Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-06-08
Requirements Of the Brooder
Stove and Portable Hover.
How to Move Broods and Keep
Them From Intermingling.

|
| by Frank q. Hare
| Poultry Husba ndman. Clemson College. 8 G.
This year il is particularly necessary
that every chick brought TO the wean-
| ing age should develop into vigorous
cockererel or puIlct from which
| profit can be realized. This article
| explains how to manage these chicks
after they leave the brooder and are
ready TO live on the range.
The two most popular methods oi
| brooding chicks today are by the use OF
| coal-burning brooder stoves and portable
| hovers. The coal-burning stove IL such
| n dependable heater, and the loss oil chicks
| is go small that 1t rs destined to replace
| every other system on poultry plant
| rearing n thousand or more chicks wear
The other successful method OF brood
| ing chicks is by the use OF n portable hover
| about two feet in diameter, heated by
| coal-ol lamp, placed IN IA small portable
house. This is the ideal way To RAISE
| from fifty to three hundred chicks
| As the coal-hurning stove will give the
most profitable results when not less than
| three hundred chicks are placed with IT,
! 1t will be seen that these two methods
7
| HOUSE ron RRooDTR STOVE.
The stove requires a room preferably
| twelve feet square II is placed IN about
| the center of the room. and the chicks
| hover around it. But this room is too
| warm for the chicks when they are scratch
| ing for grain and exercising, So that an
| other room of the same size ~ necessary.
| In this second room, which IS without
| heat, the chicks scratch and work IN deep
| litter for small grains. and from il they
| run outdoors whenever the weather IS
| pleasant
Combining these two rooms IN one
house. we find that the size OF the house
for broOder stovc 10 rear from three
hundred To SIX hundred chicks ~ twenty
four feet long, twelve feet wide, seven feet
high to the caves and nine feet to the
peak. 4 wooden floor raised one foot
above the ground provides dry floor,
and also prevents the visitation OF rats.
There should be two hinged windows IN
the south wall Of the heated room, and
four hinged windows III the south and west
walls OF the scratching room. The
outside door should enter the scratching
room The rooms should be separated
nv a tight wooden partition with door
and chick door in il. and the inside OF the
heated room should be celed,
Tins stove broodcr house should be
placed in the center of a good natural
range for chicks There should lie an
abundance OF growing vegetable matter
on which nsets can i've found, and plenty
of trees and natural shade To protect the
chicks from the intense heat Of summer
These natural environments can ne pro
vided by the poultryman by SOWING rape,
oats and suntiowers, or oaster-oll beans,
. In ~ M a
Allow an average Of FIVE hundred chicks
10 an acre Of ground: scatter the houses
around the range and grow each brood
to maturity in the one house.
HOUSE PoH PORTABLE HOVER
The most satisfactory house for the
portable hover is eight feet long, SIX ieet
wide. SIX feet high IN front and i've feet
high at the rear. The runners are made
oi four by six-inch lumber ten feet long,
with each end cut 1T an angle OF forty
i've degrees TO facilitate hauling An
.nch and one-haf hole at each end OF the
runners j. used as q fastening for chaln
or rope. and horse will pull this httle
house anywhere There is one hinged
window IN the south front and hinged
board at the top Of the rear wall Tor ventl-
latIon The floor i built on four two-by-
four inch pieces six feet long, spiked to
the runners
Each one Of these hover colony houses
will rear fifty chicks and the houses
should he not less than TWO hundred
feet apart on the range.
Pv using either OF these systems Tor
bro0dng chicks we save moving the
chicks at the weaving age from the bTooder
to colony house on the range. II the
chicks are brooded around stove near
the dwelling house, It Ia necessary to
move them TO colony houses in the field
when they reach SIX weeks OF age L ne
Same is true of chicks started IN an outdoor
hroOdcr, or III IA hOtwater heated bToodlfg
house they must be taken TO colony
house when they no longer require arti-
fetal heat, Until we used the hr0oder
stove aud the portable hover, we moved the
chicks to the cheaply-built houses III the
growing field rs soon M they were able u
shift for themselves Now we start and
grow the chicks in the same houses, and
save the work OF transplantlng them
REMOVING CHICKS TO RANGE.
However, let US consider the other
method II las one advantage you
have the chicks near home, and 1t In
ONLY step TO hook after them. Let us
consider that one brood Is ready to be
moved Ia INC i1tilu NbNta tht iiSOi
of the new house with litter and scat
ter some chick food in It, Take the
chicks from the breeder On warm
day and keep them confined in the new
house until the next morning. Then
stretch some wire netting three feet
high around the front Of the house
and let the chicks out, throwing lit
tie feed on the ground In three or
four DAYS the netting can he removed
and the chicks will know their home
We have successfully settled two thou
sand chicks in forty houses this way,
and it was exceptional for one chick
10 roost IN the wrong house, although
the houses were In the same woods,
without fences.
| have never tried taking from three
to Six hundred chicks from broodeTs
TO one large house like the stove brooder
house, but see no reason why sew
| eral hundred chicks Of the same age
| could not be successfully moved to the
| one house This would certainly be
| more convenient than caring for small
| lots in the colony houses. There is
| one secret Of success in having chicks
| grow up in the same house supply
| each house with a hopper containing
| dry mash, u water fountain, and feed
| each brood of chicks near, or III, its house.
If you feed each lot at home the
chicks will stay at home. There is
no disputing this point, and Just as