THE BROODING OF CHICKS 



241 



uncomfortably cold under conditions of artificial brooding, 

 and is unable to locate heat enough to warm iiim quickly, 

 he obeys that instinct which tells him to get his back up 

 against the mother hen. The result is that he tries to crawl 

 under the other chicks. This, taken up by the other chicks 

 in turn, results in bunching and crowding with the accom- 

 panying evils of smothered chicks and a diminution of thrift 

 on the part of the entire ilock. 



Where the temperature is not sufficiently low to actually 

 chill the chicks, but fails to make them comfortable, they 

 quickly show the effect by ruffled feathers, " winginess," and 



Show'inii: the ri^sult of cliilling. (Courtesy of I^urduo As^riculLural 

 Ivxperimcnt Station.) 



a general appearance of unthrift, which is frequently accom- 

 panied by digestive disorders quite similar to contagious 

 diarrhea in symptoms and results. 



Fresh Air.— Not only should there he a well-ventilated 

 exercising pen and outdoor run, but the brooder-hover must 

 be so arranged that there will be a constantly changing sup])ly 

 of tlie air. In the small oil-heated portable hovers of the 

 Iicst type, the heater is so constructed tliat it both radiates 

 heat from a drum and heats air wliich is poiu'ed under the 

 hover, disi)lacing and forcing out the old air. With the coal- 

 16 



