This bulletin deals with the growing of chicks in houses with commercial brooders and other equipment especially designed for securing rapid chick growth and protecting their health; also with cutting labor costs and growing early-laying pullets.

Several days before the chicks arrive the brooder house should be swept clean and the floor scrubbed with scalding lye water, using 4 ounces of lye to 10 gallons of water. Repair any broken windows or leaks in the roof. When the house is dry, spray all interior surfaces with a good coal tar disinfectant, using 1 ¹/₂ pints of concentrated cresol to 5 gallons of water. In case the house is infested with mites or bedbugs spray the cracks with a mixture of equal parts of kerosene and concentrated cresol. Observation should be made later to see if another treatment is needed to kill all of the insects. See pages 549 to 552 for cautions about chick diseases.