IMPORTANCE OF EARLY HATCHING 243 
for the man who neglects these critical days. And yet the diffi- 
culties are not nearly so many as they seem. If one is rearing on 
a small scale it is possible to fill a 100-chick brooder twice in eight 
weeks, If more chicks are required more brooders are necessary. 
The newest and most perfect brooder-houses, capable of holding 
anything up to 2000 chicks at a time, are an invaluable help to the 
egg-farmer who must get all his chicks hatched and reared inside 
of two months. There is, of course, no difficulty about hatching. 
The modern incubator can turn chickens out by the thousand or 
the hundred thousand if necessary. Given twenty-one days and 
a sufficient incubator capacity and there is no limit to the number 
of chicks that may be hatched. 
One of the best types of brooder-house is an American importa- 
tion now being used in this country. Its extreme simplicity is its 
charm, and it is as effective as it is simple. One wonders why it 
has never been thought of before. 
It is simply a square building—of wood generally—with a 
wooden floor. An anthracite stove is placed in the middle of the 
house with an iron chimney running up through the roof. Round 
the stove is placed a circular canvas guard to keep the chickens 
from getting too near the fire. The canvas is just a sufficient shield 
for the fiercer rays of heat and the chicks, perfectly protected in 
this way, spread themselves out over the floor without crowding. 
A house 10 feet square accommodates 500 chickens, and of course 
they are as safe as if under their mother’s wing. All that is 
necessary is to see that the fire is kept up and the temperature at 
a uniform heat. A house to accommodate 2000 birds would be 
better to have three stoves distributed through the building, so 
that the heat would be more uniform. 
Returning for a moment to the main subject—a supply of winter 
eggs—let me say that the poultryman who breeds at the right 
time and has his pullets laying at the precise months has an 
immense advantage over the man who does not. One may put it 
that eggs in October, November and December are golden, while 
eggs during the other months of the year are merely silvern. Not 
only so, but the man who has a steady supply all the year round 
