POULTRY. 1089 



and hot-water pipes. A boiler, pipes, etc., that will heat almost 

 any poultry-house will cost, when set up ready for use, from 

 seventy-five to one hundred dollars. 



Artificial mothers are made of different sizes, and there are 

 several different makes to choose from. The manufacturers of 

 nearly all the standard incubators also manufacture or furnish 

 plans for artificial mothers. When the chicken home is heated 

 by hot-water pipes brooders can be made under the pipes at a 

 trifling cost. " The essentials in an artificial brooder are : First, 

 a provision for furnishing the proper heat above the chickens; 

 second, a good method of ventilation ; third, a perfect freedom 

 from harboring places for vermin, and a simple arrangement by 

 which the fleece or woolen lining may be readily removed and 

 cleaned at any time." The shape of an artificial mother should 

 be such that the chicks can not be crowded into corners and 

 stifled. Avoid brooders with bottom heat. When the incubator 

 chicks are hatching they should be taken from the tray soon after 

 they are dry, and kept in a box or basket in a warm place for a 

 few hours, when they may be placed under the artificial mothers. 



Avoid overheating the brooders. Too much heat will cause 

 the chicks to "wilt" and die off like newly-set cabbage plants 

 under the hot sun. The body heat of the mother hen is ninety- 

 eight degrees, and the temperature of the brooder, when the 

 chicks are under it, should not go above that point. 



Avoid crowding either in the house or under the brooders. 

 Not more than fifty chicks should be put in one brood, and 

 when three weeks old the number should be reduced to twenty- 

 five. Separate the different broods by partitions of wire netting. 

 The amount of floor-room required for a brood of fifty for the 

 first three weeks will be about thirty-six square inches for each 

 chick, or something like twelve or thirteen square feet for each 

 brood. When three weeks old more space will be required, and 

 only twenty-five chicks should be in each one of these small 

 pens for the next three weeks. When six weeks old, move 

 them to still larger pens, where each chick will have an allow- 

 ance of at least one square foot of floor-room. In these pens 

 they may be kept until sent to market. A little figuring 



69 



