PO UL TR T- CRAFT. 



47 



house. Fig. 30 shows a ground plan, and Fig. 31 a cross section, of a plain 

 style brooder house very commonly used. It is 13 ft. wide, and any length 

 desired. The walk is excavated to a depth of 18 inches, thus giving a passage 

 along the north side of a house only 4^ ft. high at the eaves. The walk is 3^ 



ft. wide ; the brooder 30 in. wide. Each 

 pen is 5 x 7^ ft. The partitions between 

 the pens is of board i ft., wire netting 2 ft., 

 making the total height 3 ft. The partition 

 between the pens and the walk is at the 

 inner edge of the brooder. This brooder 

 is really a long box containing, generally, 

 four pipes two flow and two return 

 Fig. 31. Cross Section of Long Brooder House connecting with hot water heater, placed in 



-pipe system- single row of pens. Qf ^ 



floor, at one end of the house. (In very long houses the heater is sometimes 

 placed in the middle). At the end near the heater the pipes are about 4 in. 

 from the floor. They rise gradually until, at the further end, they are 8 in. 

 from the floor. They pass through holes bored at the proper height in each 

 cross partition of the brooder, (the partitions of the brooder correspond to 

 the pen partitions), and require no other supports. The top, or cover, of each 

 section of the brooder is of matched boards held together with cleats, and 

 lined on the under side with building paper. These covers are sometimes 

 hinged ; sometimes rest on cleats nailed to the sides of the brooder. The side 

 of the brooder next the walk is a solid board. The side communicating with 

 the pens is of woolen cloth with slits at short intervals to permit the chicks 

 passing in and out. The pens nearest the heater, where the pipes are lowest, 

 are used for the smallest chicks. As each hatch comes ofF the whole lot of 

 chicks is advanced one or more pens, being driven through small doors in the 

 partitions between the pens. 



In the plan shown in Fig. 32 the pipes are laid level, and the smaller chicks 

 brought near the heat by the use of movable floors or by filling up the brooder 

 floors with chaff. This plan is preferred by many, as it does away with 

 moving the chicks to accommodate each new lot. If pens are all of a size, 

 the lots must be divided as the chicks grow. In some houses the pens are 

 made of varied widths to provide for lots nearly equal in number, but varying 

 in size. In the colder sections of the country many have put pipes along the 

 north wall of the brooder house, because they found it difficult to keep up the 

 temperature on cold nights. Their difficulty was due to using too small a 

 heater; and the builder should take care to avoid their mistake instead of 

 imitating their way of correcting it. 



47. Nursery Brooders in a Long House. Instead of starting chicks 

 under pipes a few inches from the floor, many use nursery brooders. These 

 are small separate brooders heated by lamps. They are purchased complete 



