280 POULTRY CULTURE 



Temperature in artificial brooding. The best temperature condi- 

 tions are secured if it is possible for the young birds to come in 

 contact with from 105 to 106 of heat without huddling together, 

 and to have any desired lower degree of heat. They may live and 

 thrive at a lower range of temperatures. With access to the high- 

 est temperatures mentioned, they remain mostly where the tem- 

 perature is lower, but have the extra heat if they need it. It is 

 customary to take the temperature of a brooder at the level of the 

 birds in it, and at that point 95 is considered the right tempera- 

 ture ; but if a brooder is so constructed that a chilled chick or 

 duckling can find heat greater than 95 only by contact with others, 

 the birds, when cold, will huddle together. Provided ventilation is 

 sufficient, and the young birds can get to any comfortable lower 

 temperature, it is much safer to have the brooder heat at its source 

 too high than to take the risk of too low temperatures. Whatever 

 style of brooder is used it is essential that the young birds have access 

 both to heat in a well-ventilated place and to fresh air at a moderate 

 degree of heat. In a properly constructed individual brooder these 

 conditions are secured, according to the size and style of the 

 brooder and the age of the birds, by the adjustment of the hover 

 and the ventilation of the compartment in which it is placed, and 

 further (in brooders of more than one compartment) by a down- 

 ward gradation of temperatures as compartments remove from the 

 source of heat. In the so-called open-pipe system the highest 

 temperatures are secured either by placing a movable hover over 

 the pipes or by filling the floor with earth, sand, or litter to 

 bring the birds nearer the pipes, or by both means. In a compart- 

 ment five feet wide a complete range of temperatures from 106 

 or over downward may be had by placing a loose cover (with or 

 without side fringe, according to the temperature of the house) 

 over one half of the pipes, leaving the other half open, the floor 

 being raised or lowered to suit the size, of the birds. 



Regulation of temperature in brooders. The proper tempera- 

 ture is indicated by the thermometer and by the attitude of the 

 birds. The thermometer gives the absolute temperature at a suit- 

 able point, showing whether it is sufficient. The attitude of normal, 

 healthy birds should show whether the extent of the area of highest 

 temperature is sufficient and the ventilation satisfactory. It should 



