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Show " PO UbTRY I RAISING CHICKS WITH HENS. The first step in caring for chickens chick-ens with hens is to hatch them right, give the hen a comfortable nest, koop it clean, keep her free from Hcq by treating ouch week with lice powder, and by all means feed her well. Place corn and water where she can get them, and fel her crop at night to make sure that she is eating-. t necessary, take her from the nest each evening" to cat. Do not disturb her when the chicks arc hatching; from the lime the chicks begin to peep let her alone. When the chicks arc hatched put just a drop of salty grease on the top of each little head, dust the mother hen thoroughly with lice powder, and grease her head, throat, and about the vent with salty grease. Each hen should have a coop and a runway for her chickens to herself. In warm weather a hen can care for from twenty to twenty-five chicks; hence the chicks from two to three sitting hens can be given to one hen if properly housed, and the other two hens rc-sct. If a common runway is used and all hens cooped close together to-gether the chicks will run to any hen, and the ibcst mother will have most of the chicks. A persuasive cluckipg hen will call every chick, and almost be lifted off her feet by a crowd of active chicks when a quiet hen will not have a chick under her. One night under an overcrowded hen will do much damage to the flock of chicks. To avoid this, cither have wire runways or scatter the coops so that the chicks of each brood arc out of calling distance of the hens. At weaning time the chicks may be housed together in an open front roomy shed with roosts two feet from the ground. It is better if the hen is cooped until the chicks are feathered. It is not as good for the hen, but she will not suffer from confinement in a coop two feet square, and the chicks will be much better off, Keep' before be-fore them clean, dry cracked grain, beef scrap, grit, and water. The White Leghorns arc claimed to be the best layers of all the breeds, and most of our large egg farms are stocked with this breed, but any of the popular breeds will give a satisfactory satis-factory egg yield with good care and feed. What the egg breeds gain on 9 eggs they lose when it comes to the jl table. Get the breed you like best. 3 |