Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1879-04-24
The POULTRY YARD.
MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKENS

partment. A failure in the yearly supply
of pullets, with which to recruit the stock
of layers, would be fatal to the whole plan.
1t is quite an easy matter to raise nearly ev-
cry chick of hardy breed, when there are
but few upon an extensive range, but, it is
the reverse when we are desirous of rearing
several hundreds upon an acre, and there
is, practically, no insect forage at all. If
there are persons who consider the life of
poulterer as ''small potatoes,'' believing
that it needs less thought and skill than to
manage cotton mill, or mercantile estab-
lishment, or horses and cattle even, let them
try once to raise chickens by the thousand
without losing money, and find the need of
keeping their wits as sharp as in more pre-
tentious kinds Of business. Yet, all difficult
ties may be suomounted by thorough man
agement.
10 have strong chickens, it is necessary
in the first place to avoid, in the main breed
ing akin, and to keep the breeding stock in
condition as nearly normal as possible,
securing for them sun, air, and exercise,
and avoiding a pampering diet. The great
er the number of eggs produced by fowl,
the less vitality there will be in each. there
fore the first only of a laying should be SET
Early chickens are the most certain to live,
and this is because force is stored up in the
parent before laying commences, sufficient
to endow the first eggs or chickens with
plenty of vigor, while later the abnormal or
artificial prolidcness impairs the eggs. In
spite of the uncongenial weather, March
hatched chickens are stronger than those
produced in April, and the latter in turn
are reared with greater ease than those
hatched in May. But alter attending to the
above considerations, the chickens being
hatched and assigned quarters, their lives
then depend chiefly on their diet. OF courlc
they must be kept clean, dry, free from ser-
min, and protected from other enemies,
quadruped and biped and be allowed space
for exercise in the sun and open air; but
all these things will nos suffice, unless al}i~
NAL food is artiici4ay provided as snbsti-
tute for the insects they would obtain ii
there Were but Jew chickens Oh the peemis-
es Butchers g1eat, smell Il calves and
sleeps plucks, are even better than insects,
provided they are fed plentitaly, get only a
very little al a time, and care il taken to al
ternate with grain and greer vegetable
food. Chambers greaves may be used for
chickens Il very nice and sweet-the article
varies much IN quality. They are very
cheap teed, cheaper than the fresh bits from
the butcher, but not as good for chickens as
the latter. There must be constant vigil
lance in supplying animal food regularly
and Systematically. The young of birds in
a wild state are given an animal diet, even
in cases when, as they reach maturity, they
live upon seeds. The young Of our domes-
tic birds cannot thrive upon grain and yege-
tables alone, no matter how nicely prepared
because such things caunot be digested and
assimiiated fast enough by them, to meet
the great demands for nourishment caused
by their rapid growth. Nature has proyid-
ed that the young of all birds shall mature
and become fledged with wonderful rapidi-
ty, in order that the period of their help
lessness, when they are liable to be preyed
upon by numerous enemies, shall be short.
The formation of the coat of feathers which
succeeds the downy covering with which
they emerge from the shell, demand a quick
and certain supply of nutritive materials,
and in the case of domesticated species the
young are obliged at the same time to nonr-
ish the growth of bodies which, owing to
the artificial treatment man has subjected
their parents to for many generations, tend