A NURSE FOR LITTLE CHICKS. 
WHILE THE LAMP HOLDS OUT TO BURN THE LEGHOBN 
HEN TO EGGS MAY TURN. 
Can’t Help Telling: a “ Big Story.” 
“Good morning, father 1 Have you started the in¬ 
cubators yet ? ” 
“Yes. It’s time now if one wants early fall and 
winter eggs.” 
“ Ain’t you afraid the pullets will moult in the fall 
and ‘ lay over ’ their laying till spring ? ” 
“There aren’t many people who can grow April- 
hatched chicks fast enough to run any risk of that.” 
“ I suppose you are firm in the faith that early pul¬ 
lets are the ‘ secret of success ? ” 
“ Yes 1 Eggs are in best demand and bring best 
prices from September till February. The old hens do 
not really get started till midwinter.” 
“ What kinds are you setting ? ” 
“ White Geghorns exclusively. I don’t believe any 
These things are never spoken of in the glowing re¬ 
ports published, but all eggs are counted.” 
“ How many hens did you average last year ? ” 
“Three hundred and fifty.” 
“ How high were your receipts for eggs for market, 
roosters and old hens ? ” 
“ Oh, somewhat over $800, and I have 400 pullets 
worth $400 besides.” 
“ I suppose your hens cost you $1 each—the same as 
other people’s; do they not ? ” 
I feed so much milk and green food that they did 
not eat over $375 worth of grain.” 
“ If you do not look out, you will make a ‘ big 
story ’ yourself. What brooder do you use ? ” 
“ A home-made air machine.” 
“ I am going to send The Rural a description and 
photograph of it.” 
“ Well, it costs but little and I have had excellent 
success with it.” 
In the illustration the 90 chicks shown are what 
front of both boxes. The upper box should have some 
glass in the sides and door; cut a hole in the back so 
that the chicks can go on to the feeding floor, and use 
a piece of cloth to keep in the warm air. The feeding 
floor is attached to the main box by hinges, and when 
let down rests on the ground in a slanting position. 
Nail slats on it, so that the chicks can climb it. A 
hole cut in its side lets the chicks out when the floor 
is let down. A pin slipped into a hole in the end 
under the feeding floor keeps it from dropping down 
when you do not wish the chicks to go out. Put a 
slanting roof on top of the second box and a slanting 
addition, with doors for a cover around the feeding 
floor. Put a pane of glass in both doors over the feed¬ 
ing floor, and a sheet-iron cover on the second box, be¬ 
fore putting on the roof. 
Between the sheet-iron on top of the second box 
and the roof is an air chamber. The small tin tube 
j list comes up through the sheet-iron and heats this 
chamber. A small hole in the end of the brooder lets 
A GROUP OF BROWN LEGHORNS AND THEIR NURSE. Fig. 126. 
other breed can equal them for the number of eggs 
and the small cost of keeping.” 
“Did you see it stated that Mr. Bassler’s Brown 
Leghorn hens averaged 240 eggs each last year ?” 
“No!” 
“ Well they did and the White Leghorns must ‘ hum * 
to beat that average. Mr. Valentine says in a late 
Rural : ‘ At the poultry show the Brown Leghorns 
far outnumbered the Whites.’ They do not show 
dirt and make a nice lawn ornament.” 
“ But the White Leghorn lays the largest eggs.” 
“ Perhaps so ; but we will soon breed them up to 
produce eggs of the same size.” 
“Father, how much did you clear on your hens 
last year ? ” 
“I don’t think I’ll tell. You fellows make things 
look too bright, and must disappoint some who are 
induced to begin the business. You never speak of 
the losses.” 
“ What are they ? ” 
“ Some hens die—ordinarily from six to fifty per 
cent if the cholera gets in—some of the eggs are soft- 
shelled and break. These amount to a good many 
dozen. A good many of the first eggs are infertile. 
were left out of 110 Brown Leghorns hatched. “ Old 
Speckle ” is a hen of leisure now. The brooder is 
set cm some potato crates to make it show plainer. 
A Home-Made Brooder. 
Make a box 15 inches high, and two feet square, for 
100 chicks. Nail strips of tin on the upper edges and 
put on a sheet-iron cover. Cut an inch hole in the 
center of the sheet-iron and put in an inch tin tube ; 
let it fit tightly. It should be 18 inches long. Make 
a frame two inches high and the size of the box and 
nail it on top of the sheet-iron. Bore some half inch 
holes in it on one side so they will admit the air just 
above the sheet-iron. Make another box a foot high, 
the same width and a foot longer than the first. Cut 
a hole in the floor and fit in a quart can, the bottom 
of which is out; punch an inch hole in the center of 
the top and several quarter inch ones around it near 
the top. Place the second box on top of the first and 
the tin tube will go up through the can. Put a piece 
of tin on the bottom of the second box, but keep it 
from touching the board by nails partially driven in. 
This is to keep the boards from getting too hot, and 
it need not be over a foot Bquare. Put a door in the 
out the air and the fumes of the lamp. Now if a lamp 
is lighted and placed in the lower box the sheet-iron 
will become hot, and the fumes of the lamp ascend to 
the upper chamber and pass off without coming in 
contact with the chicks. (A tin lamp holding one or 
two quarts of oil is best. Have a large burner and 
sheet-iron chimney. A flat lamp that will not tip 
over is best; any tinner will make one cheap. Let 
the lamp be set close to the sheet-iron, leaving only 
enough space to prevent smoking.) All this is shown 
in detail at Fig. 127. The air above the sheet-iron 
will become hot, and pass up through the quart can 
into the second box above the chicks, near the top. 
Only a portion of the floor will be warmed from be¬ 
low as the second box is longer than the first, and 
“ bottom heat,” which many think causes leg weak¬ 
ness, is avoided. 
I made another stand which stood on legs, and 
fitted up t o the brooder so that when the front door 
was open the chicks could go into it. In this box 
there was wire netting over the top and grit, water 
and fine seeds were in it. This was intended for an 
out-door brooder and is better than a “chickenhouse,” 
as fewer birds are kept together, and the air is purer 
