The Business Hen. 



back of box to enter lamp and have a slid- 

 ing cover to it. If lamp flame burns dim 

 make more holes in side of box, or open 

 slide a little. Bore five or six half-inch holes 

 in back of box three inches below sheet 

 iron to let lamp fumes out, if there are 

 any. The front, virith the exception of a six 

 or eight-inch piece nailed to posts at top, 

 is an independent piece held in place by 

 buttons, and comes out, so the whole in- 

 MAPES' BROODER HOUSE, .terior can be got at. Make a frame to hold 

 a glass, say 12 x 20 inches (the larger the better), bevel top and bottom 

 edge of frame and nail beveled strips at top and bottom, so glass frame 

 will slide to make a hole as large or small as you want to feed the chicks 

 through. With lamp taking a wick only ^l-inch wide I have had no 

 difficulty in keeping heat in these brooders at 90 to 100 degrees." 



BROODER HOUSES.— We do not attempt to give details for a 

 brooder house. No one should try to build a house without visiting one 

 in successful operation. The principle is a long, low house divided into 

 pens, in each one of which is a brooder^ — that is, a warm box with hover 

 cloths. These brooders are heated by lamps or by hot-water pipes which 

 run through the house so as to pass through each brooder. Little runs 

 protected by wire netting are made so that the chicks can run out on 

 pleasant days. As the chicks grow larger they are taken from this large 

 nursery and put outdoors. There is much argument between the advo- 

 cates of the large hrooder house and those who prefer what Is called the 

 colony plan. The large house is evidently better in very cold weather, 

 and it is less work to care for a given number of chicks when they are 

 all in one house. There is greater danger from fire, and also greater dan- 

 ger in case of disease among the flock, 'those who use the colony plan 

 build a small warm house with a single brooder inside. This is heated 

 by a lamp or flame. Gasoline is now being successfully used for this 

 purpose. From 50 to 200 little chicks are put in this house, and the heat 

 kept up to a point that will make the entire house comfortable. The chicks 

 run about in the house, and except in very cold days, do not crowd under 

 the hover. On pleasant days they are let out and run on the grass. When 

 heat is no longer needed, and the chicks grow large enough, the brooder is 

 taken out and little roosts are put in so that the young birds early become 

 used to a house. Fig. 13 shows such a house and brooder used by 

 Henry Van Dresser, who uses these houses to scatter his chicks through 

 the orchards. Fig. 14 shows a colony brooder house used at the Maine 

 Experiment Station, where the Winters are very cold and the snow very 

 deep. These houses, it must be remembered, have nothing inside but the 



