Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 99, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1919 — Hints for the Poultry Grower [ARTICLE]

Hints for the Poultry Grower

Young chicks should not be fed for from 24 to 36 hours after hatching, and will not suffer if given no food until the third day. The yolk of the eggs, which is absorbed by the chick, furnishes all the nourishment required during this time. It is this provision of nature for the first sustenance of the chick that makes it possible to ship newly hatched chicks considerable distances. After feeding Is started It Is advisable to feed the chick five times a day, at equal Intervals, and alternating a mash of soft feed, such as johnny cake, with a hard grain or scratch feed. “A model variety ration for very young chicks,” said John L. Prehn, extension poultry husbandman for the Kansas State Agricultural college, “is a scratch mixture composed of five pounds of cracked corn, three pounds of cracked wheat, two pounds of pinhead oatmeal, either hulled or rolled oats. If corn Is not available, cracked kafir or rolled or hulled barley may be substituted. Feed this mixture, scattered In chaff, morning, noon and night. “For making the johnnycake, use five pounds of cornmeal, six infertile eggs, and one tablespoonful of baking soda. Mix in enough milk to make a stiff batter, and bake it well. “Instead of the johnnycake a mixture of dried crumbs with hard boiled Infertile eggs, making about one-quar-ter of the mixture of the eggs, may be used. Rolled oats may be used in place of the bread crumbs. Feed this in the middle of the forenoon and afternoon for the first ten days. or two weeks. ' “When infertile eggs are not available use double the quantity of baking soda, and add half a pound of sifted beef scrap. Infertile eggs are those which have been tested out from sittings or from an incubator. “Some tender green stuff should be fed to baby chicks after the first week. When a regular supply in quantity Is needed it is usually most convenient to use sprouted oats.”