Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-03-31

warmth is also important If the sea-
son is so early that severe changes of
outside temperature are liable to oc-
cur, care should be taken that the
brooder has a su Is cient amount of re-
serve heat to meet this condition. The
chicks are often chilled and lost as
result of rapid changes in the
weather.
The correct temperature for baby
chickS Is from 80 to 100 degrees. The
brooder should be started at the higher
temperature and reduced a degree or
so daily until the chicks are two or
three weeks old. A brooder that will
register 100 degrees an inch above the
Iloor line, under adverse weather con-
ditions will usually prove safe and
satisfactory.
Baby chicks must be broken to the
mover. They have no mother hen to
call them. But they soon become crea-
lures or habit If properly handled at
the beginning. The poultry raiser
must train them and here is where
patience is required. The new brood
must be trained to take to the hover
as 1t would seek warmth and protec-
ton at the call of a mother hen,
Training Chicks to Brood
Chicks should be moved from the
incubator to the brooder at night. Not
only are they easier handled when 1t
Is dark, but they are more likely to
remain where they are put under the
hover. For the first night or two they
should be confined rather closely to the
hover for this reason.
III not carefully watched for the first
two or three days, chicks may huddle
| together in corner of the brooder,
where they are likely to get chilled, or
trample one another to death in their
effort to keep warm. 1t only takes a
I EOiInla M IN % Iro
to the hover. The poultry raiser can
not afford to discontinue his care and
watchfulness, however, If he expects to
succeed with his young brood.
For the first few days chicks need
Irest more than anything else. II sun
light enters the brooder they will spend
hours at a time huddled together en-
joying the natural warmth. This is
good for them as ii helps to strengthen
them. Whenever possible the brooder
should be moved so as to allow the
sunshine to fall near the hover or in
the warmest part of the brooder. Since
the chicks will surely seek the sun
light, the aim should be to so
arrange the brooder that they will not
become chilled as the sun moves away.
Feeding the Chicks
AS previously stated, Nature pro-
vides for a chicks nourishment for the
first two or three days of life, Chicks
for the first forty-eight hours. If fed
sooner 1t will be harmful and not help
ful. The .unabsorbed portion of the
yoke serves to supply the chick with
lnourishment. Additional food is likely
TO cause indigestion and bowel trouble,
which should be avoided by all means,
, More chicks are lost every season by
overfeeding than by underfeeding.
Let the brooder floor be covered
with dry sand and fine-cut clover or
alfalfa. The sand will absorb the
droppings. The chicks should be en-
couraged as early as possible to take
exercise, This can be done by maxi
ing them scratch for their food.
Young chicks are easily trained to
eat. When hungry they instinctively
peck at everything in sight. This habit
makes IL essential that absolute clean
Illness be practiced. At first they should
be fed on a board or shallow tray,
which should removed ua soon as their
appetite has been satisfied. Chicks soon
learn an attendants ways and will
quickly come at a given sound, They
should be fed regularly and not less
than three times q day. No food should
be left around to sour CT be eoiied
Better TO feed too little each time than
too much, A little dried bread crumbs
mixed with bran, rolled oats and cut
clover makes a splendid ration. wet