INCUBATORS AND BROODERS 



Nothing has played so important a part in raising the poultry business, 

 from a simple pastime to a great industry, as the incubator and brooder. 

 In the value of its output the poultry industry is second to none in the 

 world. During the experimental years, results were far from promising 

 or satisfactory, but today there are a large number of excellent machines in 

 the field, which work mechanically, require practically no attention, and 

 which bring to life a high percentage of the fertile eggs intrusted to their 

 care. 



A perfect incubator has, first, a perfect radiation of heat, controlled by 

 an active thermostat that will regulate the slightest change of temperature 

 in the egg chamber ; second, the necessary amount of ventilation. Each manu- 

 facturer has his own way of controlling these matters and there are many 

 reliable makes it would be safe to choose. 



No poultryman can hope to succeed in building up a large business, in 

 any way satisfactory or profitable, without an incubator and brooder of some 

 standard make. They are absolute necessities in the present day. 



Some people make the great mistake of buying a good incubator, ex- 

 pecting to make a brooder of their own, or to provide some scheme to get 

 along without one. We advise most strongly against this error ! It is a 

 comparatively easy matter to hatch chicks, but to raise them is the problem 

 and one great help in this is a high grade brooder. 



The brooder is made in two patterns the indoor and outdoor. Those 

 arranged for indoor use are, as a rule, the more successful though the 

 outdoor brooders answer admirably. 



Absolute cleanliness in brooders is a positive necessity, as right there 

 is laid the foundation of the future health of the chick. Filthiness and 

 disease generally go together. 



A brooder should be roomy and well supplied with heat, always from 

 overhead. Provision should be made so that chicks do not crowd, as they 

 are very apt to do if the temperature is not right. If too cold they will at 

 once huddle together and many may be smothered. One of the greatest 

 mistakes made by poultrymen is trying to keep too many together. As they 

 grow older they should be separated fifty chicks in any compartment being 

 enough and as they mature, even a smaller number is better. 



FIRELESS BROODERS All the heat that is needed in a poultry 

 house can be obtained from the fowls' bodies if the house is correctly designed 

 and built. The same principle is now used in the fireless brooder for little 

 chicks, which is a well-ventilated, padded box that holds and evenly dis- 

 tributes the heat from the bodies of many chicks together. 



It is a very important item that the heat be so distributed that the 

 same temperature is kept up in the various parts of the brooder and that 

 the ventilation is well distributed. Fresh air and equal heat are the serious 

 problems. 



In mild weather fireless brooders can be used out of doors, but equable 

 temperature is a necessity for, should chicks run from an inner temperature 

 of 80 or 90 degrees to an outside air at freezing point, you could look for 

 colds, roup, bowel troubles, and death. The logical place for the fireless 

 brooder is in a room or brooder house where the temperature outside the 

 brooder can be maintained steadily at a point above freezing. Some claim 

 that much greater extremes are all right, but we would accept such state- 

 ments with caution. 



23 



