CHICKS FROM DYING IN THE SHELL 39 



Bill for Closed Feed Yard 



One board 1x10 sixteen feet S. 1 S. for sides, cut in two. 

 Four boards ten-inch shiplap sixteen feet, for floors and sheeting. 

 One board ten-inch shiplap 12 feet, for ends. 

 One board 1x14 eight feet long S. 2 S., for door. 

 One board 1x6 eight feet, above the door to receive hinges. 

 Two pairs three-inch strap hinges, three for top door and one for 

 little door. 



Three window panes 7x14. Place these in the top door. 

 One piece of sheet iron eight feet long, for covering. 



This size feed yard will accommodate as many chicks as you would dare 

 put in one brooder. If you use a small brooder, say fifty or seventy-five 

 chick capacity^ you can make a smaller feed yard, say one-half as large. 



On a great many farms one can find enough short pieces of boards to 

 make a part of this feed yard, such as sheeting, ends and floor. The floor 

 can be made of short pieces of common boards, put in crosswise instead of 

 lengthwise, and stripped to keep out the cold. It does not need to be very 

 high. Put a piece of oilcloth over the crack of the door and under the 

 sheet iron to shed the rain. Tack this oilcloth to door and under sheet 

 iron. (See cut.) This brooder attachment, or closed feed yard, is the finest 

 thing I have ever used. It is a creation of my own, and it does away with 

 the expense of a brooder-house. Your chicks do better and are more com- 

 fortabl.e than they would be in a large brooder-house, the expense is noth- 

 ing compared to that of a building of that kind and it will accommodate as 

 many chicks as you would dare put in one brooder. It is 3x8 feet, ten 

 inches high and you can attach it to any brooder. It does not take so much 

 capital to start in the poultry business when a closed feed yard is used in- 

 stead of a brooder-house. 



You should place the feed, water and chaff in the feed yard instead of 

 the brooder, then your brooder will never get sour, which invites disease. 

 The feed yard is very easily cleaned. You run the little chicks in the 

 brooder, providing it is too cold to let outside, then clean the feed yard 

 with a broom. In five minutes time you can clean it. Sprinkle a little 

 air-slacked lime on the floor while it is damp, sweep it around a little. 

 This will answer for a whitewashing and keeps the feed yard sweet and 

 kills any disease germs that may be lurking there. I also clean my brooders 

 in the same way. I burn sulphur in the brooders and feed yards twice a 

 week. 



The feed yard, likewise the brooders, should be covered with sheet iron, 

 for your chicks must be kept dry. If they are covered with sheet iron or 

 tin, it doesn't matter what kind of weather we have, they are perfectly safe 

 for days. I have kept my chicks in the brooder and feed yard for twp 



