Evening star., 1916-07-30
POULTRY YARD NOTES.

Many poultrymen are wondering just
now why it is their young stock is not
developing as it should. Perhaps the
chicks were properly hatched, carefully
brooded and came from eggs laid by
strong, vigorous breeding stock; but
somehow the youngsters do not seem to
grow. In nine cases out Of ten the
trouble is in the manner in which the
chicks and broilers are being fed. In
the remaining case it is probably due
to insect pests.
Young stock that is fed along with
the hens never does we'll. The young
chicks do not get their share of feed,
being crowded away by the grown
fowls, and while the per capita guam
tlty of feed given the flock may be all
right, the hens get about all Of it, while
the youngsters get only an occasional
grain or two. They go to roost at night
with crops empty or half empty, they
are uneasy and restless from hunger
all night, during the day they keep on
the run constantly in search of food,
and the result is that they cannot make
satisfactory growth. Such young stock
invariably goes into the winter in poor
flesh. undersized and weak, is subject to
all kinds of diseases, lays few if any
eggs and is generally liability rather
than an asset in the poultry yard
In order to obtain best results chicks
must be fed away from the older stock,
IN order that they may get the feed
they must have if they are to grow
and develop properly. Chivalry doesn't
exist in the poultry yard; the code of
ethics among fowls is that might is
right and first come is always first
served-provided the first is the strong
est. If weaklings and young stock get
to the feed first, however, it takes only
about half minute for the grown,
strong fowls to shove them aside and
gobble up everything in sight. Every
poultryman has doubtless seen a fussy
old hen. or big, strutting male bird,
suddenly attack poor, frail, unsus-
pect1ng chick, peck 1T viciously on the
head and either kill it outright or chase
1t away from the feed.
More than this, chicks under three
months old require a different ration
from that given to older fowls Young
chlcks must have finely cracked chick
grains. broken wheat, broken rice.
hulled oats, millet, kaffir, corn and such
feeds, which are too expensive for feed
ing to mature stock. Consequently the
youngsters should be fed in a place
where these costly feeds cannot be
stolen by the hens or by other poultry
DUCKS, gu1neaS and turkeys are notori-
GUS feed thieves and robbers of young
chicks.
idly during the first three months of
their lives, otherwise the chances are
they never will be profitable. Those
that are stunted in growth for any rea-
most never mature into worth while
fowls and should be killed for table
use. After having been stunted or set
back IN growth 1t is almost impossible
flesh. and such chicks are liable to
many kinds Of constitutional and cpl
demic ailments, thus proving a source
Of weakness to the entire flock.
A feeding pen for chicks is easily and
cheaply made. and by it's use the poul-
tryman or farmer will soon save
enough on expensive feeds to pay for
the pen. to say nothing of the advan-
tage the contrivance proves to the
chicks. A framework five or six feet
long, three or four feet wide and a
foot high. covered on the top and the
four sides with poultry netting. and
with a few openings just large :enough
to permit the chicks to enter and
emerge. makes practical feeding pen.
The pen may be made with Slated
sides and ends, the stats. of lath, being
tackled to the framework at intervals
close enough together to keep all
grown fowls out. In such a pen the
chicks will get all the feed they need,
the grown fowls can get none of 1t,
and the chicks also will have all the
advantage of range. By moving the
pen about and feeding each day on a
new spot the pen and ground can be
kept clean and sanitary. The frame
work of such pen need not be of
anything heavier than strips of half
inch stuff a couple OF inches wide,
tackled firmly together at the corners
with inch wire nails.
The foundation of the poultry flock
is the breeding stock. Without sound,