42 A REVOLUTION IN EGG PRODUCTION 



foot or two all around the hover at night, till the chicks are a 

 few days old. 



The hover should be run at a good temperature, and this 

 temperature can be judged as well by the action of the chicks 

 as by the thermometer reading. Do not make the mistake that 

 some people do of trying to have the chicks furnish the heat 

 to keep the hover warm, from a mistaken sense of economy 

 and saving in fuel. It is safe to err on the side of high rather 

 than low temperature, with this kind of hover, because the 

 chicks can get away to Avhere it suits their comfort to be. 



Too much emphasis cannot be laid on the danger from 

 crowding. If the temperature gets too low, and the chicks 

 crowd badly, several will be smothered and serious loss will 

 result ; but the loss from dead chicks does not begin to tell the 

 story. Three-fourths of the lot of chicks may be practically 

 ruined by one night's crowding. Many chicks may be crippled, 

 and it will be found that once a chicken has been half smoth- 

 ered in crowding it never gets over it — it may live but seems 

 to have lost stamina. 



Relatively high temperatures under the hovers obviates 

 this danger, and herein lies the success of the large brooders 

 mentioned, because the heat keeps the chicks at a distance and 

 scattered. The same thing happens with the portable hovers, 

 if run at high enough temperatures. Ninety to a hundred de- 

 grees under the hover, when no chicks are under it creating 

 heat, will keep the chicks scattered around the outside on the 

 litter. 



Care must be exercised to keep the floor and litter dry. 

 The litter under the hover should be cleaned out and renewed 

 every three or four days. 



If the hover is run "right" the chicks after a day or two 

 will remain, when they ''retire," all around the hover on the 

 litter with their heads facing outward ; so that if there are a 

 lot of them they will appear as a mat all around the hover — 

 each chick close against the others, but not crowded. As the 

 night gets cooler, you will find them gradually moving to the 

 warmth under the hover. 



The advantages of these hovers, run in this wav, over 

 outdoor brooders are that, when it gets daylight, at from 

 three to four a. m., the chicks do not have to wait for the 

 attendant before they can obtain plenty of fresh air, exercise. 



