596 Journal of AgricnUnre, Victoria. [15 Oct., 1919. 



CHICKEN REARING AND POULTRY FEEDING. 



A. V. D. Rintonl, Assistant Poultry Expert. 



On the majority of poultry farms in this State the task of attending 

 to the chickens for the first eight or ten weeks of their lives is usually 

 handed over to one of the lady members of the household. The hours of 

 work necessary are undoubtedly long, and the results for the following 

 year are largely dependent on the care bestowed upon the chickens in the 

 early stages; yet one rarely hears sufficient praise given for the success- 

 ful drudgery that is undertaken. 



The Brooder. 



Putting aside the question of hen hatching and rearing as being 

 quite impracticable on a large scale, a brooder of some kind becomes 

 necessary. Those in general use are very varied, the commonest being 

 home-made brooders, some of which are decidedly ingenious. For the 

 poultry farmer in a big way, with large laying flocks, the colony style 

 of brooder, which will accommodate from three to five hundred chicks 

 from the one hatch, is virtually indispensable. The beginner, and the 

 breeder for stud purposes only will, however, be better suited with the 

 smaller style of brooder; should either subsequently desire to launch 

 out on a large scale, colony brooders may be added. 



The best size for a brocder box is 3 feet square by 1 foot high. The 

 comers should be angled cff , so as to guard against less in case of crowd- 

 mg during the night. A brooder of the dimensions given will accommo- 

 date about 70 chicks for the first few days, which is as many as are 

 likely to be hatched by a 100-egg incubator. Various methods of supply- 

 ing heat have been used successfully, but the writer prefers electricity 

 when available at "power" rates, viz., 2|d. per unit. The electric con- 

 nexion is made in the floor of the brooder box, and for the first few days 

 a 16 c.p. globe is screwed on, with an 8-inch flower pot inverted. The 

 hover, with flannel strips, rests on the flower pot. After a few days, an 

 8-candle globe may be used, and finally a 5-candle globe. Recent experi- 

 ments with copper resistance wire instead of the electric globe have 

 proved highly satisfactory, and brooders fitted in this manner are now 

 on the market. The cost is very low — about 2d. every 24 hours — 

 <he use of a " cut-off " regulator reducing the expenditure. Other 

 brooders are successfully worked by a hot-water pipe system running 

 the length of the brooder shed; others, again, have separate kerosene 

 heaters. Care must be taken at all times that no fumes reach the 

 chickens; pure oxygen plays a very important part in rearing. 



The Brooder House. 

 The brooder house should face north, and to secure as much sun as 

 possible, it is necessary to have plenty of glass in the front. The front 

 is best made 7 ft. 6 in. high, the bottom foot being timbered, the next 

 5 feet all glass, and the top 18 inches, wire netting, with a hessian 

 blind. This will admit at all times a free circulation of air, but will 

 stop the rain from beating in. The mull ions should be of red pine, 

 rabbetted out to take the glass, the bottom pane being put in first, and 

 held in placQ by small brads. After that the glass is hung by narrow 

 clips as shown in the diagram. This is preferable to using putty, as 



