding, allow 
 not the slightest trace of the food to remain. 
 
 Lice and gapes usually appear together, as a rule, owing to the 
 fact that both are caused by the same circumstances— -filth. 
 
 Avoid greasing chicks, as it often proves fatal. A small quantity 
 of lard, to which coal oil is added, in proportion of four drops of 
 coal oil to a teaspoonful of lard, may be used for anointing chicks 
 when lice affect them. The slightest quantity only should be 
 
34 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 used, by placing a little cm the top of the head and at the vent. If 
 preferred a drop or two of carbolic acid may be substituted for the 
 coal oil. 
 
 Whenevee young chicks begin to droop without apparent cause, 
 refuse to eat, and loss begins to occur, look for lice. The lice will 
 hide, and sometimes cannot be found easily, but a close search will 
 show their presence, if any. You must now be as prompt with the 
 vermin as though yon had found the house and human individuals 
 afflicted. Every part of the brooder must be well and thoroug hly 
 cleaned. Each chick must be held by one leg, head downward, and 
 dusted with pyrethrum (Persian insect powder) and the brooder 
 washed with a solution of one part carbolic acid and ten parts water. 
 Allow the brooder to dry before returning the chicks, and repeat 
 the dusting of the chicks several times, dusting also a little of the 
 powder on the floor and in the crevices. If the chicks are weak give 
 each five drops of ale, with one drop of tincture of iron mixed with 
 the ale, and induce them to eat by placing rice and milk before 
 them. In this connection we will state that a mixture of one-half 
 rice water (thin) and one-half milk (fresh), to which a pinch of salt 
 and bread soda is added, will always be found an invigorating drink 
 for young chicks. 
 
 Whenevee young chicks refuse to eat, and medicine is 
 necessary, open their beaks and compel them to swallow it, but let 
 the doses given be small, repeating until a sufficiency has been 
 partaken by the chick. 
 
 Should a chick seem weak remove it at once from the brooder, 
 as it will certainly be crushed to death at night by those that are 
 stronger. 
 
 Damp weather often causes the chicks to droop and appear 
 unwell. On such occasions be sure to keep the brood warm and 
 comfortable. 
 
 Do not be tempted to let the heat become very low, because the 
 weather may become fair and warm. Even during the warmest days 
 of July a young chick will desire to warm himself in the brooder. 
 Remember, that should you allow the brooder to become too cold, 
 and the chicks show their want of heat by nestling close together, 
 you Avill probably rind some of them dead. It is an indication that 
 something is Avrong whenever the chicks persist in getting close to 
 the source of heat. The heat should always be evenly distributed. 
 
 A chick that will not eat, and does nothing but cry, stands but a 
 poor chance of living. 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 35 
 
 A good poultryman always takes a look at the chicks as the last 
 important matter before going to bed. 
 
 A good, safe, non-explosive, anti-smoking lamp is ten times as 
 cheap as one that cannot be depended upon, hence Ave recommend 
 the lamp manufactured by Chas. V. Gross, Box G7, Pullman, 111., as 
 it has a cooling and pressure arrangement surrounding the oil. 
 
 A greater proportion of chicks can be raised in brooders than 
 with the use of hens if properly managed. 
 
 Some diseases are caused by a lack of certain foods, hence bone 
 meal will sometimes cure diarrhoea. 
 
 Should you be unable to purchase bone meal procure from a 
 drug store phosphate of soda, and use a teaspoonful once a day for 
 twenty chicks. If lime or oyster shells are unobtainable use chalk 
 instead. 
 
 A spoonful of chloride of lime, dissolved in a quart of cold 
 water, is excellent for washing parts of the brooder that may have 
 become filthy, and it makes an excellent disinfectant, as Avell as pre- 
 venting lice. 
 
 In using grains, popcorn, broom corn, sorghum, millet and rape 
 seeds are excellent. When the chicks are large enough use wheat 
 also. Screenings are best for very young chicks, and cracked corn 
 may be given twice a week. 
 
 As many people living away from bone factories may have 
 difficulty procuring some of the articles recommended here, the 
 following is a perfect food, tonic, and invigorating condition powder. 
 Powdered chalk, phosphate of soda, fenugreek, chloride of iron, flax 
 seed (ground), charcoal, and cottonseed meal, of each one pound; 
 red pepper, ginger, salt, bread soda, Peruvian bark and sulphur, of 
 each, one ounce. Mix thoroughly, all the ingredients being made 
 fine for that purpose, and give a teaspoonful once a day, in the food 
 to twenty chicks. 
 
 A weak chick, if taken from the incubator and immersed in 
 water at a temperature of 110, thoroughly washed, and kept nicely 
 warmed until very dry, will be greatly benefitted. Such warm water 
 baths are excellent at times for sickly, debilitated chicks. 
 
