CHAPTER XXI. 
ARTIFICIAL BROODING. 
ARTIFICIAL brooding usually follows artificial incubation, but, 
where only a few hundred chicks have been hatched in a machine, 
they are sometimes brooded under hens, because this necessi- 
tates less attention. Artificially brooded chicks are more subject 
to certain diseases, and if neglected may not make as rapid growth 
as if brooded under hens, while at the same time they need more 
care. The possibilities in artificial brooding, however, are many; 
and, if the type of brooder and methods are good, and the chick’s 
requirements as to feed and temperature are understood, just as 
good, if not better, results can be secured as when the hen is 
used. The great advantage of the artificial method is the large 
number of chicks which can be handled. Were it not for the 
development of this branch of poultry keeping, the broiler in- 
dustry as we know it to-day would have been impracticable, and 
on the large intensive egg farms it would have been impossible 
to brood each year the many thousands of chicks required to supply 
future layers. There are many brooder systems and many types 
of brooder houses, all possessing advantages and disadvantages, 
and all adapted to certain conditions. 
Brooder Houses.—In the construction of brooder houses we 
find two general plans. (1) Long brooder houses are permanent. 
They may be from fourteen to twenty feet wide, and from fifty 
to several hundred feet in length (Fig. 163). (2) Colony brooder 
houses are nearly always portable, and contain from fifty to one 
hundred square feet of floor space; some, however, are very small, 
and contain only ten to twelve square feet of floor space. 
In choosing which type or system of brooding to use, three 
things must be considered: (1) The number of chicks to be 
brooded; (2) the season of the year; (3) funds available for per- 
manent equipment of this kind. The intensive brooder equip- 
ment of the long-house type is adapted to broiler raising on a 
large scale, to the production of many hundreds, or perhaps 
thousands, of pullets for laying purposes, or to any poultry farm 
where thousands of chicks are to be brooded to advanced age. 
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