Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 90, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 April 1919 — KEEP YOUNG CHICKS GROWING BY USING FEEDING SCHEDULE GIVING BEST GAINS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

KEEP YOUNG CHICKS GROWING BY USING FEEDING SCHEDULE GIVING BEST GAINS

(Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture.) Every poultry raiser . wants his chicks to grow fast whether he plans to get them on an early market or to develop profitable layers. Early hatching is one of the first steps in this direction, but the next, which Is of equal importance, is proper feeding. Undoubtedly chickens will grow faster when fed five times than when fed only three times daily, say poultry specialists of the United States department of agriculture, but it should be borne in mind that more harm can be done to the young chicks by overfeeding than by under-feeding. Young chickens should be fed not more than barely enough to satisfy their appetites and to keep them exercising, except at the evening or last meal, when they should be given all they care to eat. Greater care must be exercised ■not to over-feed young chickens that are confined than those that have free range, as leg weakness is likely to result. Chicks’ First Meals. Inexperienced poultry raisers are tempted to feed chicks immediately after they are hatched, but this should not be done. No feed should be given before the chicks are thirty-six or for-ty-eight hours old. During the first week feed them stale bread, pinhead oatmeal, rolled oats, hard-boiled eggs, or • johnnycake. Crumbly, but not sloppy mashes, made by mixing with milk, are considered valuable. During the second week add cracked wheat, finely cracked corn and hulled oats to the chicks’ ration. After the chicks are ten days old a good growing mash, composed of two parts by weight of bran, two parts middlings, one part cornmeal, one part low-grade wheat flour or red-dog middlings, and ten per cent beef scrap, may be placed in a hopper and left before them all the time. The mash

may be fed either wet or dry; if wet, only enough moisture (either milk or water) should be added to make the feed crumbly. If this moisture is not used a hotter containing bran should be accessible to the chickens at all times. After the chickens are two months old they may be fed four times daily, with good results. When they ate three months old three feedings a day are enough. Hoppers for Feeding Chicks. As soon as the chickens will eat the whole wheat, cracked corn, and other grains—usually in about eight weeks —the small-sized chick feed can be eliminated. In addition to the above feeds sour milk, skim milk, or buttermilk will hasten the chickens’ growth. Growing chickens kept on a good range may be given all their feed in a hopper, mixing two parts by weight of cracked corn with one part of wheat, or equal parts of cracked corn., wheat, and oats In one hopper and the dry mash for chickens in another. The beef scrap may be left out of the dry mash and fed in a separate hopper, ‘so that the chickens can eat all of this feed they desire. It the beef scrap is to be fed. separately, it is advisable to wait until the chicks are ten days old, although some poultrymen put the beef scrap before the young chickens at the start without bad results. Chickens confined to small yards should always be supplied with green feed, such as lettuce, sprouted oats, alfalfa, or clover, but the best place to raise chickens successfully is on « good range where no extra green feed is required. Where the chickens are kept In small bare yards, fine charcoal, grit, and oyster shell should be kept before them all of the time, and cracked or ground bone may be fed. The bone Is not necessary for chickens that have a good range.

Starting at the Bottom to Learn the Chicken Business.