 Souk milk, buttermilk or curds will be highly relished by chicks, 
 and do no injury, but it is best not to give such until after the chicks 
 are two weeks old. 
 
 Parched grains of any kind, such as oats, wheat, buckwheat, or 
 even cracked corn, is an acceptable and excellent change if allowed 
 occasionally. 
 
36 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 Theke are a great many substitutes for meat. Milt is one, so is 
 bullock's blood, and the refuse parts of carcasses. It should always 
 be cooked. When cooking grain food, blood may be added, or the 
 blood may be placed in a flannel bag and boiled. The lights, liver 
 and other cheap parts of an animal may be boiled to a rich soup, 
 thickened and fed. 
 
 Chicks can endure quite a low degree of cold, but must be so 
 situated as to be able to quickly warm when they desire to do so. 
 They seldom suffer from cold on the feet and legs, but chill easily 
 when their bodies are exposed. 
 
 No oke can expect to be successful who does not use proper pre- 
 cautious against cats, rats, hawks, and minks. In constructing 
 houses, coops, or yards, always endeavor to have them proof against 
 such vermin. 
 
 The cat that allows the chicks to roost on her back and share 
 her food during the day knows enough to eat them slyly when the 
 owner is not near. The best cat that ever lived will kill and eat 
 chicks, although she apparently takes no notice of them. 
 
 Common glass chimneys should not be used for lamps in 
 brooders, as they often become too hot, smoke, and sometimes cause 
 explosion. 
 
 Young turkeys are fed somewhat similar to chicks, but should 
 have a greater proportion of green food, and should be kept free 
 from dampness. The turkeys also need more exercise. 
 
 Ann things considered, good milk is the cheapest kind of food 
 we have; for 3 pints of it, weighing 3f pounds, and costing nine 
 cents, contain as much nutriment as one pound of beef which costs 
 eighteen cents; 3-7 pounds of milk is equivalent to 1 pound of beef 
 in flesh-forming or nitrogenous constituents, and 3-17 pounds of 
 milk is the equivalent of 1 pound of beef in heat-producing elements 
 or carbohydrates. Therefore, the relative values of milk and beef 
 as human food are as 3^ to llg, or in round numbers, as 1 to 3h. If 
 milk is eight cents per quart, then it is the equal in food value to 
 beef at twelve and one-half cents a pound, and vice versa; when 
 beef is at twenty-five cents per pound, then milk should be nine- 
 teen cents per quart, calculated on its food value. We thus see 
 that, at any ruling prices, milk is one of the cheapest, if not the 
 cheapest, food that can be furnished to the family, while all experi- 
 ence is in favor of its healthy qualities. There is no loss in cooking 
 the milk as there is in cooking beef, and there is no bone in it that 
 cannot be eaten; it is simply palatable, nutritious, healthful, cheap, 
 and always ready for use, with or without preparation. 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 37 
 
 Young clucks and geese are very voracious, and will eat anything 
 that is suitable. 
 
 Gingeb is much better than red pepper for young chicks, and 
 they are very partial to it. 
 
 Peruvian bark, given two or three times a week, in the propor- 
 tion of a teaspoonful to twenty chicks, is one of the best tonics that 
 can be given. It will be found more advantageous, however, to mix 
 Peruvian bark with the same quantity of ginger, giving a teaspoon- 
 ful of the mixture to twenty chicks. 
 
 Where many thousands of foAvls are raised a sheep may be 
 slaughtered for them. In France the old horses, which can be 
 bought at a low price, are used, as also dogs, cats, rats, or any other 
 animal, but the meat is always well cooked. 
 
 Crude tallow, which is cheap, may be profitably used as a 
 variety, once in awhile. 
 
 A partiadly drowned chick, though apparently dead, may 
 be easily restored by being wrapped in flannel and placed in a 
 very warm location. The same may be said of chicks that are cold 
 and stiff from the effects of low temperature. 
 
 If a brooder is kept warm, and the heat enters from the top, no 
 flannel or sheep skin will be necessary, but little woolen strips may 
 be suspended around the edges of the brooder in order to allow the 
 chicks to pass in and out. 
 
 If the chicks have the privilege of a small yard let the yard be 
 spaded often in order to prevent gapes. 
 
 An occasional fumigation of the coop with a mixture of wood, 
 tar and sulphur, will be an excellent method of disinfection. The 
 same may be said of a mixture of gas-tar, and sulphur. 
 
38 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CRICKS. 
 
 REMEDIES FREQUENTLY RECOMMENDED. 
 
 For Leg Weakness. 
 
