ARTIFICIAL BROODING 231 



Those hens which are best for setting will usually be found 

 to make the best mothers. The coop may be of almost any 

 size and shape. The " A" shaped coops with a small protected 

 run shown in Fig. Ill will be found convenient, serviceable, 

 and inexpensive. 



Capons are frequently used as mothers, but are more of 

 a curiosity than a success. In inducing them to take 

 the chicks, confine them in a roomy nest box with a 

 low roof and place the chicks under them at dusk. If on 

 examination in the morning it is found that the capon 

 has not accepted the chicksj they should be taken away 

 and kept warm throughout the day and placed under 



Fig. 112 



Capon brooding chicks. (Courtesy of George Beuoy.) 



the capon again at dusk, he having been confined to the 

 nest throughout the day. He will frequently accept the 

 chicks the first night and rarely refuses them on the second. 

 Some breeders who use capons extensively for brooding, 

 wait until the chicks are two weeks old before trusting them 

 to the capons. 



Natural versus Artificial Brooding. — Artificial brooding is a 

 more or less necessary accompaniment of the use of incu- 

 bators. Its advantages and disadvantages are quite com- 

 parable with those of artificial incubation. The natural 

 method is the proper one where only a few chicks are raised. 

 With any numbers, however, the use of brooders is to be 



