ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION l8l 



black grit does not seem to be eaten when any of the 

 brighter sorts are near at hand. 



THE BROODER 



A good brooder is an indispensable adjunct to the 

 poultry yard. The only conditions necessary in man- 

 aging a brooder are to keep it clean and not overheated 

 ■or overcrowded. Brooders are now made (some at 

 least) so that it is impossible to overheat them, per- 

 fectly arranged mechanism allowing the surplus heat 

 to pass off. The lOO-chick individual brooders are 

 large enough for all purposes. But seventy-five chicks 

 are enough for any machine, after they get to be a 

 month old, and fifty do better. If more chicks are 

 -wanted get more brooders. In fact, it is economy to 

 have an extra brooder or two to divide up the chicks 

 and put them in as they grow and the brooder becomes 

 crowded. Don't crowd. Let this be impressed all the 

 time on your mind. Don't crowd. Let the chicks 

 have plenty of room, and they will do better in every ■ 

 way than with the hen. At two months old the chicks 

 may be put in small houses and so make room for the 

 .smaller chicks. But I have kept chicks in the brooder 

 ttntil they voluntarily left the brooder for the roost. 



The brooder should be cleaned every day. Put 

 dry, fine sand on the floor, and then, with a small 

 broom, sweep the droppings out into a box or bucket, 

 to be deposited on the pile intended for garden 

 manure. The sand need not be renewed oftener than 

 ■once or twice a week, according to its quantity and 

 condition. I have seen brooders in which the chicks 

 perished by being overheated and then chilled. Over- 

 heating is common, and is the cause of the great mor- 

 tality in chicks. Overcrowding is associated with 

 overheating, but it comes from the chicks being so cool 



