Secrets of success with baby chicks

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LATEST CHICK BOOK PUBLISHED

FIRST EDITION

Chapter One Brooding And Feeding Baby Chicks Successfully

Details Must Be Watched — Success Only Comes From Correct Feeding

And Proper Brooding — Important Pointers Especially

For Beginners

By Campbell L. Cory.

The last thing a chick does before piping the shell of an egg and coming out to start its life in the world is to absorb or assimilate the yolk of the egg This is nature's way, and in the yolk of the egg nature provides sufficient nourishment to last the chick 36 to 48 hours. No food should, therefore, be given the chick for this length of time any way. Some poultrymen begin feeding when their chicks are only 24 hours old, but they usually have trouble later with cholera. The majority of the most successful breeders wait for at least 48 hours after the chicks are hatched until they are given their first food, while some even wait until the chick is 72 hours old.

This is one reason why day-old chicks can be shipped such distances and in good condition. This is likewise the reason why safe delivery can be guaranteed for a thousand miles or more by the shipper, whether a poultry breeder or hatchery, It is calculated, I believe, provided good connections are made, that a box of chicks can be sent by an express company or by mail a thousand miles within 24 hours or possibly a few hours more.

The old saying, "A bird in hand is worth two in the shell," is true enough and this is one of the reasons why the baby chick industry has grown to such proportions within the past few years. The purchase of day-old chicks has many advantages, especially for the novice, over the customary method of buying eggs and hatching them, and while many more thousands of chicks are being hatched by the larger hatching concerns and shipped each season, still thousands of breeders would rather buy eggs for hatching from a reliable poultryman, knowing exactly what stock they are buying, and hatch the chicks themselves. When a person sets a hen or incubator and hatches the chicks more pleasure is derived from poultry raising.

Vitality Chicks That Grow

But in the purchase of the chicks I want to suggest caution to all prospective buyers. Do not buy the very cheapest but at the same t me don't pay an exorbitant price. In baby chicks, as in most other things, it pays to pay a little more and get a standard article. What you want, too, is chicks with vitality, chicks that will grow into strong healthy birds. The word "vitality" is the keynote in success w th ch'cks.

Thousands of beginners in poultry raising, as well as many expert breeders, have found that the hardest problem after hatching or buying chicks, is to make them live through the first ten days. Hundreds of thousands of chicks are lost each year during this critical period because of careless and wrong feeding. Success with chicks depends entirely upon the poultry raiser himself, for to be successful in brooding and feeding chicks, one must not be careless in regard to details, haphazard about feeding or negligent about sanitation.

First Feeding Important

After being placed in the brooder they should have plenty of fresh water, as they will want something to drink as well as eat. The first feed should consist of bread crumbs and the yolk of hard boiled eggs crumbled together, a good commercial dry milk mash, or any of the reliable baby chick foods now advertised. This should be their feed for at least four or five days when they can be given any good commercial chick feed. In the meantime, too, you can give them some pin head grit and cover the bottom of the brooder with fine, clean sand.

Do not overfeed the chicks and it is best to feed oftener and not so much at one time.

Feed on a bare board the first two days. The third and fourth days scatter part of the feed on the board and the rest of it in the litter, and make your chicks work for it. Always spread or scatter the food enough so that all the chicks will be able to get what they need, otherwise the weak and timid ones will go hungry.

A little chick will not develop properly without exercise. The brooder should be roomy enough to avoid the danger of crowding, and an apartment strewn with straw should be attached to the brooder or hover where the chicks can scratch and run about freely, as this promotes growth and health.

There are numerous suggestions as to how best to feed broods to develop little chicks, but by following these general directions, even the beginner should have success.

Pointers Especially for the Amateur

Do not feed chicks for at least 36 to 48 hours after they are hatched. Some poultrymen wait 72 hours.

If you buy day-old chicks, estimate the time they have been on the road from the hatchery before feeding.

Feeding chicks before 36 hours often causes cholera which many mistake for white diarrhoea.

Dry feed is better than a wet mash during the first 10 day:?.

Do not feed chicks green food or meat scraps during the first week.

Do not overfeed the chicks. It is better to feed a little oftener and not so much at one time. Feed five or six times a day. ^.

See that every chick comes out from under the hover at feeding time.

Always keep fine grit and charcoal and fresh water before chicks, changing water at least twice a day. Always use lukewarm water. Never use cold water.

Place water where chicks can't scratch litter into it. If chicks spill the drinking water and the litter becomes soaked, remove the wet litter.

Test brooder or hover and have same in good running condition before arrival of chicks.

Be sure chicks have plenty of sunshine. Chicks also require fresh air, but must be protected from drafts, especially floor drafts.

