Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-06-03
FROM THE WEAVING AGE
TO THE FALL0W|Nc PEN
some OF the Necessary Requirements
OF the Brooder Stove aud the
Portable Hover.
NEEDS ESSENTIAL THIS YEAR
How, When and Where to Move
Broods and Keep Them From In
termfngling-Facts as to Taking
Chicks to Range.
BY FRANK c. HARE,
fouitry iurbnntin,nn, Clemson College,
South Cnr0lIna

Soutn Carolina.
Inc two most popular methods Of
orooding chicks to-day are by the use
or coal-burning broodcr stoves and
portable hovcrs. The coal-burning
stove is such dependable heater. and
the loss of chicks liz so small that it
|, system on poultry plant rearing a
Thousand or more chicks year
Inc other successful method of
nrooding chicks Is by the use of a port
able hover about two feet in diameter,
heated by coal-oil lamp, placed in
a small portable house This is the
IDEAL way TO raise from nifty TO 200
chicks. As the coal-burning stove
VIII give the most profitable results
when not less than 300 chicks are
these two methods cover tho brooding
problem.
House for Brooder stove.
The stove requires Il room prefer
ably twelve feet square. It is placed
IN about, the center Of the room, and
the chicks hover around It. But this
room is too warm for tho chicks when
ercisins. so that another room of the
same size is necessary. In this second
room. which Is without heat tho chicks
. scratch and work In deep litter for
small grains. and from It they run out
doors whenever the weather IL pleas
ant.
Combining these two rooms In one
house. we md that the size OF the
house for brooder stove TO rear from
900 TO 500 chicks is twenty-four feet
long. twelve feet wide. seven feet high
to the caves and nine feet to the peak
A wooden moor raised ono 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 in the south
and west walls OF the scratching room
The outside door should enter the
scratching room. The rooms should be
separated by tight wooden partition
with door and chick door IN II. and
the inside OF the heated room should
be ceilcd.
This stove-hrooder house should be
placed In the center OF good natural
range for chicks There should be an
abundance OF growing vegetable mat
ter on which insects can he found. ana
plenty of trees and natural shade 10
protect the chicks from the intense
heat OF summer. These natural envt-
ronments can he provided by the poul-
tryman by sowing rape. oats and sun
flowers. or castor-oil beans, II a wood
ed range cannot be obtained.
Allow an average of 500 chicks to
an acre OF ground. scatter tho houses
around the range and grow each
brood TO maturity in the one house.
Jhts hiND OF HOUSE
FOR PORTABLE HOVER
The mos, satisfactory house for the
portable hover Is eight feet long, six
fee, wide. six fee, high in front and
1--WE feet high at the rear. The run
ners are made of four by si1-.nch !um-
Der ten feet long. with each end cut
at an angle OF forty-hve degrees to
facilitate hauling. An inch and one
half hole at each end OF the runners
| yr
rope. and horse viii! pull this little
house anywhere. There is one hinged
window in the south front and a hinged
board a the top or the rear wall for
Ventilation. The floor Is built on four
two By four-inch pieces. six feet long.
spiked to the runners.
Each one OF these hover colony houses
will rear MY chicks and the houses
should be not less than two hundred
feet apart on the range.
BY using either of these systems for
|brooding chicks. We save moving the
chicks at the weaving age from the
brooder to a colony house on the range.
stove near the dwelling house. IL Is
necessary to move them TO colony
houses in the fields when they reach
PsiX- weeks OF age. The same is true
of chicks started in an outdoor hrooder,
or In a hoi water heated brooding
house-they must be taken to colony
house when they no longer require arti-
hcial heat Until we used the brooder
stove and the portable hover we moved
the chicks Ito the chca ply built houses
- In the growing field as soon as they
Fwere able TO shift for themselves. Now
we start and grow the chicks in the
same houses. and save the work OF
transplanting them.
CARE In REMOVING
CHICKS TO RANGE
However. let US consider the other
method. 1t has one advantage-you
[have the chicks near home, and il Is
only step to look after them. Let us
consider that one brood is ready TO be
moved to the field. Cover the floor
kof the new house with litter and scat
ter some chick food in 1t. Take the
chicks from the brooder pl warm
day and keep them confined fin the ne ~
3house until the next morning. Then
|Ftretch some wire netting three feet
Thigh 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 be removed
Rand 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
to 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 brooders
70 one urge house like the stove
hrooder house. but see no reason WHY
Several hundred chicks of the same age
could not be successfully moved to the
one house. This would certainly he
more convenient than caring for small
lots in the colony houses. There is
one secret of success in having chick
grow UP in the same house-supply
each house with a hopper containing
dry mash, a water fountain and feed
each brood of chicks near. or. in, It's
house.
II you feed each lot at home the
3chicks will stay at home. There is
mo disputing this point. and just as
certainly, if you feed the chicks In one
place and have one large hopper for
all, the chicks will crowd into the
houses near the feeding ground.
On the range chicks grow more
rapidly, obtain greater vitality. and
make cesh fore cheaply than il they
are left to mature with the older fowls
at the poultry plant. This year par
ticularly we must exert every effort
to provide ourselves and others with
Vigorous pullets TO help replace the
focks OF laying hens that were slaugh-
tered last year. Eggs will be scarce
Dali 4ta yryt1 + q