Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-04-23

Many causes of trouble with baby
chicks may be traced to one of three
sources heat too much or not
enough. feed or crowding. After
chicks hatch the mistake is often made
of keeping them too warm, which has
a weakening tendency. The best brood
ers are arranged so the chicks can find
! the temperature they like, as injurious
effects result if the chicks get chilled
Another cause of loss is the feed
Just before the chick is Matched it
takes the yolk into it's body. This is
little lunch basket given to the chick
by nature to supply it with food till it
learns how to eat after it comes out
into the big world. Because little
chick picks at everything it does not
necessarily mean that it is hungry.
| The little chick is a new creature in
Il strange land Investigating through
curiosity and is not really hungry.
Some farmers know the yolk inside
the chicks body contains food enough
to last for several days and SO do not
feed it for three or four days. These
are the extremes and either may do
injury. To feed as soon as Matched
would gorge the digestive system with
too much food and to wait four or five
the digestive system too great for its
strength.
The better plan is to begin feeding
small quantities of food at from twen-
ty-foUr to forty-eight hours and in
crease the food as the yolk decreases.
Nature does not like abrupt changes.
Hard boiled eggs ground fine. shell
and all. mixed with breadcrumbs, are
good for the first two days. Then a
duo oh rSr IN
wheat bran is good. After the chicks
are five or six days old feed mash
composed of equal parts wheat bran,
rolled oats, shorts, cornmeal. and to
each 100 pounds add half pound of
fine table salt and two pounds of fine
charcoal
In the afternoon moisten enough of
the dry mash with sour milk or butter
milk so that it will take the chickens
twenty or thirty minutes to clean it
up. More feed so that some will be
left to spoil is not given. gradual
feed is then begun, composed OF a
good grade of scratch feed. Grit is
kept before them all the time. 1t is
good practice to give few drops of
sour milk or butternlilk to the chick
as soon as it matches. 1t helps to con-
troll diarrhea. Either good grade of |
sour or butter milk or water always ,
before the chicks is good practice.
The third cause for trouble is crowd |
ing. Chicks cannot sweat like many !
animals do, for they have no sweat |
glands in the skin. Therefore much of
the impurities and moisture must be !
carried out through the breath. If |
chicks are crowded without proper ven |
tilation the air becomes laden with |
moisture and impurities so that it can
not do the work it should. !
One of the most common causes of |
chick mortality is white diarrhea. No i
certain cure for this ma1ady is yet |
known. While it has been established !
that this disease is usually commune |
ted to the chick before it is Matched, |
it has also been established that the |
disease can be held in check and even |
prevented by proper feeding. The or |
ganisms that cause white dfarrhea are |
killed by weak acids For this reason |
sour milk can well be made part of !
the chicks rations for the first few |
days Either moiSten the food with it ,
or set in shallow drinking pans. In !
supply plenty of clean, pure drinking |
water.
It will pay to gather eggs many |
times during the day II they are left |
in the nests until evening there is al |
ways danger that they will be broken, |
and the hens will eat them, thus form |
ing the egg-eating habit. After hen |
once acquires this habit it is almost i'm |
possible to break her of it, and it is |
better to Kill her at once.
On the farm biddy is likely to steal
away when she becomes broody and !
build nest Hens on stolen nests |
usually raise a fine brood. although it |
is not wise to encourage such practices. |
Chicks Matched in nests in the fields |
rarely are troubled with lice.
Sitting hens do best when confined to |
slightly darkened rests al Matching |
time and not disturbed unless they |
step on or pick their chickens when
Matching In the latter case the chick |
ems may be removed as soon as dry
in a basket lined with flannel or some
other warm material and kept near Il
fire until all the eggs are Matched. In
place Of this the eggs may be removed
and placed under quieter hen whose
eggs are Matching at the same time. !
An incubator may also be used to keep
the earliest Matched chickens warm in
case they are removed from the nest.
If the eggs hatch unevenly those which
are slow in Matching may be placed
under other hens. as hens often get
restless after a part of the chickens
are out, allowing the remaining eggs
to become cooled at the very time when
steady heat is necessary. 1t is neces-
sary to remove the eggshells and any
eggs which have not Matched as soon
as the Matching is over. Hens are fed
soon possible after the eggs are
quiet: otherwise hens will leave the
nest.
Fresh eggs placed in a clean nest
under a hen that is free from lice and
mites will hatch chicks that are free
from disease of any kind. for inherited
diseases are rare and can be absolutely
avoided by never using for breeding
Purposes hens that have ever shown
signs of sickness
The quality of eggs depends not al
together upon the length of time they
have been kept, but quite much
upon the conditions to which they have
been subjected between the time of
laying and of their final use. More
over. the quality of an egg may be af-
fected to some extent by tine foods
eaten by the hen which lays it. and
possibly by the season of the year
when IT is laid. All these points and
many others are discussed in a bulle-
tin on the interior quality of market
eggs, issued by the Cornell agricultural
experiment station. which explains the
structure of the normal egg 1t tells
also how the interior quality Of mar
ket eggs may be studied and advocates
Gambling as the best method. It gives
directions for Gambling and instruc-
tons for making Gambling devices.
Leghorns are so active that they
maintain a good appetite and will
stand the heavy feeding necessary to
heavy egg production. Eggs cannot
be made without feed. The laying
casional cleaning medication and there
| nntbipo HAMMER than hfor Aock