The writing of a monthly column for beginners entering our ranks is a task that I get a lot of pleasure from. I have always considered our sport the most enjoyable one and and a fascinating hobby that can be followed from youth through old age. Many pleasant hours can be spent deciding on just what hen to mate together, to produce the grand fighting stags that we seek.
Once we have them mated, we must be sure to mark the eggs carefully, using cotton gloves to handle them with, and a lead pencil to put the mating information and date on them. Then we set the eggs and be sure to put the hen in a cool quiet place to await the hatching of those little aces to be.
It is helpful to sprinkle a little water over the eggs from time to time, when the hen is off the nest, eating and drinking; and it is very important that they be moist the last couple of days so that the chicks can get out easily. If the eggs are too dry, the chicks will be trapped by the tough inner skin of the eggs. A dry skin will surely trap the little fellows whether the eggs are under a hen or in an incubator.
I have found that the first four weeks are the most important in the life of a chick. He must be in a sanitary place, he must be warm, and he must get good feed or he will die or be stunted in growth and will never gain his true full strength.
I have found that a small pen, three feet long and two or three feet wide, with a 1/2 inch mesh hardware cloth bottom, to keep them off the ground, will assure you of avoiding the usual diseases that chicks pick up from contaminated ground. I like the coop to be on legs made from two inch by four inch boards, so that the top of the coop is about thirty inches from the ground. I make the sides out of a one by twelve plank and a one by eight plank, giving the pen a twenty (20) inch depth. I make a wire top and half cover it with a sheet of galvanized iron to give shelter from rain, and my hen and chick pen is ready for the old lady and her little ones. I put a two (2) foot square piece of tar paper on the floor of the coop, for the hen and chicks to roost on for the first few days, and then take it out. The droppings all fall through the hardware cloth and the chicks will be completely healthy there. In fact I hardly ever lose a chick from this type pen.
I put a stiff wire divider about eight inches from one end so that the feed and water is separated from the mother hen. Holes for the chicks to get through are provided so they can get to the feeder, but the hen can only get her head through to eat and drink. If you don't do this the old hen will scratch and turn the feeder over and spill all the food on to the ground, and also that water.
A pen like this will also take care of the incubator chicks if you will extend a heavy cloth across the pen from the top twelve (12) inches from one end to within an inch of the floor. Cover this part of the floor with a piece of tar paper and put in 1/2 inch of sawdust litter. Then, place a good sized light bulb, 100 to 150 watts, in from the top down to about three (3) inches off the floor and turn on the light. It will take care of up to thirty baby chicks.
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