Have temperature in brooder a little high rather than too low. Chicks will get away from excessive heat while too little results in crowding.

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BHOODER TEMPERATURE

I advise the following temperature for brooders or hovers. First week — start at 95 degrees and reduce gradually to 90. Second week — start at 90 degrees and reduce gradually to 85. Third week — start at 85 degrees and reduce gradually to 80. Fourth week — start 80 degrees and reduce gradually to 75.

THE GREAT VALUE OF SKIM MILK

I wish here to call special attention to the value of sour, skim milk or buttermilk in baby chick feeding. Sour milk is very palatable, it also contains much food value in its casine which is a form of protein or nitrogen. The greatest benefit however lies in its disinfecting qualities. The lactic acid present kills and prevents the multiplication of intestinal bacteria.

White diarrhoea is one of the most dangerous of these forms. In order to get the greatest benefit from sour skim milk it should be given the youngsters to drink from the very first day being given in a closed vacuum fountain so that the chicks cannot get their feathers soiled with it.

It should be changed daily and the vessel kept perfectly clean. Experiments conducted at the Connecticut Experiment Station have proven its great value. Experiments conducted at the New Jersey Station show that where sour skim milk is used as mentioned the percentage of mortality was very materially reduced over pens that did not receive it.

Also the skim milk chicks made a gain in weight of over 28 per cent more than those receiving no milk. Since these conclusive tests it is needless to say that the majority of poultry keepers are feeding s skim milk (sour) or bittermilk to all of our young chicks during the brooding period with

tin 1 greatest success. * * * *

THE TOUR ESSENTIALS

1. An understanding of the principles governing the growth and nutrition of chicks.

2. The working out of a simple, inexpensive but efficient ration.

3. The liberal feeding of sour mflk to the youngsters for at lea>t the first five weeks and longer if possible.

4. Watch the chicks carefully and remember that even the smallest detail is too important to be overlooked or neglected. *

TOE MARKING CHICKS The diagram below shows the 16 different combinations used in toe marking chicks. When the chick is a day old the thin web between the toes can be punched with a regular punch manufactured for this

^ j*. purpose without hurting the 'I "\ chick. For instance, all chicks

/^|\ // | Vk hatched from a certain pen or /IS. /T\ ma ^ n S, can b e punched like No.

Toe punching -a chick. A round hole is made in the web of the foot with a chick marker.

*

Method used in toe mark ing chicks to determine age

5. — the outside web of the right foot. All chicks from another

/i\ /4V pen can be punched like No. 3,

and pedigree — or the mat- I '.-,•' ^ i * 1 «•. o

ytv yjs. the inside web of left foot,

ing which produced the chick '•J ^ *\ x When these chicks are grown

A small iiole J is' purfeh<^3' m /J\ A\*^ the owner can easily tell from

the web of "t&'chWs foot /fV /^j\ which mating* &ey came by re-

, . .V, jk jt< ferring to the toe marks. Later

between the toes with a /T\ /T\ pocket poultry punch or chicks marker. The diagram shows the 16 different combinations or toe marks possible.

the toe marks can be supple-

Each one of these inverted V shaped marks in the accompanying diagram represents a

A|\ y »i v mented by leg bands.

/^pv y\^ chick's foot. The top two

>k y*^ straight across are the feet of

*i "I the same chick. The- one on

S[b *flV the left is the left foot, and

/fc^ yd^s the one on the right the right

foot of the same chick and so on.

Chapter Two Some Essentials In Feeding Chicks

Any Method of Feeding That Permits a High Mortality Is Expensive,

Untiring Care Is Absolutely Essential to the Success of Any

Method of Feeding Little Chicks.

By Clara Nixon, Ithaca, N. Y.

The important objects to be accomplished in the feeding of young chickens are: (1) To bring to maturity or to marketable size and age as large a proportion of the hatch of chicks as possible; (2) to enable the chicks to develop large, strong, well-proportioned frames and good plumage for their variety; (3) to provide for as rapid a growth as is attainable, at as low a cost as is consistent with other requirements. In the fulfillment of these purposes the following factors must be considered: (1) The eggs must be incubated properly; (2) the chicks must not be left too long in the incubator after the completion of the hatch. They should be removed to a nursery, or brooder, when they are thirty-six hours old; (3) the chicks must be strong and vigorous when taken from the incubator; (4) they must be properly cared for and skillfully fed.

Wing banding a chick. Wing bands will not come off and serve as a permanent identification.