 This is due to forced growth and high feeding, the chicks seem- 
 ing apparently well, with good appetites, but unable to stand up. 
 Wright says it is also a frequent affection in cockerels of the large 
 breeds. It may arise from muscular weakness, or from a deficiency 
 of bony matter, the symptoms usually manifesting themselves be- 
 tween the ages of three and six months, though often much earlier. 
 The free use of bone meal is the best preventive. The following 
 prescription has been used with marked success: 
 
 Sulphate of iron (copperas) 16 grains. 
 
 Strychnine 1 grain. 
 
 Phosphate of lime 80 grains. 
 
 Sulphate of quinine 8 grains. 
 
 To be made into sixteen pills and one pill administered three 
 times daily, morning, noon and night, for at least one week. 
 Another good remedy is made as follows: 
 
 Phosphate of soda 20 grains. 
 
 Sulphate of quinine 2 grains. 
 
 Tincture of iron 10 drops. 
 
 Powdered chalk 20 grains. 
 
 Mix with half an ounce of water, slake well before using, and give 
 five drops to each chick, in the soft food, twice a day. 
 
 For Gapes. 
 
 Compel the chicks to breathe the fumes of a mixture of equal 
 parts of wood tar and spirits turpentine, and give a drop of turpen- 
 tine mixed with as much corn meal as will absorb it, twice a day. 
 Wright, in speaking of gapes, says that when the disease has actually 
 entered a yard there are various remedies more or less effectual. 
 To add camphor, or even lime, to the drinking-water, has some 
 effect, and may be enough in mild cases, or with a few chickens. The 
 old-fashioned plan is to strip a small quill-feather, all but a small 
 tuft at the x^oint, and (moistening it in the turpentine or not) to in- 
 troduce it into the trachea, turn it round, and withdraw it with the 
 worms. This is effectual, but requires much care to prevent lacerat- 
 ing the windpipe, or causing suffocation. In this way thirty worms 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 39 
 
 have been successfully extracted from one chicken. Another method 
 of individual treatment is to get some carbolic acid (-which must be 
 of the clear or white quality), and placing some in an iron spoon or 
 saucer, hold it over a candle or lamp. Dense white fumes will arise, 
 in which the chicken's head is to be immersed till nearly suffocated ; 
 or, if a number have to be treated, the whole may be confined in a 
 box and fumigated at once, being, however, carefully watched 
 through a hole in the box covered by a piece of glass. For, while 
 this treatment is absolutely unfailing, it is rather a ticklish opera- 
 tion, since the worms have to be killed without quite kiUing the 
 chickens, which is very easily done beside. There are other methods 
 of cure more generally applicable, as in an outbreak amongst 
 pheasants, which could never be treated in the above manner. MM. 
 Montagu and Megnin have proved repeatedly that to substitute an 
 infusion of garlic for water, and add fine-chopped garlic in the food, 
 will check the complaint and kill the worms. M. Megnin has also 
 tried, with marked success, dissolving in the water (to kill all worms 
 which may find their way there) one part in one hundred of salicyl- 
 ate of soda, and dosing each pheasant with seven and one half grains 
 of yellow gentian and seven and one-half grains of assafcetida — large 
 fowls will need more. Only vermifuges which — like these — have a 
 strong odor can be expected to kill parasites which inhabit the air- 
 passages rather than the digestive canal ; but there is good evidence 
 of the success of this treatment in pheasant preserves which had 
 been all but exterminated by gapes. It is a curious coincidence, and 
 confirms the soundness of it, that an English "patent" taken out by 
 Mi*. J. H. Clark, a gamekeeper, is very similar. He takes, and in- 
 timately compounds, 
 
 Powdered quicklime 1 pound. 
 
 Powdered sulphur 3 pound. 
 
 Tincture of assafcetida 1 ounce. 
 
 Arsenious acid (white arsenic) 1 drachm. 
 
 Oil of thyme, or oil of cummin 1 ounce. 
 
 This is to be kept in a closely stoppered bottle, to prevent slak- 
 ing of the lime or evaporation of the volatile constituents. When re- 
 quired, two or three tablespoonfuls are placed in a depression in the 
 center of the coop, and then a sharp blast from the nose of a bellows 
 blows it all up into the air, filling the coop and entering the nostrils 
 of the birds. It is said that one application generally cures, but that 
 if not, two, or at the most three, at intervals of twenty-four hours, 
 will surely do so. The gapes may be known by noticing that the 
 chicks will constantly gap, cough and sneeze, besides appearing dull 
 and refusing to eat. 
 
40 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 Bowel Diseases. 
 
 Should general constipation be cured by the remedies suggested, 
 and the foods appear to cause indigestion afterward, one of the 
 safest and best remedies for restoring the appetite is the following: 
 
 Calomel 10 grains. 
 
 Powdered rhubarb 12 grains. 
 
 Bi-carbonate of soda 6 grains. 
 
 Burnt flour 20 grains. 
 
