The courier-index., 1920-04-02
GOOD CARE OF CHICKS
 NECESSARY FOR SUCCESS

A large number of chicks die each year due to improper care. Not only is it necessary to feed prop erly, but the general care of the chick should be of the very best to insure success, says s. R. Stout, Poultry Husbandry of the University of Arkansas Just before the eggs are due to hatch, the brooder house should be thoroughly cleaned and be lighted and regulated, so that everything is in readiness for the baby chicks as soon as they are ready to leave the incubator.
 Many times bowel trouble is as cribed to improper feeding when the real trouble is that the chicks have become spoiled. Keep the temperature of the brooder house between TO and 80 degrees and this will insure sufficient heat around the hover for the baby chicks. Do not let the chicks crowd into cor ner, for in so doing they will either die of suffocation, or their vitality will be so weakened that they will never amount to much
 The first food, which should be given forty-eight hours after hatch ing, should be coarse sand or fine commercial chick grit. A few hours after this, feed some feed that IS light and flaky. Rolled oats has given us the best results. They are light, flaky and easily seen. In place of rolled oats, finely ground bread crumbs or wheat bran can be used as a starter. Where butter milk or sour sour skim milk is at hand, it should be given instead of water. as the acid keeps down bowel trouble. Feed at least five times day but in limited quantities.
 After two or three days of feed ing on these starter feeds, grain mixture consisting of equal parts of finely cracked corn and wheat can be fed along with the starter feed. Commercial chick feed can be used instead of the above, but we advise the use of the former because only the best of feeds should be used for baby chicks and often the commercial food is found to be moldy Besides the grain ration the chicks should have before them at all times equal parts of wheat bran and sifted beef scraps. This system of feeding can be continued until the chicks are two weeks old.
 From the third week to the fifth the following grain ration will give good results. For the grain mix ture use two parts of cracked wheat, two parts pinhead oatmeal, one part millet, and one part cracked corn, or a good commercial chick feed, providing it is absolutely free from mould. Feed the above in the lit ter twice a day. For the dry mash, that should always be available in the hopper, feed equal parts of bran, wheat middlings, and beefs scraps. Up until this time the chicks should have nothing but buttermilk or sour milk, but now it is advisable to glve both milk and water
 From the seventh week on to ma turity feed equal part whole wheat and hulled oats for short tune, and then use wheat and cracked corn Feed this in deep litter once or twice a day. Keep the following mixture in the hopper before them at all times: equal parts of bran, wheat middlings, corn meal, and half part of linseed meal. Beef scraps, grit, oyster shells and char coal should be always available. Keep plenty of fresh water and sour milk in shady place.
 Green food should be supplied from time to time after the chicks are few days old. Sprouted oats ] is one of the best green foods. Let tuce is also relished by the chicks.
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