Cleanliness

All the pens, the food and water dishes, and everything used about the chicks should be carefully cleaned and disinfected at frequent periods. This care should begin before the chicks are put in the brooders and should continue throughout the entire time of brooding. As soon as the litter becomes damp or soiled it should be removed and the pens should be thoroughly swept and disinfected after the litter is removed. To a considerable degree, careful cleaning will prevent the tracking of filth into the food. The food dishes should be cleaned frequently in order to prevent contamination of the food supply, and the dishes for water should be washed once daily and scalded once each week. Drinking water should be supplied in vessels of such a form as will render impossible the fouling of the water by the chicks. Food should never be allowed to accumulate in the litter, since it is thus likely to become spoiled and unfit for the chicks. Neglect of sanitary precautions furnishes a fruitful source of disease.

Fresh, Untainted Food

Spoiled food or musty food of any kind should never be given to young chickens. Moistened food spoils very quickly in summer, and for this reason, only a quantity sufficient for one meal should be mixed and any food that becomes even slightly soured or moldy should be thrown away. Cracked grain often heats and becomes musty, and, if fed, will cause serious bowel throuble in chicks; therefore, if only one ingredient in a quantity of chick feed of this kind has become musty while in storage or in any other manner, the entire lot should be discarded. Beef scrap manufactured from tainted meats may also prove dangerous food. A convenient method of testing beef scrap is to warm a small quantity of the material by holding it in the hand. If the oder of the warm beef scrap is like that of cooked or even scorched meat, there is probably nothing unwholesome about it; but if the odor is similar to that of decaying flesh, the scrap is wholly unfit for young chickens. Sligjit mustiness in grain may be detected in the same way.

Quantity and Quality of Food

It will readily be conceded that if chicks are not given sufficient food to ^supply their bodily requirements, they cannot be expected to grow satisfactorily. It is equally true that the food may be abundant but of such a quality that it will not yield sufficient nourishment. For example, chicks fed on a ration consisting largely of bran or some other material containing a large proportion of indigestible fiber could not eat enough of the food to supply the needs of their bodies, rlthough their crops might be constantly full. On the other hand, chicks fed chiefly on beef scrap or on sour milk curd would, in their efforts to fill their crops, get more food material than they could possibly digest. In the first case the chicks would be starved, and in the second they would be overfed. Chick foods sometimes contain a high percentage of small seeds encased in a hard shell, such as millet. The digestive organs of young chickens may not be able to crush this shell, and the chicks may thus eat a large quantity of the grain while obtaining little nourishment from it.

Young chickens should be given as much wholesome food as they will eat, but they should be made to clean it up once a day. If they fail to do this the remaining food should be removed, and no more should be given until signs of hunger appear. The chicks should be kept in such condition that they are eager for food at feeding times, but should be sent to roost with full crops; and unless the attendant is to be at the brooder by daylight or soon after, a little grain should be left in the litter at night so that the chicks may find it the first thing in the morning. The best time to stint the chick is at the morning meal; they are then more active and will hunt vigorously for every scrap of food left in the litter.

Cracked and Ground Grains

Chicks appear to need both cracked and ground grain: the latter because the nourishment is more easily and quickly available; the former because the additional energy needed to reduce the larger food to available form tends to strengthen the digestive system. The difference in the mechanical condition of the food also furnishes a variety in the ration, and the chicks tire less quickly of their food. If ground food is given at night the crops of the chicks empty quicker than is the case when their evening meal is of cracked grain.

Animal Foods

Fowls seem to need animal food. In the natural state the chicks are reared at a season when the supply of insects and earth-worms is abundant, and the mother hen exerts herself to procure this food for her brood. Since chicks reared in brooders are under artificial conditions, the supply of insects is very limited and animal food of some sort must be furnished to remedy this deficiency. The material generally preferred for this purpose is beef scrap. If fresh and untainted this gives very good results, when fed in such a manner that the chicks are not obliged to eat more of it than they desire. In an experiment conducted at Cornell station in 1909, chicks allowed free access to beef scrap from the first meal ate, in the first six weeks, 5 to 8 per cent of total food in this material. In another experiment, the data of which have not been published, the chicks that had hopper-fed beef scrap with cracked grain and ground food, consummed in beef scrap, during the first eight weeks, 8 to 10 per cent of their total food, excluding green food, and the results were apparently good. One flock, however, was given the mash mixture and beef scrap, with no cracked grain. For this flock the quantity of beef scrap consumed was more at times than all the other food. Eighty -nine per cent of these chicks died of digestive troubles before they were seven weeks old, probably because of their abnormal consumption of a highly concentrated food. Infertile eggs are sometimes used for the animal food. These should be given with caution, however, as they are very concentrated and may cause digestive troubles if fed in too large quantity.

