ARTIFICIAL BROODING 71 



poultryman. The tendency is to overcrowd the 

 brooders, and to overcome this crowded condition 

 more and larger openings must be made to permit 

 free passage of fresh air, hence the temperature of 

 the brooder is more difficult to regulate, and in 

 some cases it is almost impossible to do it. 



Overcrowding the brooder is about the worst 

 mistake one can make. This practice results in 

 heavy losses, and a weakening condition to those 

 who are fortunate enough to withstand this hard- 

 ship. In many cases the blame for this overcrowd- 

 ing on the part of the inexperienced operator can 

 be laid at the doors of the manufacturers of some 

 of the brooders, who in their desire to outdo the 

 claims of their competitors in the same line of 

 business, overrate the actual and safe capacity of 

 their brooders. Thus the novices, who are not 

 versed sufficiently on the subject of artificial brood- 

 ing, are misled by the very people with whom they 

 place their confidence. It is unjust on the part of 

 the manufacturers to misrepresent such an impor- 

 tant factor as capacity, and I believe it will react 

 upon them in the end. 



When the brooder is overcrowded and the chicks 

 die in large numbers, in many cases the blame is 

 placed upon the brooder, hence the manufacturer 

 loses both the friendship and future orders of the 

 imposed upon poultry keeper. 



Another fact which is not always taken into con- 



