Evening star., 1915-06-13
HANDY BROODER HOUSE.
Unit Plan for Handling Chicks
Homemade and Inexnensive

One of the handiest ARRANGEMENTS
ina sinable for brooding chicks is that
in use on a small country place near
Rockville. the house being the invention
and the handfwork of the poultryman
who uses it. 1t has all the advantages
of compactness ease of accessibility in
all parts. hardness in cleaning, etc,
and besides is designed on the unit
plan, but all in one house.
The house is built of lumber dressed
on one side. The location is just below
the top of a slight rise and a yard,
divided into runs by means of fine mesh
poultry netting. extends fifteen feet in
front of the house. the run being shaded
by peach trees.
The structure Is four feet high at the
back. five feet In front. and is five feet
deep. The entire house is thirty feet
long, and it is divided into five-foot COM
partments by means of dressed lumber
partitions that extend to within one foot
of the roof. The opening at the top
is covered with fine mesh poultry net
ting. A six-inch ventilator at each end,
covered with the netting and provided
with a galvanized tin slide to be closed
in wet, snowy or rainy weather. affords
ventilation.
Each compartment has a door. swung
from the top and extending to the floor
and entirely across the compartment.
This door is fitted with two large panes
of glass protected on the inside by the
fine mesh netting. and the doors can be
swung up and hooked in place, or low
cred and fastened with catches. as de-
sired.
hover Is installed, the lamp box being
fastened securely to the back of the
house, while the fue also extends
through a properly cut opening in the
back, allowing the foul air and the
lamp fumes to escape out of doors.
These hovers are fixed in place at the
back of the structure, but are located
midway between the partition walls.
Inch strips are tackled to the floor of
the house, inclosing the brooders in
a square about three or four inches at
the nearest point from the hovers. This
is to retain the litter beneath the
hovers. The remaining portion of the
floor of each compartment Is covered
with sand and fine gravel, wlrich is
frequently renewed as the house is
cleaned.
Above the door of each compart-
ment, and set about two inches below
the top of the front wall, is a window
or rather two panes of glass set in
fixed frames. the glass being ten by
twelve inches, set on the side. These,
with the glass doors, give ample light
even to the back of the brooder COM
partments. The house was built to
face the south. so that the interior of
the brooder receives the full sunshine
practically all day.
The arrangement makes it easy to-
fill and attend to the lamps used in
cold or chilly weather The compart-
ments are large enough to give the
chicks plenty of room, as it is rule
rigid1y adhered to that no more than
fifty chicks are to be placed in each
compartment. The compartments may
be easily cleaned, as the doors open
at the bottom on the level with the
floor. In fine weather the doors may
be raised to allow the chicks to get
out on the ground in the runs, and
each brood is kept separate from the
others at all times
Exclusive of the cost of the hovers
this brooder house cost for material is
s21.20. 1t has a capacity for 300 chicks
and it was built in spare time by the
man who devised it and who is using
it. 1t may be extended at any time
simply by adding one or more COM
partments and equipping them with
hovers and the runs in front Alto
gether it appears to be the handiest
and most convenient brooder house for
young chicks yet devised, with the ad-
ded attraction of costing little, being
easily built by any one who can handle
saw and hammer, and about as easy
to take care of as can be desired