The Chicken's Nurse. 



brooders. Fig. 15 shows a house used by O. W. Mapes, and Fig. 16 a 

 house used for young White Leghorns in New Jersey. These houses are 

 designed for sheltering the chicks when they are taken from the large 

 brooder house. They contain a brooder at first, but as the chicks grow 

 larger roosts are put in. The object in arranging these houses is to give 

 the pullets a place where 

 they may have heat if 

 needed, and at the same 

 time become used to liv- 

 ing in a house, while 

 having plenty of exer- 

 cise. As we shall see, 

 the best breeders separ^ 

 ate the j'oung roosters 

 early and put them by 

 themselves. It is abso- 

 lutely necessary that 

 these brooders and 

 brooder houses be kept 

 clean. Dirt and vermin 

 are far more fatal to lit- 

 tle chicks than to grown- 

 up hens. We must remember that what is clean to one man may 

 be filthy to another. The little chicks are weak and unable to care for 

 themselves when they are put in the brooder. Vermin and disease live 

 in fllth and we cannot be too careful about cleaning the brooders before 

 a new lot of chicks are put in. The brooder should be made so that it 

 opens readily. When a brood has grown so that the chicks can be taken 

 away the brooder should be opened and thoroughly scrubbed out with hot 

 water. The corners should be smeared with kerosene and the hover 

 taken out and carefully gone over. The brooder should, if possible, stand 

 open to the sun in order to dry thoroughly before the new chicks are put 

 in. These things are emphasized by those who discuss the care of the 

 little chicks, but they cannot be made too plain. Those who have seen 

 little chicks suffer from damp brooders or seen them suffocated by lamp 

 fumes or chilled when the lamp burns too low, or wasted when it goes too 

 high, know the necessity of using a competent chicken nurse. 



Fig. 16. NEW JERSEY BROODER HOUSE. 



