6 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I904. 



boarded, papered and shingled all over. A door, 2 feet wide is 

 in the center of the front and a 6 light, sliding window is on 

 each side of it. A small slide is pnt in the door, near the top, 

 by which ventilation may be obtained early in the season, before 

 the windows can be kept open. Since shingles on the walls near 

 the bottom are liable to be torn off in moving the houses, double 

 boarding on the walls would be preferable. Two brooders are 

 placed in each of these houses and 50 to 60 chicks are put with 

 each brooder. A low partition separates the flocks while they 

 are young, but later it has to be made higher. The houses are 

 large enough so that a person can go in and do the work com- 

 fortably and each one accommodates 100 chicks until the cock- 

 erels are large enough to be removed. 



In the fall these houses are grouped together, 20 or 30 feet 

 from each other, so as to make the care of the young chicks con- 

 venient in early spring while the brooders are in use. 



About the 20th of June the grass is cut on some field near to 

 the main poultry, or farm buildings, and the brooder houses are 

 drawn out, with their contents of chickens, and located 50 to 75 

 feet from each other, in lines, so that they may be reached with 

 little travel. The chickens are shut into small yards, adjoining 

 the houses, for about a week, after which they are allowed to run 

 together. They mostly keep to their own houses, although they 

 wander away quite long distances during the day, returning at 

 feed time, and at night. 



The most satisfactory brooder that we have used is the "Peep 

 O' Day." The style that we like best has the cover and part of 

 one side arranged to turn down, making an inclining run the 

 whole width of the brooder, up and down which the little chicks 

 can go without crowding. Some of the later styles of brooders 

 made by this company are not as satisfactory, as they have little 

 passages, through which the chicks are to pass up and down, and 

 they require more or less teaching before they will use them. 



Most kinds of brooders as now made, keep the chicks com- 

 fortable, at desired temperatures, and have good means of ven- 

 tilation. The great difficulty lies in the lamps used. The lamp 

 apartments are small and the tendency is for the oil to become 

 warm and form gases, which causes the flame to stream up and 

 make trouble. Most brooder lamps have water pans between 

 the oil tank and the burner which tend to keep the oil cool, but 



