types of brooder houses are
used, some of them being shed roof construction and many of them being
built narrower than this house, that is to say, 14, 16 or 18 feet wide
with an alleyway along the front or rear side of the house from which
the work is done. The hovers are placed at the back of the pens when the
alley-way is in the front, otherwise, they are placed next to the
alley-way. The disadvantages of these houses are that only single pens
are provided and that valuable brooding space is used up by the
alley-way. The advantages of the house described above lie in the fact
that the hovers are in the center of the house with the pens on each
side of this, thus doubling the capacity, and that by making use of a
walk over the hover pipe no room is wasted in an alley-way. Having pens
on each side also lessens the labor of taking care of the ducklings to
some extent as the arrangement is more compact.

Length of Time in Brooder
_In House No. 1._ As a rule the ducklings are kept in the No. 1 house
until they are from 2 to 3 weeks old, this of course depending somewhat
upon the time of year and the weather and also upon the number of
ducklings for which accommodations must be provided at any particular
time. As the ducks are moved down through the house and eventually reach
the last pens they are taken from this house and placed in brooder house
No. 2.
_Brooder House No. 2._ This is a heated house like brooder house No. 1
but in which it is not necessary to maintain so high a temperature.
Sufficient heating apparatus should be installed to make it possible to
maintain the temperature at 60 degrees if this becomes necessary in the
early spring.
The particular brooder house described is 14 feet wide and has a shed
roof. It is provided with a window in the front of each pen. No openings
are required along the back since this is not a double pen house. The
space in such a house could undoubtedly be used to better advantage if
it were constructed as wide as the No. 1 house and the hot water pipes
and walk put through the middle of the house so as to provide double
pens. In this house the hot water pipes are run along the rear of the
pens, and while hovers are not really necessary, a walk is constructed
over the pipes in order to save space and provide a convenient place
from which to do the work, and this forms hovers.
Ordinarily after May 1 no heat is needed in the No. 2 house. The pens in
this house are 12 feet wide and they are equipped with feeding and
w