ALTERNATIVE RUNS 235 
periods of broodiness is shown in the following table, and it is 
interesting to contrast the figures with those of the previous trials, 
for in 1918-1914 the figures were :—Number of periods of broodi- 
ness: heavy birds, 767 ; light birds, 37; while in 1914-1915 heavy 
birds gave 602 and light birds 12 periods, which, even allowing for 
the two months’ shorter period of the trials, shows a considerable 
reduction. 
Broover-Houses 
Most large poultry-farmers have long since discarded the out- 
of-door brooder and adopted the more easily worked system of 
a brooder-house. The practice is, however, not universal, for I 
know of one large commercial farm where at least 30,000 birds are 
reared every year from the 100-chick size brooder. The disad- 
vantages of the multiplicity of small brooders are fairly obvious. 
While the results in rearing may be equally good, the labour is 
enormous, and the amount of ground required is prodigiously 
increased. 
I asked the farmer in question why he preferred so use, say, fifty 
100-chick brooders to one brooder-house where all the work could 
be carried out under cover, and he replied that it was largely a 
question of risk. He did not like the idea of having so many 
young stock under one roof. I could see, however, that he was 
more than half convinced that his argument was not a sound one. 
If the truth were told I rather think he was loath to scrap all his 
old brooders and go to the expense of a modern brooder-house. 
He admitted the saving of labour and the saving of space, but he 
was a little afraid of accidents in a house with a couple of thousand 
chicks, Excepting in the case of fire there is no more risk in a 
large brooder-house than in a multitude of small ones, and I have 
never known an instance of a man with a well-equipped brooder- 
house going back to the old system. 
Brooder-houses are of various kinds. There are some that 
resemble a number of small brooders in so far as they contain a 
number of hovers (or lamp-heated boxes) containing any number 
up to 200 chicks each. These hovers usually run down each side 
