For brooder raised chicks it is necessary to provide means for the little chick to exercise.  But in the season when the great majority of farm chicks are raised they may be placed out of doors from the start and the trouble will now be to keep them from getting too much exercise, i.e.:  to keep the hens from chasing around with them especially in the wet grass.  This is properly prevented by keeping the brood coops in plowed ground, and keeping the hens confined by a slatted door, until the chicks are strong enough to follow her readily.

The chick should not be fed until 48 to 72 hours old.  It may then be started on the same kind of food as is to form its diet in after life.  The hard boiled egg and bread and milk diets are wholly unnecessary and are only a waste of time.

I recommend the same system of chick feeding for the general farm as is used on commercial plants, and I especially insist that it will pay the farmer to provide meat food of some sort for his growing chicks.  The amount eaten will not be large, nor need the farmer fear that supplying the chicks with meat food will prevent their consuming all the bugs and worms that come their way.

Besides comfortable quarters, the chick to thrive, must have:  Exercise, water, grit, a variety of grain food, green or succulent food, and meat food.

Water should be provided in shallow dishes.  This can best be arranged by having a dish with an inverted can or bottle which allows only a little water to stand in the drinking basin.

Chicks running at large on gravelly ground need no provision for grit.  Chicks on board floors or clay soils must be provided with either coarse sand or chick grit, such as is sold for the purpose.

Grain is the principal, and, too often, the only food of the chick.  The common farm way of feeding grain to young chickens is to mix corn-meal and water and feed in a trough or on the ground.  There is no particular advantage in this way of feeding, and there are several disadvantages.  The feed is all in a bunch, and the weaker chicks are crowded out, while if wet feed is thrown on the ground or in a dirty trough the chicks must swallow the adhering filth, and if any food is left over it quickly sours and becomes a menace to health.  Some people mix dough with sour milk and soda and bake this into a bread.  The better way is to feed all of the grain in a natural dry condition.

There are foods in the market known as chick foods.  The commercial foods contain various grains and seeds, together with meat and grit.  Their use renders chick feeding quite a simple matter, it being necessary to supply in addition only water and green foods.  For those who wish to prepare their own chick foods the following suggestions are given: