110 BROODING OF CHICKS 



Management of Hover. Each separate kind of brooding 

 appliance must be cared for according to its needs. The 

 average heat required beneath the hover is from 80 F. 

 to 95 F. These differences in temperature are necessary, 

 not because the floor of the nursery needs to be any 

 warmer or any cooler in one kind than in another, but 

 because the placing of the thermometer is not alike in 

 all of them. Each manufacturer recommends a heat 

 basis suited to the placing of the thermometer in that 

 brooding system. The chicks on the floor should be in a 

 temperature ranging from 85 F. to 92 F. When the 

 chicks are first placed in the hover, the temperature 

 should be about 92 F. ; the presence of the chicks 

 beneath the hover will raise the temperature to at least 

 95 F. After the chicks have been for 3 or 4 da. under 

 the hover, the temperature can be gradually reduced. 

 In winter it may be dropped to 90 F. and kept there 

 until the chicks are fully 2 wk. old or more, at which 

 time 1 or 2 less will answer. 



Always have sufficient heat under the nursery to 

 satisfy the chicks and keep them contented. The one 

 sure evidence of contentment of the chicks under the 

 hover is the gentle peep of satisfaction which they give 

 when properly brooded. Whenever there is not sufficient 

 heat they will sound a cry of alarm or distress which 

 every poultryman should learn. This call should be 

 answered immediately and the cause of the cry dis- 

 covered and remedied at once. 



Some authorities say that the temperature should regis- 

 ter 95 F., running up fully to 100 F. when the chicks 

 are placed in the brooder, and that this temperature 

 should be maintained for the first week, after which it 

 may be gradually reduced. This temperature may 

 answer very well when the weather is cold, but in warm 

 weather it is too high. The temperature should be kept 

 as low as practicable, depending on the time of year 

 and the age of the chicks. One safe rule is that the 

 chicks should always have heat enough to obviate the 

 danger of becoming chilled. 



