1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



397 



is, and has been for some time back, making 

 vehement protests. But we are not done 

 with the chickens yet. 



Perhaps 1 told you I gave the 70 to that 

 one hen because a brooder that was on the 

 way had not yet got around. Mr Calvert 

 informed me some time in December that a 

 man named R>ot, of Cleveland, O., had a 

 new invention in the way of brooders, and 

 that we (The A I. Root Co.) were going to 

 make some for him. This man (no relation 

 to us), when he knew I was studying chick- 

 ens, expressed a wish to have me try his 

 brooder here in Florida. 1 consented, for, 

 in fact, I had his circular over a year ago, 

 and had listened to his reasoning; but I want 

 you all to know that I have paid for my 

 brooder, for the very reason that I want to 

 give an unbiased opinion. 



Well, this man Root talks this way: He 

 says a hen's body, after her eggs are hatched, 

 is up to a fever heat of about 107, and that 

 the chick-^, after they are out of th'i eggs 

 (that she has kept close to 103) are warmed 

 by coming in close contact with her legs, 

 wings, and body, whei'e she has pulled the 

 feathers off in order to permit this close con- 

 tact. If you watch you can see the new 

 chicks push and crowd up between her legs, 

 wings, and body, to get this warmth; and 

 then they push out their heads and drink in 

 the cool fresh air, which is really the " breath 

 of life" and the breath that gives life to all 

 animated creation. This air must be pure, 

 and it has been abundantly proven that a 

 sitting hen must not be kept in a warm room, 

 neither before nor after the hatch. It isn't 

 the heat that debilitates and kills (for my 

 "fighting mother" hatched 20 chickens and 

 raised them all during one of the hot months 

 here in Florida), providing she is right out 

 in the free air all the time. I am just learn- 

 ing that incubator cellars must be well ven- 

 tilated, for chickens must have pure air to 

 breathe while inside the shell as well as out- 

 side. 



Now, this man Root has made a brooder 

 of tubes tilled with hot water; and the chicks, 

 when cold, push between and below these 

 tubes and get warm while their heads are 

 out in cool pure air. There is no cloth nor 

 curtains about the machine, and there are so 

 many large ventilators I was at first afraid 

 to keep them open according to directions. 

 My 80 chicks, put into it about ten days ago, 

 are to me wonders of health and vigor. I 

 have just now stopped my writing because 

 of a sudden dash of rain; but, although some 

 of them got pretcy wet before they ran into 

 the brooder, the hot pipes soon fixed them 

 all right. No thermometer is sent with the 

 brooder. The directions say none is needed. 

 Just turn up the lamp so the chicks are quiet 

 and satisfied, and that is all. If you get 

 them too warm they just squat down under 

 the pipes without touching them, or move 

 out into the cooler apartment. Several 

 times I have had the pipes so hot I could not 

 bear my hand on them; but the chicks were 

 never harmed at all (they just moved back 

 as you would from a hot stove). 



When chickens and folks are suffering 

 from cold there are three ways of getting 

 warm; viz., more clothing (or blankets); ex- 

 ercise, and artificial heat. The latter may 

 do very well if taken from a fireplace or 

 grate; but if we depend upon warming up a 

 room by warming the entire volume of air in 

 the room it needs a good constitution to 

 stand it very long. If the room is quite large 

 according to the number of people it may do 

 very well; and a small room full of people 

 may be well ventilated; but I fear it is not 

 often done. 



The poultry books and journals have 

 much to say of the losses of chickens 

 when two to three weeks old from something 

 they call "bowel trouble." I have never 

 had any experience with trouble of this kind 

 with chickens; but, oh dear me I I have had 

 some pei'sonal experience along this line, 

 and I will be frank enough to tell you that 

 nothing upsets my digestion like being 

 obliged to remain in a crowded audience 

 where a hundi'ed people, more or less, are 

 breathing every inch of air over and over 

 agai?i. Sometimes even churches are poorly 

 ventilated; but this never 7ieecl happen here 

 in Florida, and never should happen any- 

 where. For God's sake (and for the sake of 

 saving souls) do not give the enemy any rea- 

 sonable chance to discourage church-going 

 by complaining that the ventilation is bad. 



Mr. Root, with his brooder, has planned 

 so as to keep the chickens warm while their 

 heads are practically outdoors; and this new 

 book on tuberculosis gives pictures of bed- 

 rooms for consumptives, so arranged that, 

 while the patient is sleeping in a compara- 

 tively warm room, his head, or perhaps I 

 should say his mouth, is practically out of 

 doors. There are other pictures of sanitari- 

 ums where sick people are so well bundled 

 up that they almost live outdoors even in 

 freezing weather. 



Now, then, when you are chilly, and feel 

 you may "catch cold" if not warmed up 

 quickly, try first, if possible, exercise.* Start 

 out pretty well clothed, and then lay off the 

 extra clothing when you find you can spare 

 it. If both clothing and exercise are out of 

 the question, use artificial heat, but don't 

 breathe the hot air if you can help it, and 

 clo?i't breathe the same air over and over. 

 A relative near death was recently made 

 very much more comfortable by being placed 

 near an open fire, with an arrangement to 

 give him cool air right from outdoors to 

 breathe. 



Chickens by preference roost in the tree- 

 tops. It would be hard to imagine a situa- 

 tion where they could be more sure to avoid 

 breathing the same air again; and I have 

 heard of lodging consumptive patients in 

 tree-tops in order that they might have the 

 very best air. An upper room, I believe, has 

 been pronounced preferable; but an upper 



* My chicks when ten days old run out in the rain 

 with impunity, but they run like deers, using both 

 wings as well as legs, and then dry off between the 

 hot pipes with cool pure air all around them. These 

 same chicks ran all over a large dooryard when less 

 than a week old. 



