44 BIGGIE POULTRY BOOK. 



suffer a chill that will prove fatal. The attendant must v 

 therefore, be very watchful at this time. 



As soon as the chicks are dry there should be a 

 brooder ready into which they may be put to remain 

 for thirty-six hours, where they may learn to eat and 

 run out and into the shelter of their silent mother. 



The natural mother is just as warm when hovering 

 her brood as when sitting on the eggs. The proper 

 temperature of this first brooder must, therefore, be 

 close to the hatching heat, say 90 to 96 degrees. This 

 should be the heat of the center of brooder around 

 which the chicks hover and from which they can move 

 away when too warm. A brooder shaped like a box, 

 that has warm corners, or that has a uniform tempera- 

 ture at all parts from which the chicks cannot escape 

 is not safe. In a properly constructed brooder they 

 quickly learn when too warm to move away from the 

 heat just as they do from the body of the hen. They 

 also learn where the source of heat is and will run to 

 it when cold, but for the first two days it may be 

 necessary to occasionally push &iem under cover to 

 show them the way. 



Instinct teaches the young bird to eat. The cluck 

 of the mother hen and her pecking at the food calls 

 attention to it and they follow her example. When 

 feeding brooder chicks for the first time, it is only 

 necessary to place them in the light and to drop the 

 food before them in such a manner that their attention 

 will be called to it. 



for the first week the brood should be fed either 

 in or beside the brooder and be confined near the hea< 

 so that they cannot stray away and become chilled 



