MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



31 



factors in determining financial success or failure in the poultry 

 business is the labor cost. xA-ny plan which attains a real sav- 

 ing of labor, without involving any disadvantages in other ways, 

 is to be welcomed. Certainly the operation of brooders which 



Fig. 5. Floor plan of brooder. For further explanation see text. 



have to be handled about so much every season constitutes a 

 labor leak, which on a large plant operating 50 to 100 brooders 

 is considerable in amount. 



In view of these considerations it was decided in the hatch- 

 ing season of 1909 to begin some experiments looking toward 

 an improvement in the brooders used for rearing the chickens 



