Show mechanical ERS FOR LITTLE CHICKS this article should help the be ginner Mate materially in choosing the tape a of Bio blooding most suitable Sui ible tible to riis individual re quire ments one of the penalties ol 01 being re carded as an authority on anything is having to answer all sorts of 0 questions more ar less closely ed to your specialty one of the many questions that I 1 am called upon to answer quite frequently is what type of artificial brooder do you consider besta to this I 1 in variably reply that there Is no best system and no best device any of the devices and systems now in gen eral use will give satisfaction it if the manufacturer s instructions are care fully followed A brooding system should be able to develop high tern tem easil cleaned and disinfected it should be guarded against tire fire it should be able to developed dev elope high tern tem and distribute heat evenly and it should be easily ventilated the terms brooder and hover are rather loosely used by many people St ing a hover is that part of the brooding apparatus app aritus avitus which confines the heat to a given place and to which the chicks have access tor for warmth it is usually a circular metal canopy to deflect het downward onto the backs of the chicks just as it would come from the body of a hen it Is sometimes adjustable to various heights and is quite often surrounded by a slit cur tain to confine more of the heit to the area beneath be neati it many my types of heating plants are ere used A ke rosine burner is the most common form although coal gas hot water and electricity are also us ed to furnish brooder heat if an oil burner is used it should be so constructed thit the flame cannot easily be blown out or smothered and there should be some provision tor for the easy escape of fumes into the open air as they are very harmful to young chicks with coal heaters it is also necessary to have a good draft t small por portable tabla lamp hovers hav ing g a capacity tor for from 50 to chicks are deservedly quite popular as they are small and are easily car kaied about they are easily clean ed simple to regulate and otter offer lit tie tle tire fire hazard it if ordinary eions are observed A centrally lo 10 bated lamp is surrounded by a metal drum which carries the heat up against a metal canopy which de fleets the heat downward the can opy is usually qu rounded by a cur tain toi to confine the heat and slits in the curtain to allow the chicks to come and go as they please large stove brooders are in quite general use and have much to corn com mend them in principle they are much like tue tre portable brooders i mentioned except that they omit the inner drum and the sur rounding curtain As they radiate heat over quite an extensive area gradually decreasing in intensity with the distan e it travels the lit tie tle chicks can find almost any degree of heat they wish with this type of hover poultry men can take care of 5 chicks or more A plan which offers many addan to the is the col ony brooder system A large hover or brooder of from toi tot BOO chicks is placed in the center of a colony house and a temporary fence of one inch netting is put around it to keep the chicks from scattering the size of the enclosure is increased aiom time to time as they grow and need more room the advantages of this plan are obvious it disease de for it can be con fined to one colony house or in case of fire only one brood broo d of chicks wt will 11 be destroyed the colony houses us ed are of the i gular type famil ar to all practical poultry men there is a t comparatively new system at of brooding called the battery brooding system that I 1 have seen in operation in different states in most of tee cases it is giving satisfaction tor for the production of early broilers etc these batteries aie made up of compartments about 3 34 x 4 feet and tour four to six of these are usually built on top of eich etch oth er the floor of each compartment is made of 12 inch mesh wire and about 2 inches beneath the wire Is a galvanized pan which catches all the droppings nd is removed and cleaned every morning about chicks are put in each compartment at the start but the number is re deuced as the chicks grow when the chicks are old enough to de termine the sex the pullets are us bally put in a regular brooder room and raised for layers while the cock berels are left in the batteries and grown as rapidly as possible tor for use as broilers in texas and in other southern states electricity is the usual heat in the batteries while further north hot water heating systems are ally installed the advantages ot this system are the small space re quiren and the sanitary measures afforded by the wire floors in the battery compartments copyright 1949 by dr L D le gear V S st I 1 ouis mo lambs are usually most prof protia table ble it if made ready for market in 4 or 5 months and weigh from 65 to 75 pounds |