 Mix the above thoroughly, and divide into fifty pills or powders, 
 using castor oil in sufficient quantity to moisten the mass. Give 
 the chick a pill or powder three times a day for three days, and in 
 nine cases out of ten it will restore the chick to health. It is also 
 excellent for diarrhoea or dysentery, and as the calomel given is in 
 very small quantity no danger need be feared from that source. 
 
 Should the chick be in pain from griping and straining at the 
 bowels, give the above pills or powders every two hours for twelve 
 hours, and then give ten drops of castor oil and four drops of pare- 
 goric mixed. 
 
 When the chicks, from some unknown cause, become weak and 
 refuse food, appearing sluggish and inactive, give each a powder or 
 pill composed of one-half grain of calomel and one-half grain of 
 rhubarb, three times a day. The next morning give two drops of 
 paregoric and one drop of tincture of iron mixed. Change the food 
 entirely, the best for them being boiled rice and milk, with a pinch 
 of fine charcoal in that required for each meal. 
 
 Stimulants. 
 
 "When a chick is exhausted and an active stimulant is required, a 
 drop of tincture of camphor and two drops of whisky or brandy, in 
 a small quantity of water, will be found beneficial. 
 
 To give them a stimulant in their food make a compound as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 Ginger 1 ounce. 
 
 Red pepper 1 drachm. 
 
 Gentian . . . 1 ounce 
 
 A teaspoonful to twenty chicks is sufficient, twice a day. It is also 
 an excellent invigorator for adults. 
 
 The Runs. 
 
 When the chicks are hatched very early it is best to place the hen 
 and her brood in a covered run, into which the sun and light may 
 enter. Glass is too expensive, but a box similar to a hot-bed may 
 be provided so as to shed the rain. The covering for the run may 
 be made by using simply cotton sheeting, and to render the cloth 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CRICKS. 41 
 
 air tight and warmer use the following preparation: 1 quart raw 
 linseed oil, 1 oz. pulverized sugar of lead, and 2 oz. pulverized rosin. 
 Heat in an iron kettle till all is dissolved, and apply with a brush, 
 while hot, to the muslin Avhile stretched over a frame. Endeavor to 
 apply when two successive clear days can be had to dry it Avell be- 
 fore placing it over the vapor and heat of a run. Ready for use, 
 these cost in money $1.25. and in labor enough to make the entire 
 cost nearly equal the interest on glass for one year. In careful hands 
 they will serve three seasons. They do not gather heat so rapidly 
 during the day as glass, and hence there is less danger of burning 
 or giving off heat ; nor do they throw heat so fast at night, and so 
 need less covering. Fitting tight to the frames they admit of no 
 drafts, undergo no sudden changes, and suffer little from dampen- 
 ing off. Gardeners use them for hot-beds, and though some are pre- 
 judiced against them at first after once trying them they annually in- 
 crease their number, finding them a cheap way of increasing their 
 beds, causing no breakage like glass in careless hands, and are stored 
 at less expense, and answer many other uses during the year. 
 
 Another method of rendering such coverings waterproof is to 
 make a qiiantity of wheat or rye flour paste, and with this give the 
 canvas, after it is laid upon the roof or panel, a good and even coat. 
 The paste should be about as thick as that used for paper-hanging. 
 This will leave the canvas as tight as a drumhead, and at the same 
 time fill the surface sufficiently to prevent so great absorption of the 
 oil. Glue size lias the same effect, and is easily applied. It is said 
 that panels painted in this way are very durable, and that the paint 
 never cracks or scales off. White lead in oil colored with ochre is 
 probably one of the best paints which can be applied upon the roof. 
 Possibly, for the sake of its fire-proof qualities, a final coat or two of 
 mineral paint might be of advantage. 
 
 No one who has once used a covered run for fowls will do with- 
 out one in the future. Especially is this the case in raising young 
 chickens. After one has once tried raising them beneath cover he 
 will not know how he ever did it without one. The simple fact 
 that it not only furnishes a protection from storms, but also an im- 
 munity from hawks and vermin, is sufficient argument in their favor; 
 yet Ave think the greatest reason why every poultryman should pro- 
 vide one for his young foAvls is because gapes do hot then trouble 
 them, and they have not to track through the cold, Avet deAV, after a 
 Ivungry mother, and perish from the effects. Although this is one 
 of the best things in a poultry yard, unless strict cleanliness is ob- 
 served it Avill be the ruin of any flock of birds. 
 
42 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 YOUNG TURKEYS. 
 
