Causes Of Chicken Diarrhoea

My chicks are dying oft without apparent cause after they are forty-eight hours old. I feed them rolled oats every two hours for about two days ; after this I feed bran, middling, corn meal and ground oats with the hulls sifted out of it. After about a week I feed them four times a day. They are kept free from lice and have pure water, oyster shells and grit before them. Some are dying of bowel disease, but not all. I lost about fifty chicks, some of them when three to four weeks old. Now I have changed their feed ration as follows : Two-thirds crushed wheat, one- third rolled oats, one-third small crushed corn ; charcoal, grit, some beef scraps and millet seed, all mixed together. Please give me your advice in regard to my trouble." We shall all agree, I think, that chicks do not die without cause, even though the cause may not be apparent. Bowel trouble is seldom a definite symptom, for the reason that so many ills show this as one of the accompaniments. This is true not only of affections of lice, but of chills, of anything that lowers the resisting power of the birds, and it is true of overfeeding as well, since this deranges the digestive tract, and the first symptom of such derangement may be diarrhoea.

We are — many of us, at least — so afraid of fowl cholera that we are prone to regard any looseness of the bowels as in itself a disease, when it is only a symptom of trouble somewhere. Often looseness of this sort may be the physical salvation, I recall one case in which a man had severe diarrhoea, for which a physician: was called. He was told that, had he not had the diarrhoea he would probably have had typhoid fever. I do not in the least like the plan of feeding anything at two-hour intervals, much less such a heavy stuff as oatmeal; though I admit the temptation of its clean, white flakes of just the right size, It is my opinion that the great trouble with many flocks of small chicks is that they are fed so heavily during the first week they cannot over come the handicap. This may be your trouble. There is not the least need of feeding baby chicks every two hours, and there is very great harm in it unless they get only a very small quantity. I am not at all afraid to feed every hour if the chicks are under my eyes, so that 1 know how much and how eagerly they have eaten, and can watch the state of their crops. But the oftener I feed the more care I take to vary the feed, and after the first three days, to vary the nature of it, ringing the changes on granulated grain, soft feed and green stuff. A lack of green stuff permits very early derangement of the small digestive apparatus, and this, or lack of shade or ever; the method of handling for lice might bring on bowel difficulties as a symptom of something wrong. Look over all your conditions once more, and if you find nothing else wrong conclude that you have fed too heavily of grain before the chicks could stand it. — C. S. Valentine, in American Agriculturist. Work is just as necessary with chickens as with humans. Without it both get "out of sorts," Make your hens scratch for most they get.

Don't feel disappointed when none of your pullets turn out to be of the 200-egg variety. Such excellence is a rare jewel that is not picked up every day. They talk about popular strains these days. What's wrong with the Shanghai? That was considered the smartest sort of chicken when I can first remember. Hopper feeding came in too late for me. So I know but little about it. Anyway, I prefer to control the amount each fowl gets. Some days they need more and others less. If you want winter eggs hatch out a nest of chicks as early in the spring as possible and save all the pullets for layers. They should begin laying in October and continue through the season when eggs are high in price.