RANKIN'S DUCK BOOK 



thrive when too closely packed. These 150-duck brooders 

 can be run at an expense of two cents per day for oil. In ex- 

 treme cold weather artificial heat should be kept up in these- 

 brooders for three weeks; in warm weather, a week is suffi- 

 cient. The same brooders can be used over and over as fast 

 as the new hatches come out. When brooders are removed, 

 closed boxes can be used instead. 



When the operator does business large enough to require 

 the use of five or six brooders, it would be cheaper for him 

 to put in a heater at once, as the original cost of the heater 

 would be less than that of the brooders. Years ago, when 

 the question of heaters was first agitated, the cost was enor- 

 mous, and the consumption of coal in proportion. Large hot- 

 house boilers were used, often at a cost of several hundred dol- 

 lars before the thing was ready for use. Now a good heating 

 system can be arranged for a building one hundred feet long 

 at an expense not exceeding $100. This, of course, would be 

 much less than a complement of brooders for the same build- 

 ing. 



Advantages of the Heating System. 



The heating system has several marked advantages over 

 the brooders. One is, that during the extreme cold of winter 

 the building is always warm enough for the little birds, while 

 with nothing but brooders it would often freeze around them r 

 necessitating feeding inside the brooders, which would not be 

 as healthy for the ducklings. Again there would be a great 

 saving of labor, as a self-regulating heater would require no- 

 more care than a single brooder, while the oil consumed in- 

 the brooders would fully equal the cost of coal required for 

 the heater. 



There is one point here which the beginner should always- 

 take into consideration in the selection of a heater, and that 

 is, be sure and get one that will give you the greatest amount 

 of heat for the fuel consumed. The patent steam and water 

 heaters now upon the market are too numreous to mention- 

 But there is a vast difference in the economy of these heaters- 



When contemplating the purchase of a heater, several' 

 years ago, I called upon a party who was running a newly- 

 purchased heater. He seemed very much pleased with it,, 

 and said it ran admirably,— warmed his building nicely, and 

 only cost about one dollar per day for coal. I made up my 

 mind then and there that I should run my brooder a while 

 longer. But on interrogating another party using one of a dif- 

 ferent pattern, he assured me that his heaters warmed both: 

 brooders and buildings in good shape at a cost of fifteen cents 



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