REARING 177 



ous, and it is well to be a bit cautious with regard 

 to fire. The flame should be turned very low in 

 starting the lamp till the brooder is well heated, 

 then it may be adjusted to suit. If adjusted before 

 the lamp parts are heated, it is sure to run up so 

 high as to be dangerous with the heating of the 

 lamp. 



MANAGING THE BROODER 



The success of brooding chicks artificially is hav- 

 ing the brooding conditions the first few days sim- 

 ilar to incubating conditions ; not that the brooder 

 is constructed like the incubator, but it has to be 

 good enough to hatch eggs in, because in the four 

 days that succeed the exclusion from the shell in- 

 cubation is not really completed until the yolk is 

 absorbed. The little chick that comes from the 

 shell is very much like an infant ; it has a tendency 

 to lie around and sleep, and the nearer incubator 

 conditions are reached in the brooder at the start 

 the better it will be. The temperature would run 

 from 85 to 90 degrees during this period, on a line 

 with the chicks. Heat, if not too much, is bene- 

 ficial. 



When the chicks are put under a self-regulating 

 hover, the heating conditions right themselves and 

 one should not need to worry any more about the 

 chicks than if they were eggs in an incubator; 

 while if one has to depend on turning the lamp up 

 and down to control the heat in operating brooders, 

 especially out of doors, where there are extreme 

 temperature variations to contend with, from 30 

 to 60 degrees in a day, that means that the operator 

 has to be on hand a good part of the time. 



