CARE AND FOOD 



61 



serious condition of things ere even individual brooders at- 

 tained their present satisfactory condition. It was all right 

 as long as only two or three were used, but the moment we 

 came to handle the operations upon a large scale the whole 

 aspect of affairs was altered. 



I have practiced artificial rearing for more than thirty 

 years, but until eight years ago upon a comparatively small 

 scale. In the year 1898, when the College Poultry Farm 

 was established at Theale, we commenced handling the work 

 upon a larger basis, building a brooder house which, whilst 

 very much smaller than those now employed, especially in 

 America, was an advance on anything, that had been done 

 before. For the first three years the result was very unsatis- 

 factory. We hatched a large number of chickens artificially, 

 but the number which died was great indeed; in fact one 

 year the loss during the first three weeks after hatching 

 amounted to no less than 45 per cent. 



At first it was assumed that this was due to neglect of 

 even ordinary precautions, but after careful watching it was 

 seen that such was not the case, and we could only come to 

 the conclusion that the fault was in the system and not in 

 its application. Foods of all kinds were tried, again without 

 any improvement. On making inquiries elsewhere we found 

 that our experience was by no means the worst, in fact in 

 some cases the loss amounted 

 to something like 75 per cent. 

 So disastrous were these re- 

 sults that I was fast coming 

 to the conclusion, in which 

 others shared, that the ar- 

 tificial rearing of chickens on 

 a large scale was a failure. 

 Finally, however, as the 

 result of very exhaustive 

 observations and careful in- 

 quiry it was felt that the 

 weakness of the whole sys- 

 tem was not in the brood- 

 ers themselves, but that the 

 chickens raised by this 

 method were too weak to 

 withstand the changes of 

 temperature which mark our 

 English climate, and that 

 this difficulty could only be 

 overcome by compelling the 

 birds to take more exer- 

 cise and thus strengthen 

 the body. The only way 

 secured was by compelling them 

 which is the natural method. 



A Shelter That Can be Opened or Closed, as the Weather Requires 



the organs and muscles of 

 in which exercise could be 

 to work for their food. 



Dry Feeding of Chicks Solved Problem 



The chickens, it may be explained, generally appeared 

 perfectly healthy until they were about ten days to a fort- 

 night old, when bowel troubles supervened and they died 

 very rapidly. In order to test the matter we absolutely 

 abandoned the old system of feeding and went in for the dry 

 feeding system, that is the use of the smaller grains, scat- 

 tering these amongst the litter and making the birds from 

 the very start work for their food. The result was start- 

 ling; it solved the problem. During the first year in which 

 we adopted this plan we lost only 5 per cent, which result 

 has been abundantly supported by the experience of others, 

 so much so that the dry feeding system has led to an enor- 

 mous growth of artificial rearing in this country, and prac- 

 tically there is now no limit to its possibilities. It may be 

 explained, however, that we find it necessary at the end of 

 a month to give a proportion of moist food, otherwise the 



birds do not make as much flesh as we require, I have given 

 this short account because during my visit to America I 

 found that it was supported by experience there. 



The spirit which is manifested in America has led to 

 the handling of artificial rearing on bigger lines. From 

 time to time we have seen records of huge plants, some of 

 which appeared perfect on paper, and if fowls were as amen- 

 able to control as minerals there ought to be no doubt as 

 to their success. It was with a strong desire to see these 

 personally that I visited America. It should be- remem- 

 bered 'that, as already seen, our system has been almost 

 entirely in the use of individual brooders. The method of 

 raising chickens by means of pipes, known as continuous 

 brooders, is practically unknown on this side the Atlantic. 

 Ideally such a system has many attractions, but what is the 

 fact? We often find that theory and practice do not work 

 together. 



Under these circumstances one of the first points of 

 interest was finding that some of the largest breeders have 

 changed their opinion entirely with regard to continuous 

 brooders. Amongst these Mr. Arthur Brown of Lakewood, 

 New Jersey, is an example, but he is by no means isolated. 

 Such opinion, however, was not that of all. On the lona 

 plant owned by Mr. L. H. Hallock, the continuous brooder 



system is fully adopted, but 

 his system is upon different 

 lines from any I met with, 

 in that by means of what is 

 called the Davies & Rock 

 system heated air, which 

 can be controlled as to 

 quantity is passed into the 

 brooding chambers, and so 

 far as it was possible to judge 

 without actually operating 

 such a system has distinct 

 advantages over radiation by 

 means of hot water or hot 

 air pipes. 



Mr. Hallock claims that 

 the system referred to has 

 worked perfectly in his hands, 

 and that there is a much 

 greater amount of elasticity 

 than under the older methods. 

 If this system fulfills all that 

 is claimed for it, it may bring 

 back the continuous brooder system into favor. I gathered, 

 however, that at the present time it is regarded as by no 

 means satisfactory, in fact in some cases the pipe system 

 has been, given up entirely and individual brooders substi- 

 tuted, but in- others the pipes have been removed to the 

 back of the house so as to maintain a fairly equable tempera- 

 ture, and thus avoid throwing undue strain upon the indivi- 

 dual brooders. 



There can be no question that in theory the pipe system 

 is very attractive, because it is supposed that the labor of 

 attention is greatly simplified, and that instead of having a 

 large number of separate lamps to fill and trim all that is 

 requisite is the firing and regulation of one boiler. In prac- 

 tice, however, this is not so easy as might have been antici- 

 pated, and for that reason I think we on this side have been 

 justified in regarding such a system with a considerable 

 amount of suspicion. It must be remembered that the 

 amount of heat required by birds when they are five to six 

 weeks old is very much less than during, say, the first week, 

 and the pipe system does not appear to allow for changes 

 to that extent. On some of the plants I visited the pipes 

 have been abandoned, and individual brooders are entirely 