Sour Milk Excellent

Skimmed milk and its products are greatly relished, but if sour milk curd is fed, care must be taken that the chicks do not get too much. If the milk is given as drink, an unlimited supply at first might cause bowel trouble; after the chicks have become accustomed to rt they may have all they want. Skimmed milk is not to be used as a substitute for water.

Commercial milk albumen has been tried in an experiment in Cornell University, but in this case it did not give so good results as did skimmed milk. How far milk products may be substituted for meat scraps and meat meals in chicks feeding has not been proved, althrough in the test of seven methods of feeding chicks, referred to above, those chicks that had no milk ate 5 to IV2 per cent of their total food excluding green food in beef scrap, while those given a mash moistened with skimmed milk or a powdered milk solution ate only 4V2 to 5V2 per cent of their total food in beef scrap.

Green Foods

Green foods are greatly relished by chicks and seem necessary to their best growth. These foods furnish wholesome nourishment at low cost and supply bulk to a chick ration without excess of fiber. Chicks should be given all the green food they will eat. After the first few days this is the best supplied by a grass run. Until the chicks can go out into the yards, green food should be furnished them.

Lawn clippings are often obtainable in the summer. These are much relished, but they should be used when fresh and crisp. Fresh clover or alfalfa is very good; it should be shredded quite fine if given to the young chickens. The very young chickens are fond of fresh sod, chickweed, or lettuce, and they are able to pick off the tender leaves; lettuce, however, is often too expensive to use in this way. The older chicks enjoy the leaves and the blossoms of vetch. Sprouted oats are very good and may be provided at any time of the year. The following description of the process of sprouting grain is reprinted from Bulletin 284, Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station:

Sprouting Oats

"The operation of sprouting grain as a green food requires considerable expense for labor. Sprouted grain, however, appears to have some advantages over other forms of green food, which justify the expense. This is particularly true in the feeding of young chickens during the season when they cannot have access to the ground.

"For sprouting", soak in warm water one ten-quart pail full of oats for 24 hours. Pour this grain on a tray. It will fill the tray level full. Sprinkle each trayful of grain with warm water each morning. The grain must be kept damp all the way through the mass if it is to sprout uniformly. The time required for the grain to sprout and grow will depend largely upon the temperature of the room, which, ordinarily, should be kept at 60 or 70 degrees Fahrenheit, or warmer. In a room not artificially heated, during the spring of the year, in this state, about seven to ten days are required to sprout the grain and grow the leaf about three inches high."

For young chickens it is best to feed the grain when the top has reached a length of two inches; if allowed to grow longer the sprout is likely to become tough. Chicks , will eat both sprouts and roots, and they will eat the grain also as soon as they are large enough to swallow it. For the first week it is better to shred some of the material and scatter it over the food, so that all the chicks will learn to eat the green food. The sprouted grain may be cut in squares from the trays and placed in the pens, for the chicks to peck at. Care should be taken to give no more than will be eaten.

The grain may be sprouted in shallow boxes or in well-drained flats kept in a living room, if needed for only a few chickens.

Ash, Grit and Charcoal

Growing chicks need a certain amount of mineral matter for use in bones, muscles, and feathers, consisting in large part of lime in some form. Ash is not supplied in suffient quantity by the grains and the green foods; in the natural environment the birds probably obtained it from the soil. Most grain foods contain less than one per cent of ash, while meat scrap and meat meal have 4 to 5 per cent; animal meal has 30 to 40 per cent of ash, and bone meal and granulated bone bone contain 60 to 75 per cent. That additional mineral

lnnffAv i« noorlorl Ktt a shipment of chicks just received in splendid con-

ma loci is neeueu vy dition from a hatchery many, many miles away.

fowls was proved by experiments at the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, where is was shown that the bones of fowls that were kept from the ground and deprived of additional lime in the form of oyster shells, bone meal, and similar substances, had much lower breaking strength than had those of other fowls kept under similar conditions but supplied oyster shells. Oyster shells do not seem to be desirable for young chickens, but the mineral matter needed may be supplied easily and cheaply in the form of bone meal or of fine granulated bone. The bone meal seems better for the younger chicks, and it may be given with the dry mash or with the moist foods. If granulated bone is used care should be taken that it contains no fine, sharp splinters, as these might injure the digestive tract of the chicks.

A constant supply of grit seems necessary for the health of the chicks, and from the first meal this should be supplied in the food in such a manner that the chicks must find it. They will soon learn to look for it. Fine granulated charcoal should be included in the food because of its good effect on the health of the chicks. It seems to be a preventive of some digestive troubles. The chicks eat this material with great relish, and they may be given as much of it as they desire.

