Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-04-20
THOUSANDS OF
CHICKS KILLED
BY 'REMIE:DIES''
Poultry Experts Condemn Use
of Patent Foods; Free Ac-
cess to Corn Cribs Causes
Death of Thousands.

Lack of brooders, heavy feeding Of
corn, and use of remedies" are
three big evils existing in Nebraska
poultry raising, say c. T. Cornman,
university poultry extension special
ist, who has travelled extensively in
the state the last year, giving lee
lures and demonstrations. There are
probably more incubators per capita
in Nebraska than in any other
state, he declared, but there is a no.
torious lack of brooders. and the
lack of brooders means the lack Of
a proper way to bring the chicks
through the critical period after they
are hatched
1T is comparatively easy to hatch
chickens" said Mr.. Cornman. "The
difficult part comes after they are
Matched. If it is not possible to have
a brooder don't have an incubator
Stick to the hen. I visited one farm
the other day where a woman had
two incubators in the living room
The baby chicks were dying off like
flies. She didn't think it worth while
to have brooders. SO she Matched
the chicks and then let them die.
The brooder is more important than
the incubator. Some people have
good luck putting the chicks with
hens, but there must be ample pro-
vision for taking care of the hen"
Remedies" Kill Chicks.
University extension workers say
that thousands of baby chicks are
killed off every spring by the use
of remedies" Some people seem
to think a chick cannot be healthy
unless they doctor u, the water they
drink or the food. they eat. Such
people fall easy victims to the drug
gist who wants to sell patent rem
edies' of all sorts. An extension
man held postmortem of some
chicks the other day. He found
green livers and red intestines. The
woman had been feeding copperas
and some kind of red patent mixture
sold her by local druggist. She
didn't know why she was feeding
either, but the druggist had told her
they were good for chickens.
Thousands of chickens die every
year because they are allowed free
access to the corn crib, declared Mr..
Cornman. The result is too much
fat, and fatty degeneration Of the
heart.
II have visited one farm where
225 hens laid two eggs a day." he
said. Every morning when the
man opened the house he found
several hens dead under the roost.
Likewise when the chickens came
for feed one or two would
sometimes fall over dead.
Too Much Fat.
Il held postmortem at another
place where Is chickens had died
without cause. | found
the internal organs embedded in
fat. The crop was so surrounded
with hard fat that it wasn't much
bigger than a marble. The heart
was very soft and surrounded with
deep fat. ..
I'm both the above instances the
chickens were getting so much corn
they were simply dying of fatty de-
generation of the heart. The average
farmer feeds entirely too much,
of corn. Corn has come
to be one of the curses of the
chicken industry in this state "
Mr.. Cornman said the poultry in
iustry has not been appreciated in
this state. 1t has been left largely
to the women, the farmers wives.
The women were expected to raise
chickens without equipment, and
often without much feed or the
of any money. The
farmer had all the machinery and
he wanted, and usually
more than he needed, but his wife
was supposed to raise chickens with
a few barrels and boxes, and hen
house that rain and snow held in
contempt, the principle mission OF
which was to harbor untold num-
bers of lice.