After two weeks or more of this kind of feed, it is well to supplement this ration with a dry mash. A dry mash is a feed composed of ground feeds, that require no work on the part of the bird to grind. Feeds like wheat bran, ground oats, corn meal, etc., are good examples of such feeds. Wheat bran is especially well liked by these young birds, and it is recommended that they be allowed to have this as a large part of their dry mash. This feed should not be fed in the litter, as the cracked grains, but placed in some such container as a pan, or better still, in a regular feed hopper. It can readily be seen that if this finely ground grain was scattered in the litter, it would be largely lost and wasted. Also, if put in a pan, the pan must be low enough to be accessible to the birds, and covered over in such a manner that the chicks will not get in and walk around in it. A homemade hopper can be easily built, so that the chicks can just get their heads in, and no more. Do not forget that the sour skim milk or buttermilk must be fed all this time. In fact, this part of the feed should be fed right through the bird’s life, as it supplies the animal protein, which is so necessary to the proper development of the bird’s growth. Now, then, just a few more words in closing this chapter on brooding. We should aim to toughen the birds up as quickly as possible, so that when they are about two months old, no artificial heat will be necessary, and if the birds are of a late hatch, this can be accomplished much sooner. Encourage them to get out of doors as quickly as possible, and to get green feed. A very serious cause of death among young chickens is from disease. White diarrhoea is probably one of the most common of these diseases, and unfortunately, one of the most fatal. If the droppings are of a white, watery nature, with an offensive odor, you may well believe that this disease is present, and the thing to do is to get the birds thus affected out of the way at once, and disinfect with some good disinfectant. However, if the precautions are taken that are set forth in this booklet, no danger of this dreaded disease can be anticipated. Now that we have got the chicks along through the brooding period, let us next consider just how we shall raise these chicks to maturity, so as to get them ready to lay eggs, or to make a good meat carcass. CHAPTER VI. REARING CHICKS TO MATURITY. One of the chief things to remember in raising young chicks to maturity is that we must keep them growing at all times. A check in their growth will retard their growth severely, and this must be avoided by the one that wants his chicks to get into winter laying condition before the cold weather comes. We will now consider a few important factors that are necessary to bring our chicks along to rapid growth.