Variability of Body Temperature in the Normal Chick

Abstract

IN CONNECTION with other studies involving variations in the temperatures of chicks during the first two weeks of life, it was necessary to determine first the normal variations and environmental conditions affecting them during that period. So far as could be ascertained the only data on this subject obtained with adequate numbers of chicks under normal conditions of brooding and diet are the unpublished figures of Fronda (1922) which indicate that at one and two weeks of age the temperature is about 3°F. higher than at hatching. Card’s (1921) unwatered chicks, kept to five days, showed considerable diurnal variation in temperature. The present writers sought to find (1) possible sources of error in determination of temperature, (2) an adequate technic for temperature determination in baby chicks, (3) normal temperature variations in relation to age, weight, sex, and breed of the chick from hatching until it approaches the normal temperature of . . .