36 VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



each brooder. A low partition separates the flocks while they 

 are young, but later it has to be made higher. The houses are 

 large enough so that a person can go in and do the work com- 

 fortably and each one accommodates 100 chicks until the cockerels 

 are large enough to be removed. 



In the fall these houses are grouped together, 20 or 30 feet 

 from each other, so as to make the care of the young chicks con- 

 venient in early spring while the brooders are in use. 



About the 20th of June the grass is cut on some field near to 

 the main poultry, or farm buildings, and the brooder houses are 

 drawn out, with the contents of chickens, and located 50 to 75 

 feet from each other, in lines, so that they may be reached with 

 little travel. The chickens are shut into small yards, adjoining 

 the houses, for about a week, after which they are allowed to run 

 together. They mostly keep to their own houses, although they 

 wander away quite long distances during the day, returning at feed 

 time, and at night. 



The most satisfactory brooder that we have used is the "Peep 

 O' Day." The style that we like best has the cover and part of 

 one side arranged to turn down, making an inclined run the 

 whole width of the brooder, up and down which the little chicks 

 can go without crowding. Some of the later styles of brooders 

 made by this company are not as satisfactory, as they have little 

 passages, through which the chicks are to pass up and down, and 

 they require more or less teaching before they will use them. 



Most kinds of brooders as now made, keep the chicks com- 

 fortable, at desired temperatures, and have good means of ven- 

 tilation. The great difficulty lies in the lamps used. The lamp 

 apartments are small and the tendency is for the oil to become 

 warm and form gases, which causes the flame to stream up and 

 make trouble. Most brooder lamps have water pans between 

 the oil tank and the burner which tend to keep the oil cool, but 

 even with this precaution we have had two fires, one of which was 

 very serious. The old Peep O' Day lamp was of this kind, but 

 the new ones are entirely different and by far the best of any we 

 have seen. They have no water pans, but are so arranged that 

 currents of cool air pass constantly over the oil tank and keep its 

 contents cool. We have used these lamps, or stoves, for three years 

 — last year more than twenty of them — and regard them as safe, for 

 the oil has never become warm. 



TREATMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS. 



When the chicks are 30 to 40 hours old they are carried in 

 warm covered baskets to the brooders, and 50 or 60 are put under 

 each hover, where the temperature is between 95 and 100 

 degrees. The temperature is not allowed to fall below 95 

 degrees the first week, or 90 during the second week; then it is 



