BROODING 



33 



Fig, IV — Shows the house r^ady for the roof, window and door 



Fig. II — Ellis combination house in process of erection. The foundation. 



in the center aisle on the 

 floor. We show here some 

 cuts illustrating how this 

 movable house is put to- 

 gether. 



I am presenting also 

 herewith a diagram illus- 

 trating the yarding plan. A 

 study of this will show that 

 each chick has from 8 to 10 

 square feet of yarding room 

 outside the house, depend- 

 ing upon the nuinber of 

 chicks placed under one 

 hover. I would advise that 

 na more than fifty xshioks be 

 placed under any hover. 



The same kind of wire is used to enclose the yards. 

 Three feet is high enough for the partitions, whereas four 

 feet is better for the outside fences. The work of removal 

 will be facilitated if all wires are tacked on pointed stakes 

 which can be pulled up when no longer needed and the wire 

 rolled up. 



After the Hovers are Removed 



When the chicks no longer need artificial heat, the 

 hovers and the platforms they rest on are removed. By 

 this time all cockerels Are removed, leaving from 125 to 150 

 pullets in the house. When these get of the colony house 

 size, all wire 

 partitions are 

 removed and 

 half of the pul- 

 lets are taken 

 to a new laying 

 house (built for 

 them) or else 

 put around in 

 cheap colony 

 coops. In this 

 way your 

 brooding house 

 is used straight 

 through the 

 year. The hov- 

 ers can be in- 

 stalled in any 

 laying house of 

 our type on the 

 plant. They do 

 not have to be 



,Fig. Ill — Shows floor in position. Rear and two sides up. 



same house. This solves the 

 great question of how to pro- 

 vide fresh ground each year 

 for the young stock. Most 

 chicken plants increase, and 

 each year a new house or 

 two can be built and used 

 that season for the brooding 

 house. After two or three 

 years it would be possible 

 to return to the original 

 house, since the grown towls 

 are confined all winter and 

 the soil could be plowed up 

 and a crop of oats or other 

 quick sprouting grain started 

 to sweeten the earth. 

 The advantages of this plan appeal to me. There is 

 economy in the outlay for equipment — hovers cost half the 

 price of brooders. There is durability— since these hovers 

 are practically indestructible, being made of metal exclusive- 

 ly. I find my outdoor brooders a considerable item of ex- 

 pense each year for repairs, painting, glass, etc. Then there 

 is the labor-saving feature— 300 chicks under one roof. The 

 comfort of the plan will be apparent to anyone who has 

 attended to outdoor brooders and filled lamps in a driving 

 storm. Last and most important of all, the chicks have 

 about twice the floor space they would have in an outdoor 

 brooder, and when the weather is bad they can be confined 



to the house 

 while they 

 could scarcely 

 be closed in a 

 3x6 brooder if 

 three or more 

 weeks old. 



The cost of 

 wiring is not 

 more than the 

 cost of the out- 

 d o o r covered 

 run which- is 

 necessary with 

 each outdoor 

 brooder. 



While each 

 one has inter- 

 e s t i n g ways 

 of getting 

 results all must 

 use those best 



__ FIG. V— THE ELLIS COMBINATION HOUSli EQUIPPED WITH HOVERS AND CHICK RUNWAYS 



put back each Diagram showing the arrangement and size of the yards enclosed by temporary wire fences surrounding the Suited to h 1 S 



year into the 



laying house while it is being used as a brooding house by having adaptable hovers temporarily installed. own plant. 



