NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL BROODING 



101 



exception of a small door through which the chicks pass 

 from one room to the other. 



The small brooder of 50-chick capacity is gradually 

 being replaced by larger brooder stoves of from 250 to 500- 

 chick capacity. 



Hovers are used either in continuous brooder houses or 

 small colony houses. Outdoor brooders are used with 

 satisfactory results under most weather conditions. Often 

 the capacity of brooders and hovers is overestimated and 

 experience has 

 shown that from 

 half to two thirds 

 of the chicks esti- 

 mated for the 

 brooder or hover 

 will usually do 

 much better. Until 

 one has had consid- 

 erable experience, it 

 is best not to brood 

 over 250 chicks in 

 one flock. When a 

 lamp is used as the 

 source of heat for 

 the brooder, care should be taken to keep the wick and burner 

 perfectly clean or else trouble will result. A new wick for the 

 brooder lamp after each second lot of chicks are brooded is 

 a good investment. Brooder lamps and stoves should be in- 

 spected several times a day to see if they are in working order. 

 The brooder lamp should not be filled too full of oil, as 

 the heat of the lamp when lighted will expand the oil in 

 the bowl and may cause it to overflow and catch fire. 



Brooder stoves. Brooder stoves and separate individual 

 hovers heated by coal, distillate oil and kerosene are coming 



Figure 103. — A coal-heated colony stove brooder 

 house, 12x14 feet with a capacity of 500 chicks. 



