MAINE AGRJCULTIJRAr. EXPERIMENT STATION. 23 



BROODER HOUSES. 



Some years ago there was erected at this Station a long con- 

 tinuous brooder house, containing 10 brooders and with ca- 

 pacity for 600 to 1000 chicks. This house burned during the 

 first season of its use, and has never been replaced. 



A permanent brooder house would be indispensable for the 

 raising of winter chickens, and a house piped for hot water 

 has some advantages. The advantages are especially great 

 when raising chickens if April or May proves to be cold or wet, 

 for then the small houses are apt to be cold outside of the 

 brooders. In ordinary seasons, even in Maine, little or no diffi- 

 culty is exoericnced in raising chicks hatched in April and May 

 in the small houses. The expenditure would be greater for 

 the piped house, for the reason that colony houses still must be 

 provided in wdiich the chicks may be sheltered after they leave 

 the brooder house. 



Since the burning of the house just described, the Maine 

 Station has used small portable brooder houses (see fig. i). 

 The small brooder houses built on runners are readily moved 

 about, and for the work with spring-hatched chickens are 

 preferred to the large permanent brooder house. Several styles 

 and sizes have been used, but the following 'meets the needs 

 of the Station better than any other that has been tried. The 

 houses are built on two 16- foot pieces of 4 by 6 inch timbers, 

 which serve as runners. The ends of the timbers, which pro- 

 ject beyond the house, are chamfered on the underside to facili- 

 late moving. The houses are 12 feet long; some of them are 

 6 feet and others 7 feet wide; 7 feet is the better width. They 

 are 6 feet high in front and 4 feet high at the back. The frame 

 is of 2 by 3 inch lumber ; the floor is double boarded, anrl the 

 building is boarded and covered with a good quality of heavy 

 roofing paper. Formerly shingles were used for the outside 

 covering, but paper is preferred and is now used exclusively. 

 This kind of covering for the wall is not so likely to be injured 

 in moving as shingles. A door 2 feet wide is in the center of 

 the front and a 6-light window, hinged at the top, is on each 

 side of it. Two brooders are placed in each of these houses and 

 50 to 60 chicks are put with each brooder. A low partition 

 separates the flock? while they are young. The houses are large 



