62 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Jan. 15 



since purchased in Jacksonville, Fla. Get 

 the blaze about where you have found it 

 should be, and then make changes by open- 

 ing and closing the damper at the top of the 

 chimney. 



Now, it may not transpire that my incuba- 

 tor is, at least as yet, a "great discovery;" 

 but I have just got out something else that 

 is. If you recall what I have written about 

 fireless brooders you will remember that 

 they cost (at least if you try to buy one) a 

 good deal of money, and none of them are 

 strictly fireless after all. 1 think I have cur- 

 ed at one stroke most of the two troubles 

 mentioned above. 



A. I. ROOT'S FIRFLESS BROODER. 



Get a cheap splint market basket, such as 

 sell from five to ten cents. Get a thin board, 

 10 in. long and 3 or 4 wide, and tack it un- 

 der one end of the basket for a doorstep. 

 Just over the middle of this board cut a door 

 for the chicks to go out and in. Now make 

 two oblong hoops of stiff wire — one to drop 

 inside and lie on the bottom of the basket, 

 and the other enough larger so it will 

 squeeze in near the top of the basket, and 

 stay where you place it. Cover both hoops 

 with burlap, and your brooder is ready for 

 the chicks. The smaller hoop is mainly to 

 keep the floor of the brooder clean. If you 

 use galvanized wire you can wash and dry 

 it quickly. By making bags of burlap, that 

 the hoops will just slide into, you have a 

 double thickness. For cold or cool weather 

 the sides of the basket may be protected with 

 flannel. Get H yard and fold it double so it 

 will reach from the top rim of the basket 

 down to the bottom, and a little more. Tack 

 the upper edge to the top rim of the basket 

 inside. I first put 28 chicks in such a bas- 

 ket, and they are doing splendidly. At first 

 I put a folded cloth over the burlap cover- 

 ing at night; but they soon gave me to un- 

 derstand they were too warm, and needed 

 more air. When just the thin open-work 

 burlap was over them they were all right. 

 Now, the low cost of this brooder is by no 

 means its greatest advantage. You can pick 

 it up with one finger and carry it indoors, 

 when night comes, where it will also be safe 

 from prowling enemies. After my brood of 

 28 did so well in the basket I tested a larger 

 number, and last night had 62 chicks in just 

 a common oblong ten-cent basket. Although 

 the temperature was down to 42 in the 

 woodshed, where I placed them, they got so 

 warm I raised the bottom up on two bricks 

 so as to let some cool air underneath. They 

 came out in the morning, brisk and bright 

 as crickets. 



There is just one condition where a little 

 artificial heat is needed, and I think this is 

 true with all fireless brooders. When the 

 strong healthy chicks are all outside on a 

 cool day there is, of course, no heat of any 

 kind in the brooder. If there are any weak 

 or younger ones in the brood, a hot brick or 

 a lamp brooder of some kind is almost a ne- 

 cessity. In my first experiment with 28 from 

 the Cyphers incubator (and, of course, all 

 hatchea at once) , I did not need any hot 



bricks at all; but some from my machine, 

 that came stringing along, would have per- 

 ished without a hot brick in the basket after- 

 ward. When they all got into the basket at 

 night, of course no brick was needed. Well, 

 just now I feel like saying I want all eggs to 

 go in the same day, and have all chicks 

 come out the same day as far as possible," 

 even if my machine will enable one (who 

 wants to) to give his machine the eggs the 

 day they are laid, and then have chicks 

 hatching every day in the week. It can be 

 done, but it doesn't pay unless you do it only 

 for the fun of the thing. Have each flock of 

 equal age and of equal strength as far as you 

 can, and then what is suitable for one is suit- 

 able for all. 



What about our "basket brooder" when 

 it rains? Well, ours stand under a strip of 

 enameled cloth tacked to the side of the 

 house. One Sunday, when we were at 

 church, a summer shower came up; and as 

 the chicks were only about four days old 

 they hardly knew enough to "go in when it 

 rains;" and when I found them they looked 

 much like "drowned rats," as the expres- 

 sion goes, and were peeping piteously. I 

 thought they would have to have artificial 

 heat sure; but Mrs Root said if I put the 

 whole 28 in their basket, as the weather was 

 warm, she felt sure their collective animal 

 heat would dry them out all right. I did so, 

 and watched them anxiously for an hour. 

 They seemed comfortable, but were at that 

 time by no means dry. In about hvo hours 

 they were cutting about in the sunshine out- 

 side about as fluffy and handsome as ever. 



Of course the basket will answer only 

 when they are small; and with fifty or more 

 an extra basket will be needed so as to "di- 

 vide the swarm, " say when they are a month 

 old or sooner. And, by the way, what is the 

 objection to an empty barrel laid on its side? 

 Two years ago I had seventy in a barrel, and 

 they stayed there until they were old enough 

 to fly up into the pine-trees. Unless the 

 barrel is pretty good, a piece of oilcloth 

 should be tacked on the upper side to keep 

 the contents dry. 



As nearly as I can make out, a bee-keeper, 

 Mr. V. W. Clough, now of Aurora, Ills., first 

 brought out a nreless brooder. Philo may 

 be also an original inventor of it, and per- 

 haps they both made their experiments pub- 

 lic about the same time. I have just re- 

 ceived one from Clough. It has a capacity 

 of from half a dozen chicks to 200. and may 

 be enlarged in size and also in height so as 

 to keep naif a dozen pullets until they are 

 old enough to lay inside and hatch chickens. 

 It is really a small Philo house, and can be 

 used as such in his system. The price is 

 $5.00. 



KEEPING CHICKENS IN FLORIDA; EXPENSE, 

 ETC. 



At present the grain for my 85 full-grown 

 fowls costs about 20 cts. a day; and as we 

 are getting 40 cts. a dozen for the eggs, six 

 eggs pay the feed-bill. At present my 80 

 hens are giving about two dozen eggs per 

 day. One friend in the North says I had 