 The turkey usually lays about twenty eggs, and then begins to 
 sit, but by taking the eggs away from her as they are laid she will 
 lay as many as forty. It is best to allow the turkey hen to do the in- 
 cubation, but some prefer to set the eggs first under hens, giving the 
 turkeys about fifteen of their own eggs to sit upon. It is an unwise 
 as well as a cruel plan, to set all the turkey's eggs under hens, and 
 make her lay all the season. Late hatched turkeys never thrive as 
 the early birds do, and they never grow to a size to realize a profit- 
 able price. The turkey's services are lost to her own offspring, for 
 turkeys rear their own young much better than hens do ; and it 
 almost invariably happens that a turkey becomes so debilitated by 
 laying all the spring that she wastes away and dies in moulting. The 
 time when turkeys require the greatest care is until they are six 
 weeks old, when the young cocks begin to show a little red on their 
 heads. Dryness is of the first importance ; large, roomy coops, 
 with covered runs, are desirable, that the young birds be not 
 allowed to roam in wet weather or when the dew is on the gTass. 
 
 The food for newly hatched birds should be principally hard 
 boiled eggs, with dandelion, lettuce or onions, chopped up with a 
 little bread crumbs ; to this maybe added a little rice boiled in skim 
 milk (if quite sweet), a little suet, and, if wet or cold weather, a little 
 cayenne pepper, with grain of all sorts as the birds grow older. A 
 fresh site for the coop every morning is indispensable, and a little 
 exercise if the mother is a turkey — but not if she is a fussy old hen — 
 is also advantageous as the chicks get on. A good sign is to see the 
 young turkeys catching flies. In order to get fresh, untainted 
 ground, it is a good plan to hurdle off part of the field — a new lea, if 
 hardy — for the coops, and the grass should be kept mown closely to 
 the ground. Turkeys will take to any young turkeys, whether 
 hatched by themselves or not ; so, when the young birds get fairly 
 strong, transfer those hatched under hens to the turkeys. One has 
 to be careful that the chicks do not perch on the rails of the hurdles 
 or the tops of the coops ; crooked breasts would be the inevitable 
 result. They should be induced to sit on the ground as long as 
 possible, and then taught to perch on Ioav bushes and trees, and 
 until they are shut up for fattening they are better never to have en- 
 tered the fowl house. Having reached the age of two or three 
 months, June has arrived and the birds are perfectly hardy, requir- 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 43 
 
 ing little care, but generous feeding. A more economical food is 
 now desirable, and barley meal, with perhaps a little scrapcake, 
 corn, barley, and small wheat, is the usual food. 
 
 Turkeys for Christmas should be shut up in a light, dry, roomy 
 house the first week in November ; troughs with as much corn and 
 good barley as they can eat should be always by them, with two 
 good meals a day of just as much barley meal, mixed with flat milk, 
 as they can eat, and milk to drink. Sliced mangel, turnips, swedes 
 and cabbage are useful and necessary, and plenty of sand, lime, 
 ashes and brick dust should be in the corners of their house. Let 
 the troughs be well cleaned every morning, and all surplus food re- 
 moved ; on a farm there are plenty of other fowls glad to clean up 
 after turkeys. Charcoal should also be provided. Never mate birds 
 that are akin with one another. Every year purchase a new bird for 
 stock, unless the old bird is retained and hens of his breeding are 
 not used. There is no economy in buying a cheap bird ; a little 
 extra expense about the gobbler will probably give three or four 
 pounds weight in each young bird next year. 
 
 YOUNG DUCKS. 
 
 We are aware that many of our readers are desirous of knowing 
 something of the management of young ducks, and Ave therefore 
 acknowledge our indebtedness to English breeders for niairy valua- 
 ble suggestions. Ducks are aquatic birds, which, like geese, belong 
 to the class of Palmipeds, and to the family of the Lamellated; that 
 is to say, they are web-footed, and their bill is provided with lam- 
 inae, which act as teeth, on both mandibles. They resemble geese 
 very much as to exterior shape and habits, so much so that it is 
 difficult to say where the family of ducks ends and that of geese 
 begins. We have already noticed the most important differences 
 existing in the shape of the bill, length of neck, position of the feet, 
 which are shorter and placed further behind than in the goose. 
 Ducks are. greater dwellers on the water than geese: in fact, one 
 rarely sees them on dry land, unless on the grassy banks round or- 
 namental waters or in a farmyard, but in the wild state they seldom 
 leave the water. The tame duck is a polygamous animal, intelli- 
 gent, cunning, quiet, with few complaints made of it in the poull ry 
 yard. This family of the Palmipeds is distinguished for the beauty 
 of its plumage, and we know that Mandarin and Carolina ducks, 
 which ornament our waters, are the handsomest in existence. 
 Ducks moult twice a year. The down of certain species has a nota- 
 
44 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 ble value; the down from the Eider duck forms a valuable staple of 
 trade called "Eiderdown," which is found in the nests of these birds, 
 where the females deposit it to sustain heat to the eggs during their 
 absence to seek for food. The laying powers of ducks vary much 
 according to species; the young are very hardy, and run to the water 
 immediately after their birth, but they cannot fty till they are three 
 months old. At that age they are called " Flappers" in this country 
 in France "Halbrans," and in Germany "Halberentes," from "Hal- 
 ber" (half), "Ente" (duck). 
 
