CHAPTER VII 



Permanent Brooder Houses 



Every Farm or Poultry Plant Where Early Hatched Chicks Are Raised Should Have a Permanent, Conveniently 

 Arranged Brooder House Merits of Different Brooder Systems Briefly Compared Plans for Practical Lamp- 

 Heated Hovers With or Without Auxiliary Heat Hot Water Brooding Systems- 

 One and Two-Compartment Houses for Colony Hovers. 



O~~|IL and coal-burning colony hovers, each one capa- 

 ble of brooding a single flock of several hundred 

 ^TTCjji chicks, have largely supplanted lamp-heated hov- 

 claem ers and hot-water pipe brooding systems in popu- 

 lar favor. They possess the important advantage of low 

 cost for installation and operation and adaptability to 

 use almost anywhere indoors, and they effect a great 

 saving in labor on account of the very large flocks, they 

 are able to brood successfully. Nevertheless, it is well 

 to bear in mind the fact that there still are conditions 

 under which other methods of brooding will be found 

 desirable. 



Where the chicks are to be raised in large numbers 

 and in moderate weather, colony hovers unquestionably 

 offer the most economical means now known for doing 

 this. Under ordinary circumstances, however, it is not 

 claimed that the chicks raised in flocks of 300 to 600 each 

 will be as well developed as when brooded in smaller 

 flocks under a good-sized lamp-heated hover accommo- 

 dating 75 to 100 each. Also, in extreme winter weather 

 poultry keepers generally believe that they cannot raise 

 chicks under colony hovers as satisfactorily as in regular 

 pipe-heated brooder houses. 



Plans for various types of brooder houses are pro- 

 vided in this book, and the poultry grower is earnestly ad- 

 vised to consider carefully just what his real needs are in 

 the way of brooding facilities before deciding on the 

 equipment to be purchased. If broilers or ordinary com- 

 mercial or farm flocks are to be raised, no doubt the 

 colony hover will meet most requirements, though there 

 are few poultry plants that will not find it good economy 



to have a few lamp-heated hovers on hand to meet the 

 various emergencies that are liable to arise wherever 

 chicks are brooded. 



Where chicks are to be raised on a small scale, or 

 where small incubatois are in use and the broods conse- 

 quently are small and of different ages, nothing will take 

 the place of good lamp-heated hovers. The plan of pro- 

 viding partitions, with the idea of brooding two or more 

 flocks under one colony hover, is only partially satisfac- 

 tory, especially when the flocks are of different ages. In 

 this case either the hover will be too warm for the older 

 chicks or it will be too cold for the younger; either way 

 heavy losses are liable to result. 



Where chicks are to be raised for breeding stock, it is 

 highly important that they be given the best possible con- 

 ditions for growth and development, and it seldom is ad- 

 visable to brood such stock in colony hovers. It is much 

 better to go to the additional expense of brooding them 

 in small flocks under lamp-heated hovers and thus make 

 sure of giving the individual chicks the best possible 

 chance. 



For winter brooding, pipe-heated brooder houses are 

 still regarded as indispensable by many poultrymen. Pipe- 

 heated systems, properly installed, provide plenty of heat 

 without great extremes in different parts of the brooding 

 chamber, floor drafts are reduced to a minimum, and valu- 

 able chicks may thus be given highly favorable conditions 

 for growth and development at this most difficult season 

 for successful brooding. 



The reader must determine for himself just what 

 method or combination of methods will meet his condi- 



may 6e 



In S fa lie d . )r> 



Hept- 

 i not- in use. 



J 



FIG. 133 FLOOR PLAN OF PERMANENT BROODER HOUSE 



