The digestive tract of newborn chicks is free of bacteria until, for example, they eat food that has been exposed to the feces of adult chickens. The ingested bacteria establishes a population in the digestive tract that is beneficial for the digestion of food. However, if Salmonella are present in the adult feces, this bacterium, which can be pathogenic for humans who ingest it, may become established in the digestive tracts of the chicks. To eliminate the possibility that Salmonella might become established, should farmers feed newborn chicks a mixture of harmless known bacteria from a lab culture, or a mixture of unknown fecal bacteria from healthy adult chickens? Design an experiment to answer this question.