 There are numerous species of ducks, and any observer or stu- 
 dent of natural history may judge of the different varieties at any of 
 the ornamental waters in London or in the country, but many of 
 these emigrate at certain times, and are known to return to their 
 quiet home. To prevent their leaving the ornamental waters they 
 mostly undergo the process of being pinioned, and there they in- 
 crease and multiply. 
 
 Our object is to notice only those breeds which are reared for the 
 market, and which must interest every farmer's Avife who prides 
 herself in her poultry yard. No doubt all our farmyard ducks come 
 from the common stock, the "wild duck," and they differ from the 
 latter by being larger, with coarse legs and feet, and which are often 
 black, whereas the wild duck has legs and feet of an orange yellow. 
 This is the common duck, and its plumage has all the variety of 
 color imaginable; it weighs in the adidt state about two and a half 
 pounds. 
 
 The Kouen duck is very much larger and easier to rear; it requires 
 very little water, whereas the common duck must have always at 
 hand a stream or a pond. The Rouen is very precocious and very 
 fertile, and can produce four or five score of eggs, whilst the com- 
 mon duck never lays more than half that quantity. The plumage is 
 like that of the common duck, very variable but very pretty. It fat- 
 tens easily and may be produced to weigh eight or nine pounds 
 each. There is also a white variety of Rouen, a very pretty bird, but 
 smaller, does not fatten so easily but is considered more delicate. 
 
 The Aylesbury duck, all white, with bill and feet of a pink 
 color, quite as large and in some cases larger than the Rouen, a most 
 excellent table bird, in fact superior to all others. The feathers of 
 the Aylesbury being all white are more valuable than those of other 
 breeds. The Aveight of a good Aylesbury ought to be about eight to 
 nine pounds. 
 
 The Muscovy, or musk duck, appears to be a distinct breed; it 
 is also called "Barbary duck," as it is supposed to be a native of the 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YO.UNQ CIIICKS. 45 
 
 northern coast of Africa; some say it originates from South America, 
 particularly the Brazils and the Guayanas. The drake, a large bird, 
 has a fine black plumage, with reflections of green and red crossed 
 by a large streak of white across the wings, with red bill, the base of 
 which is greatly carunculated. He is a very quarrelsome bird and 
 not St to be in a poultry yard. Being of a large size, he is usually 
 made use of for crossing with common ducks. The result being- 
 mules they are usually unfertile, but make very good table birds, 
 and lay well, and, for the reason of their being unfertile, the eggs 
 may be kept much longer than others, they having no germ in them. 
 The flesh of the Muscovy is very good eating, but as soon as the bird 
 is killed the head must be taken off; otherwise it gives to the body a 
 musky taste. 
 
 Of all the inhabitants of the poultry yard the duck is the easiest 
 to rear. The eggs are generally given to a hen to sit on, in prefer- 
 ence to a duck; it saves trouble, and they are hatched out with all 
 the care and solicitude as if they were chicks, the poor ignorant 
 mother not knowing the difference. Twenty-eight to thirty days 
 are required to hatch out ducks. As they come forth take them 
 from the hen so that her attention may be given to those not yet 
 hatched. When the whole brood have made their appearance, take 
 up the hen carefully and put her into a nice roomy coop on a grass 
 plat, then allow the young ones to go to her; put a saucer with 
 water and bread crumbs for the young ducks, and give the hen also 
 some tempting food, for generally during the last two days of incu- 
 bation she refuses to leave her eggs to feed. After a day or two give 
 them barley meal mixed with water, or any refuse from the table, 
 with boiled vermicelli; in a week they will be running all over the 
 lawn catching flies and insects, and returning to the hen should the 
 weather be cold. 
 
 In three weeks, should the weather be favorable, they will huddle 
 together on the lawn or on a bed in the garden, heedless of the cries 
 and anxious callings of the mother, and in a week after that the hens 
 may be set at liberty, as the ducklings can do very well without her. 
 At this period feed them with meal of any kind, or middlings mixed 
 with onions or lettuce chopped very fine. Ducklings do not eat so 
 much at a time as chickens, but their digestion is extraordinarily 
 rapid ; therefore their meal must be often repeated. Scraps of meat 
 and fat are most excellent ; they thrive well upon the refuse of the 
 kitchen. Give them the run of the garden ; they soon hunt out 
 suails, slugs and insects. At from six to eight weeks of age young ducks 
 are fit to kill— that is, when they get cross-winged. Up to this time 
 
4G MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 there is no necessity of sending them to the water, but flat vessels 
 containing water must be always within their reach, for ducks can- 
 not feed without that element. In that state they fatten much 
 quicker than Avhen allowed to swim. If, after that period, a selec- 
 tion has been made to keep certain of them as stock birds, then they 
 must be allowed a stream of water or a pond; otherwise some breeds 
 would perish, and most of the others would lay unfertile eggs. 
 
