Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 254, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 October 1916 — REARING CHICKENS [ARTICLE]

REARING CHICKENS

Specialists Offer Suggestion* For Brooding and Feeding Young Chicks Brooding with hena is the simplest and easiest way to raise a few chick* tns and is the method which la used almost exclusively on the average farm. Artificial brooders are necessary where winter or very early chickens are raised, where only Leghorns or other nonsitting breeds of poultry are kept, or where large numbers of chickens are raised commercially. Sitting hens should be confined to slightly darkened nests at hatching time and not disturbed unless they step on or pick their chickens when hatching. The eggshells and any eggs which nave not hatched should be removed as soon as the hatching Is over. Hens should be fed as soon as possible after the eggs are hatched, as feeding tends to keep them quiet; otherswise many hens will leave the nest. In most cases it is best that the hen remain on the iiest and brood the chicks for at least 24 hours after the hatching Is over. All the chickens should be toe-punch-ed or otherwise marked before they are transferred to the brooder or brood coop so that their age can be readily determined after they are matured. The brood coop should be cleaned at least once a week and kept free from mites. If mites are found in the coop, it should be thoroughly cleaned and sprayed with kerosene oil oi crude petroleum. From 1 to 2 inches of saud or dry dirt or a thin layer of straw or finb hay should be spread on the floor of the coop. Brood coops should be moved weekly to fresh ground, preferably where there is new grass. Shade is very essential in rearing chickens. Chicks are usually left in the incubator from 24 to 36 hours after hatching r without feeding, before they are removed to the brooder, which should have been in operation for a day or two at the proper temperature for receiving the chickens. A beginner should try his brooding system carefully before he uses it. After placing the chickens in the brooder they can be given feed and water. Subsequent loss ill Chickens is frequently due ing received while taking them- from lie incubator to the brooder. They should be moved in a covered basket or reoeptacle in cool or cold weather. TJ»e capacity of brooders aLd hovers is often and one-half to two-thirds of the number of chickens commonly advised will do much better than a larger number. The danger from fire, due frequently to carelessness and lack of attention, is considerable in cheap brooders and hovers, while there is some risk in the best grades, although proper care will reduce this to a minimum. Individual hovers in colony houses or several in one large house are giving quite general satisfaction on small poultry farms, while the pipe system of brood ing is commonly used in large commercial poultry plants and where extensive winter brooding is done. Gaso- 1 line brooders, brooder stoves burning engine distillate oil, and a separate individual hover heated by a coal fire are coming into more gone ral use, each with a capacity varying from 200 to 1,5000 chickens. These large individual brooders are used in colony houses, and when the chickens are weaned the colony house is used as a growing coop, which requires a smaller investment than the long piped brooder house and allows one to rear the chicks on range to good advantage. The best temperature at which to keep a brooder or hover depends upon position of the thermometer, the style of the hover, the age of the chickens and the weather conditions. Aim io keep the chickens comfortable. As the operator learns by the actions of the chickens the amount of heat they require, he can discard the thermometer if he desires. When too cold they will crowd together and try to get nearer the heat. It is possible to state for each case at what temperature the brooders sl|t>uld be to raise voung chickens; however, it will run from 90 degrees up to 100 degrees In some cases, as some broods of chickens seem to require more heat than others, an average being 93 to 95 degrees for the, first week or 10 days, wlmn the temperature is gradually reduced to «5 degrees for the following 10 days, and then lowered to 70 degrees or 75 degrees for as loug as the chickens need heat. Young chickens should be fed from three to five times daily, depending upon one’s experience In feeding. The young chicks may be fed any time after they are 36 to 48 hours old, whethj er they are with a hen or in a brooder. The first feed .may contain either hard boiled eggs, johnnycake; stale bread, pinhead oatmeal, or rolled oats which feeds or „ combinations may be used with good results. Feed „ the bread crumbs, rolled oats, or Jobfittycake mixtures moistened with water, five times daily for the week, then gradually substitute for one or two feeds of the mixture finely cracked grains of equal parts jby weight of cracked wheat, finely cracked com, and pinhead oatmeal or hulled <>ats, to (which ahout 5 per cent of cracked peas or brokeit-riegand 2 per cent of*charcoal, millet, or seed may m added. Commercial chtek-feed may be substituted If desired. The above ration can be fed until the chicks are two weeks old, when they Bhould be fed on grain and a dry or Wet mash mixture. ,