The Principles of Brooding. 313 



15. Provision for top and bottom heat 



Either top or bottom heat taken alone does not seem to furnish the 

 best conditions for successful artificial brooding. The system here 

 described furnishes heat mainly from above by radiation, slightly by air 

 warmed before entering the hover, and in a small degree from the floor by 

 contact. The burner box under the hover keeps the floor sufficiently 

 warm to insure dryness. The chill has been taken off so that the little 

 chick can lie down and stretch out comfortably, which is the natural 

 position of very young chicks while sleeping. 



16. Adaptability of the system 



The chief field of usefulness for the gasoline-heated colony-house brood- 

 ing system is in the rearing of chickens in numbers all the year round 

 in latitudes south oi New York State, and all the year except during 

 the coldest winter months in New York State and points farther north. 

 For the rearing of winter broilers some of the individually-heated or 

 pipe-system brooders in large, continuous brooder-houses are more 

 satisfactory because of the saving of labor and economy of fuel. 



The use of gasoline as here described is not adapted to the rearing 

 of chickens in small flocks. We have not yet found or made a burner 

 small enough satisfactorily or economically to heat a small brooder. 

 Therefore, until a gasoline burner is found which is adapted to small 

 brooders, the person who intends to brood only 50 or 100 chickens at 

 a time will be at a disadvantage in using the colony house as here recom- 

 mended. The only alternative is to increase the hatching capacity or 

 make fewer hatches during the season. When a limited number of 

 breeding fowls is kept, this plan may not be feasible because it would 

 require holding eggs too long before incubation, and might bring the 

 hatches too far apart. Nevertheless, we believe it will be economy 

 in many instances to run the large colony house system with small flocks 

 because of the great saving of labor in caring for lamps and because the 

 house can be used all the year round. 



17. The question of location 



About the same amount of land should be provided for rearing chickens 

 each year as is given to the mature fowls to be kept, the rule being that 

 as many chickens should be reared each hatching season as there are 

 fowls on the farm. This provides for rearing one-half the flock each 

 year, assuming that about one-half the chickens will be pullets. This 

 would mean that about one acre of land should be provided for every 



