92 The Essentials of Poultry Raising 



during incubation will not hatch. Do not turn the eggs after 

 the eighteenth day. On the eighteenth day close up the incu- 

 bator and do not open again till the hatch is over. Opening 

 the incubator during the hatching may kill many of the chicks. 



221. Candling Eggs. See 209. 



222. Conditions Essential for Artificial Brooding. Dryness 

 and a constant supply of fresh air are essential. An even and 

 proper temperature must be maintained. 



223. Kinds of Brooders. There are two kinds of brooders, 

 indoor and outdoor. There are also heated brooders and cold 

 brooders. Sufficient space and sunlight must be provided. 

 Chicks must not be allowed to become chilled. Fifteen minutes 

 of exposure to cold may result later in diarrhea, causing heavy 

 losses and an unthrifty condition in those that survive. Small 

 oil-burning hovers, with capacities of fifty, one hundred, or 

 more chicks, may be purchased. 



224. Construction of the Cold Brooder. The small cold 

 brooder is usually made eighteen inches square and eight inches 

 deep. A frame made of one-inch material is held by cleats at 

 the upper part of the box. Three ventilating holes are bored 

 at each side of the upper half. The upper half and lower half 

 are hinged at the back. Over the inside frame there is stretched 

 cheese cloth or muslin. On this there is placed a feather pillow 

 or woolen quilt material. The muslin sags in the middle. The 

 chicks keep warm by their own heat. The cold brooder has 

 not come into general use owing to the danger of the chicks 

 becoming chilled. 



225. Deflector Hovers for Large Flocks. When flocks of 500 

 to 1000 are brooded together, large hovers with hoods made of 

 metal and heated by coal stoves are used. The temperature 

 under the hovers should be 100° F. for the first month and then 

 gradually lowered. 



226. A Special House for the Hover. A special house, six 

 feet square, has been designed for the 100-chick hover. This 