Palatability of Food.

If chicks are forced to eat food that is disagreeable to them, they will eat as little as possible. Such feeding soon results in slow growth and high mortality, especially if the stock is very young; an unpalatable ration is therefore an expensive one, even though the first cost may be small. A single food material that the chicks do not relish may spoil the effect of an entire ration, particularly if the material is in a ground food mixture. Food that the chicks like is looked for eagerly and eaten with a relish, an active scramble often being an accompaniment of the meal. If a sufficient quantity is given so that the smaller chickens are not robbed of their share, all are benefited by the exercise. Eager anticipation is said to promote the flow of the digestive juices, thus aiding in the digestion of food.

Variety Essential.

Variety in a ration is essential for the following reasons: (1) It renders the food more palatable; (2) it is likely to result in a better supply of the material necessary for growth and for bodily maintenance; (3) there is less danger of injury from overfeeding or from underfeeding the chicks. If chicks are given only one or two kinds of food, they are likely to become repelled by its sameness No one nor two foods will supply all the materials needed.

Variety in a ration may be defined as the result of an effort to furnish all the necessary materials and conditions of food. For example; Chicks fed altogether on corn products would be given an excess of fat-forming materials, or carbohydrates, and would receive very little of the food elements required for the formation of bone, muscle and feathers; on the other hand, chicks fed entirely on beef scrap would receive an excess of muscle-forming material, or protein, with too little of the food elements necessary for the production of fat, heat, and energy. In either case the chicks would be insufficiently nourished, even if they were given all they could eat. A combination of these foods would be more satisfactory, though the ration might still be lacking in bulk. In order to overcome this deficiency, some bulky food, such as bran or alfalfa meal, might be added. Either or both of the last mentioned foods would not make a particularly appetizing mash, and therefore, corn meal, and perhaps wheat middlings, should be supplied to render the ground food more tempting; and some bone meal should be added to make up the deficiency in ash. Chicks would tire of corn alone as a cracked grain, and so it should be mixed with wheat and perhaps with hulled oats. This ration would still be very dry and somewhat concentrated, and therefore green food should be supplied.

Such a combination of materials as described would make a good variety of palatable foods, and not a large amount of any one food would be eaten. If there were not enough of one food there would probably be plenty of another, and the chicks would not become too hungry. If they did not have all the mash they could eat, and the lack were made up with cracked grain, they would not become cloyed with concentrated foods.

Changes in Ration.

Whenever it is desired to change from one food to another, the change should be gradual. To the original ration a little of the new food should be added, the proportion being increased at each feeding time until the change of ration will have been accomplished. If the new ration is a suitable one, the gradual change is likely to prevent any digestive trouble, which might otherwise occur. In case it is desired to give the chicks some concentrated food that they particularly like, such as green cut bone, only a very small quantity should be given at first, the amount being increased by slow degrees until the chicks are receiving as much of the food as it is advisable to give them.

As chicks grow older, the number of feedings should be decreased. The number should not be dropped at once from five to three, but should be changed first from five to four, then from four to three, chicks in confinement being given for a day or two a little chopped onion or other well-liked food at the usual feeding time. This attention will prevent restlessness, and may avert serious trouble and loss from crowding, toe-pecking or other disturbance.

Constant Supply of Clean Water.

Fowls seem to crave a large quantity of moisture, especially whu* eating dry food or rations rich in protein. Serious results may follow if this moisture is not obtainable. It is often observed that when

• hens are deprived of their water supply for even a short time, the

subsequent loss in egg production is marked. The apparent effect of the growth of the chicks is not so immediate, but when once their water fountain becomes dry they will show their discomfort by constant efforts to drink. Chicks left too long in an incubator seem to suffer greatly from thrist. The water supply should be fresh, clean and constant, and should be furnished in vessels that will not allow the down of the chicks to become too wet. Drinking water may be supplemented, but not superceded by skimmed milk.

The fountain should be large enough to contain at least a halfday's supply of water, sufficiently light to be handled easily, strong enough to be durable, of such a form that it may be washed and scalded without difficulty and will be easy to fill, large enough to enable a considerable number of chicks to drink at the same time, and shaped so that the chicks cannot perch on it and foul the water. A serviceable drinking fountain may be made from a tomato can and pie tin. The tin should be large enough so that the space between its edge and the side of the can will permit the chicks to drink with ease. The open end of the can should be unsoldered and three or four notches cut in the edge, the notches being a little shorter than the depth of the pie tin. , The can may then be filled, covered tightly with the pie tin, and reversed. The water will rise in the tin to the height of the top of the notches.