 THE HEN ON THE NEST. 
 
 Do not give her too many eggs to cover. Many persons are dis- 
 posed to be somewhat inclined to the opinion that a hen should have 
 as many eggs as possible, allowing her, as a rule, thirteen eggs, and 
 often more. If we will notice a hen when she is doing service at in- 
 cubation it may be seen that she turns the eggs at least once a day, 
 or rather whenever she comes off for food and water. She goes to 
 the nest, and with her bill pushes to the center of the nest those 
 eggs that are on the outer edges of the nest. She piles them upon 
 the center ones, and then goes on the nest, and with her body works 
 the eggs down, displacing those that were in the center, forcing 
 them to the outer part of the nest. The eggs are therefore changed 
 in position daily, and when the nest is very full some of the eggs 
 will not be completely covered, the ends of the eggs often being 
 discernible protruding beyond the feathers. This difficulty would 
 not be so great if it affected those on the outside only, but as all of 
 the eggs are treated to the same process they are subject to fluctua- 
 tions of temperature alike. If the number of eggs in the nest does 
 not exceed ten she will more easily cover them, and consequently 
 hatch a greater proportion of chicks, especially in winter. She fur- 
 nishes heat from her body, which is lower in temperature near the 
 close of the period of incubation than when she begins to sit. As 
 the chicks in the eggs also create heat, the equilibrium of tempera- 
 ture is maintained from the fact that as the heat from the hen de- 
 creases that from the chicks increases^ The hen also provides moist- 
 ure, which is given off from her body. This is imperceptible, but 
 is true, however. In winter the hen should be given a warm nest, 
 with few eggs, and food and water convenient, as well as a dust 
 bath. She seldom comes off to feed but once a day, and she is more 
 solicitous in regard to the dust bath than the food. In summer the 
 nest should be on the ground, in a cool, shady place, and she may 
 then be allowed thirteen eggs. It must be considered, however, 
 that a small hen cannot cover as many eggs as a large one, and in 
 
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 47 
 
 order to avoid having the eggs broken by a hen the nests should be 
 so arranged as to allow her to walk into the nest, and not be com- 
 pelled to jump up to the top of the nest and then down upon the 
 eggs. As the eggs are not all in the center of the nest, due to the 
 daily turning of them by the hen, they consequently vary in tem- 
 perature, and this fact teaches us that no definite temperature can 
 be decided upon as the correct heat for incubation, either with hens 
 or incubators. 
 
 The moisture required for eggs at a high temperture is greater 
 than that necessary for them at a lower temperature, which we will 
 explain by stating that the atmosphere always absorbs a certain 
 amount of water vapor. We cannot see the process of absorption 
 but it is constantly occurring. The relative humidity of an atmos- 
 phere, when fully saturated with water vapor, is 100, and it then 
 falls in the shape of rain. This limit of 100, however, does not 
 imply that the atmosphere in winter contains as much vapor as it 
 does in summer. It simply designates that as soon as 100 is reached 
 the moisture is given off again, and falls to the earth, but the warmer 
 the air the greater the amount of vapor necessary to saturate it. It 
 rains in winter when the relative humidity is 100, and yet that 
 amount of water vapor may not be sufficient to saturate a summer 
 atmosphere to sixty, but until the atmosphere is saturated, or 
 reaches a humidity of 100, it will absorb moisture from whatever 
 source it can be obtained. 
 
 In operating incubators this fact has given rise to many suppo- 
 sitions. We notice that some persons are successful with incuba- 
 tors when operating them at a certain temperature, while others 
 secure equally as good results from incubators at a different temper- 
 ature, and at other times complete failure results. The solution of 
 the difficulties may be traced to a lack of knowledge of the proper 
 application of moisture. We have known chicks to come out of the 
 shells when the temperature was only 98 degrees, and have 
 known failures to occur when it was 102. The reason why success 
 occurred at the lower temperature was because less moisture was re- 
 quired to saturate the air at that degree, Avhile at 102 there was a 
 small deficiency of moisture, a larger quantity being required to 
 saturate it. A good indicator of the moisture is a wet sponge, 
 placed in the egg draAver, among the eggs. As long as it does not 
 dry there is a sufficiency of moisture; and even if the heat rises to 
 106, if the moisture is plentiful, the chicks sometimes come out 
 strong. If the sponge becomes dry, however, it indicates thai there 
 is alack of moisture. We do not supply moisture to eggs because 
 they need it, for nature makes ample provision in that respect. We 
 
48 MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 
 
 supply it because we wish to prevent the atmosphere from absorb- 
 ing it from the eggs. As soon as the atmosphere becomes heated it 
 takes up more vapor than it previously required. This vapor must 
 come from somewhere, and if it is not provided the eggs become dry, 
 the chicks die in the shell, and especially after they have "pipped" 
 through, as the opening made by the chick allows of rapid evapora- 
 tion. 
 
