” 
356 ARTIFICIAL BROODING 
The tank, hover, burner, and other metal parts are made 
especially for this brooder. 
Requirements of a Successful Brooder.—Regardless of the 
type of brooder selected and the method of supplying heat, there 
are at least three, and perhaps four, requirements for the best 
brooding of chicks. (1) A clean, easily accessible, well-ventilated 
hover, partially darkened, to which the chicks may have free 
access at any time to warm up quickly. (2) A well-ventilated, 
lighted, and moderately warm compartment which will provide 
exercise room for the young chicks, also a place for them to stay 
when the brooder run is cool and they do not need the high 
temperature under the hover. (3) A brooder run or pen protected 
from storms, sun, and wind, and enclosed within the brooder house 
itself. (4) An outside yard for use in pleasant weather, providing 
an abundance of range, also a place for growing green feed. 
It will be seen from these requirements that the indoor brooder 
adapted to the intensive brooder house must meet the first two 
requirements, while an outdoor brooder must provide the first 
three. The gasoline brooder offers the first three of these, the 
second being secured by placing a board, temporarily, a little in 
front of the hover, thus confining the chicks in close proximity 
for the first two or three days, after which time the board is re- 
moved and the chicks given the freedom of the entire floor. 
Preparation of the Brooder.—Before the chicks are placed 
in the brooder, put it in the best possible order. It should be 
cleaned thoroughly with a stiff bristle brush; if necessary the 
floor should be scraped with a putty knife to remove any drop- 
pings, and the interior should afterward be thoroughly sprayed 
with a good disinfecting solution (50 per cent carbolic acid or 
zenoleum). After the brooder has been cleaned the floor should 
be covered to a depth of one-quarter of an inch with clean white’ 
sand, and over this with short-cut alfalfa or fine-cut straw. The 
lamp should be burning for a day before the chicks are put in, 
so as to heat the brooder to an approximate temperature of about 
98° under the hover. It is not advisable to heat the hover com- 
partment to 100° or 105°, as is sometimes recommended, because 
a high temperature tends to lower the vitality of the chicks,—to 
make them much more tender and more easily injured by bad 
methods. 
It is well to inspect the brooder and see that it is in good 
repair, also that the canvas curtains in front of the hover or sur- 
