310 COMMERCIAL POULTRY RAISING 



weather conditions, how often the fire requires stoking, if it is a 

 coal fire, and how to bank the fire at night. 



A thermometer should be hung three feet from the base of the 

 stove and one inch above the litter, for that is where the chicks 

 sleep and rest. The stove should be hot enough to make the 

 thermometer in that position register 90 degrees. No harm will 

 ensue if it registers more than 90 degrees, but try not to have 

 it register less oarticularly if the night is coming on cold. When 

 the brood has settled down comfortably for the night, the nearest 

 chicks should be about two feet from the base of the stove, and 

 this intervening distance amounts to a reserve heat, so that as 

 the night advances and the fire cools off somewhat, the chicks 

 may draw closer to the stove for the desired warmth. 



Hover Breaking. — Late afternoon or early evening is the best 

 time to remove the chicks from the incubator and place them in 

 the brooder, for the darkness will serve to restrain the more 

 venturesome fellows from exploring the building and becoming 

 chilled. Furthermore, when they are quiet they can be made to 

 obtain their first impression of where the warmth is to be had. 

 This is termed hover breaking, and it is the first and paramount 

 issue in the artificial brooding of chicks; they must be taught to 

 seek the hover or the base of the stove, which corresponds to a 

 hover, for warmth, and until the attendant is absolutely assured 

 that this instinct is firmly established, he must adopt special 

 means of confining them within or very close to the stove. 



Wire Partition. — A good plan is to erect a small mesh-wire 

 partition, poultry netting will do, in a circle around what is con- 

 sidered to be a safe distance from the stove, removing it in the 

 daytime, or when it is found the chicks no longer require it as a 

 safeguard. See Fig. 193. If the chicks are not confined close 

 to the stove in this manner for the first few nights, it is quite 

 likely that some of them will stray from the warmth and be 

 unable to find their way back, whereupon they will soon become 

 chilled and die. 



With proper training, two or three days is usually sufficient 

 to break a brood of chicks to the hover, and the attendant must 