 To explain how the hen gives off moisture we will give an ex- 
 ample. Let the reader sit down in a chair by a stove in winter, 
 close the doors, and keep the room very warm. In the course of 
 about half an hour he will want a drink of water. He has not per • 
 spired, or apparently given off moisture, but nevertheless the dry 
 atmosphere of the room has imperceptibly taken, through the pores 
 of the skin, from the body, moisture which was insensible to the 
 reader at the time, the system has become drier, and he feels thirsty. 
 So with the hen. She does not sweat profusely, but there is exhaled 
 from her body an insensible moisture Avhich is just sufficient to sat- 
 urate the air confined in her feathers, and which prevents the chick 
 from being deprived of that which it requires. In other words the 
 atmosphere never becomes too dry, and we are therefore led to be- 
 lieve that the majority of failures arise from insufficient moisture. 
 
 AVe may conclude, therefore, that heat, air and moisture are the 
 essentials to incubation, the same being required for plant growth 
 also. As the. temperature for plant growth varies, the same may be 
 said of the chick. The temperature may be low at one time and 
 higher at another, but during the three weeks of incubation the 
 average temperature must be sufficient to fully develop the chick. 
 Extremes will destroy plant life, but the temperature may at times 
 be so low as to be only above freezing, yet the plant will live. The 
 next day a genial heat from the sun will refresh it, and it starts for- 
 ward again, but if within a certain period of its growth it does not 
 secure, in the aggregate, enough heat, it gradually withers and dies. 
 In the early spring, when the temperature is low, the plant does not 
 require much moisture, but when the warm days arrive, and it 
 secures a large amount of heat, provided it is blessed with abundant 
 shoAvers, thereby securing a sufficiency of moisture, it grows rapidly. 
 May Ave not claim that a similar state of affairs exists with the chick? 
 We think so, and can verify our theory Avith the statement that we 
 have demonstrated it to our satisfaction in our experiments with in- 
 cubators. 
 
THE POULTRY KEEPER INCUBATOR. 
 
 $21.00 
 
 Cash with the 
 order. Money will 
 be refunded at the 
 end of sixty days 
 if the Incubator is 
 not as represented 
 and does not do 
 the work as adver- 
 tised. 
 
 An incubator, to successfully meet the growing demand felt by every lain er 
 and poultryman who desires to take advantage of the profit to lie derived fn 1, 
 hatching and marketing early spring chickens, must be constructed in a sub- 
 stantial manner upon time-tried and thoroughly tested princi] les. 
 
 It must be simple in construction, with no automatic or difficult clock work 
 machinery that is liable to break, or from some cause or other cease to work at 
 just the time it should be perfectly trustworthy. It should have no galvanic 
 batteries that can only be handled by an electrician. 
 
 Its mechanical parts must be made so as to be understood at once by anyone, 
 require but a few minutes' attention each day, and hatch every hatchable egg; to 
 do this, and The Poultry Keeper Incubator certainly does.it must contain the 
 following essential features: Uniformity of Heat, Continuous Applica- 
 tion of Moisture, Perfect Ventilation. 
 
 The Heat in this machine is applied from the top,byusing boiling water, and 
 perfect uniformity of heat is maintained throughout the egg drawer. 
 
 The Moisture is applied perfectly and naturally during the process of incuba- 
 tion, being supplied from below the egg, in just sufficient quantities and at the 
 proper degree. 
 
 The Ventilation is steady and unchangeable, a constant current of air pass- 
 ing through the chamber at all times, keeping it pure and fresh. 
 
 It will therefore be seen that this machine, containing as it does all the require- 
 ments that are necessary for successful artificial incubation, also contains many 
 of the best mechanical points and improvements to be found in the high pric< d 
 machines, and without any difficult machinery to get out of order. A child seven 
 years old can run it. 
 
 Ten of these Incubators holding KM) eggs each were in successful opera- 
 tion in our office for two months, batching on an average of seventy-five 
 to eighty-five per cent of the eggs. Price of The Poultry Keeper Incubatob, 
 100-egg capacity, $21. Sent securely boxed on sixty days' test trial, with tested 
 thermometer. Catalogue free. Address 
 
 THE POULTRY KEEPER, 89 Randolph St., Chicago, III. 
 
002 866 961 6 m