The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-28

thinking that his breeders need more air when he finds few chicks smothered in the morning. Better keep the hover too warm by far than the least bit too cold. Hover chicks can and will get away from too much neat, but cannot get away from tho cold.
 Hen-reared chicks get chilled. too. but the hen can usually keep the chick warm. In the early spring ahe is pi ovided with suitable protection and she protects the chicks from cold at necessary intervals. Later in the sea son. when allowed the freedom Of tho earth. one temptation to her to 70 out is juicy worms. but in getting them she gets wet with the uew which is bad for the little chicks, as they are rot vet able to withstand tho damp ness. Small chicks should then ba con- fined to the coops or houses during tbe night and in the morning until the sun has thoroughly dried and warmed the ground, when they should be aI- lowed to roam at will on pleasant days with the mother hen.
 Attention to Feeding '' 's of course, absolutely necessary that all the food given chicks of tender s|-~ snouid be the sweetest and most Wholesome, but that Is not all. Some in- Vestigators have found that the first feed should be withheld for 2i hours after hatching another has oecreed that 3i hours is the proper time, while another goes to the extreme of directing that the first feed should inc given 72 hours after it is probable that 36 hours is the right time for the first feed If allowed to go much longer than that they seem to weaken and become discontented, as may be fairly inferred from their actions. Weaker chicks require a longer time.
 If chicks are not given or allowed ac- cess to find sand from the very first an important point in their feeding has been overlooked. Chicks matched in an incu- bator seldom get this, and this simple omission accounts for many deaths through disorders of the bowels. A gig gard is part of the digestive system of Q chick and this part must have the imple- ments with which to do it's work. In the small chick the inpleme nts are fine bits of sand The gizzard is soon supplied with this substance in the case of the hen-hatched chick when the chicks have access to earth.
 What to Feed
 The question of what to feed is impor- tant, but it is not only important to see that sweet and wholesome food Is pro- cided, but 1t is equally important to see that these are put into the proper form that Is, we must not consider alone the kind of food particle, but also the size and consistency of that particle. As for in- stance, no one would think of feeding chicks whole corn, no matter how sweet or how well seasoned 1t is too hard, also too large. Manifestly chicks of tender agd cannot digest either tco large or too tough or too hard kernels.
 On the other hand, if the particles are too fine the food becomes too pasty end collects in a mass or ball as soon as wet by the juices of the crop. The food is then mora reSiatinR tO both tbe ttlirps of the digestive tract and to the mechanical action of the glzzard. Formerly it was the generally accepted notion that the first food of young chicks should be oft, or semi-soft; as bread and milk, hard boiled eggs, or soft mash, but while such food is well for a few days, if fed judi ciously and for a pleasant variety when chicks are given different foods for a principal diet, they are not necessary. and fully as good results are obtained by feed ing finely cracked, well seasoned sweet grains.
 Tho ashioned pin-head oat meal made an ideal food of just the right con- sistency for baby chicks, and could be fed from the first. Corn and wheat when cracked to about this size. make splendid chick feed, even for the first feeds. Undoubtedly 1t is still better to feed all three than one or two only. The present steel-cut oat meal is available in most every market. and can fed for a few days at the begjlnrng of a chicks s life. Commercial chick feeds are as 8 ule good. They have two good qualities to recommend them--variety and consistency --as they usually contain several kinds of seeds and grain, and these are cracked to the right size.
 Litter Feeding
 Chicks do better when kept on fin3