136 



HATCHING AND REARING 



floor. But the most satisfactory method yet devised for 

 heating long brooder houses is what is known as the mam- 

 moth brooding system. This consists of a circular hover 

 heated by hot water pipes which run in an insulated box 

 below the brooder floor. The heat ascends to the hover 

 through a galvanized drum or cylinder. Of these three 

 different types the small colony brooder is best adapted for 

 use on small poultry plants, the large brooder to large com- 



FiQ. 73.— A 



brooder house. Capacity two hundred chicks, 

 being used as a shelter for growing pullets. 



mercial farms, and the intensive system to broiler farms, 

 where there is much early winter brooding (Figs. 74 and 75). 

 Operating the Brooder. — Before placing the chicks in the 

 brooder, it should be thoroughly cleansed, the old sand and 

 litter removed, the hover floors and walls scraped, and the 

 whole washed with a three per cent solution of creolin. 

 Fresh, clean sand should be put on the brooder floor to the 

 depth of half an inch, and over this some fine clover or 

 alfalfa. The brooder should be examined carefully to see 

 that it is in perfect order, and then the lamp lighted, and the 



