If possible, start the youngsters off on their life’s journey with a drink of sour milk.  Let them have sour milk to drink exclusively for the first ten days at least, and give it to them all through life, if this excellent food drink is available.

The principal feed for the first three weeks and profitably for a much longer time should be Pratts Buttermilk Baby Chick Food, a real “baby food for baby chicks,” a mixture which is properly balanced in composition and in the right mechanical condition to insure quick digestion.  As chicks eat so little during this period, as measured by pounds, one is fully justified in paying a relatively high price per pound for this special feed which will give them a strong, vigorous start and put their digestive organs in proper condition to efficiently use less expensive foods when food consumption becomes heavy.

The ideal baby chick food, Pratts, is made of a variety of foodstuffs so blended as to supply, in proper proportion, the nutrients required to build flesh, bone and feather.  It is ground exceedingly fine so it may be consumed freely and yet not tax the digestive organs.  Obviously such a feed cannot satisfactorily be prepared at home, which explains the rapidly growing demand which has arisen for Pratts Buttermilk Baby Chick Food during recent years.

For the first day or two, feed Pratts Buttermilk Baby Chick Food exclusively at intervals of two to three hours.  At first, spread it upon a shingle or piece of board.  Later place it in little troughs or shallow dishes.  Let the chicks eat a reasonable amount, what they will take in twenty to thirty minutes, then remove it.  Supply a bit of fine, bright grit during this time.

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Rohrerstown, Pa.

     I have used the Baby Chick Food this season and have had excellent
     results.  I find it to meet all requirements.  It makes rapid growth
     and at the same time maintains vigor.

L.B.  SPRECHER, Director, Penna.  State Poultry Association._
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The second or third day after feeding has begun, cut out a meal or two of the baby chick food and instead sprinkle a little regulation chick feed (scratch feed) in the litter.  There are many good brands of such feed on the market.  If preferred, one may be made as follows: 

  Scratch Feed for Chicks

Cracked Wheat        15 lbs. 
Fine Cracked Corn    15 lbs. 
Pinhead Oats         10 lbs. 
Broken Rice           3 lbs. 
Charcoal              2 lbs.

At the beginning of the second week the scratch feed may be given three times daily, just the quantity they will clean up and hunt for more, and the baby chick food left in open hoppers or dishes to which the chicks may run at will.  By this time, too, grit may safely be left in open hoppers before the