76 PROFITS IN POULTRY. 



little tables, one yard square and three inches high, 

 with strips of cloth tacked around the edges. 



The advantages of this brooder are, that it gives the 

 heat from the top, as the warm air strikes the under side of 

 the table (or brooder) and diffuses itself over the chicks, 

 which cannot crowd easily, as there are no sides or cor- 

 ners. The warm air is pure, as it comes in fresh from 

 the outside, and serves as heat and ventilation at the 

 same time. Figs. 46 and 47 show the ground plan. The 

 building has a window to each apartment, which is hung 

 to a weight, so as to move up or down. Hence, when 

 the window is up each apartment becomes ashed, open to 

 the south. The chicks have a sand floor to scratch in, 

 and are allowed to run in the yards when two weeks 

 old. 



This building, together with the heating arrange- 

 ments, did not cost over one hundred dollars. The chicks 

 are about ready for market, and are expected to realize 

 six hundred dollars gross. The cost for feeding the 

 chicks to the age of ten weeks is ten cents. The total 

 cost, including the value of eggs, food, and other ex- 

 penses is about nine cents per pound. They will average 

 one and a half pounds when eight weeks old, and often 

 bring fifty cents per pound. The building contains one 

 thousand chicks, and as a new brood can be put in every 

 ten weeks, it will hold five thousand in a year. The 

 building and yards do not take up more than twenty-six 

 by fifty feet of space, or less than one thirtieth of an 

 acre. 



The chicks are fed on hard-boiled eggs the second day, 

 no food being given them the first day. Then milk and 

 bread are allowed. On the fourth day they are fed on a 

 mixture of one part corn meal, one part bran, and 

 one part middlings, with a small quantity of bone 

 meal and ground or finely chopped meat. They are 

 fed five times a day till feathered, then four mcah are 



