11 



ditions as found in these chicks. If we tabulate the results as to the 

 common condition found — i.e., cheesy spots in the lungs, non-absorbed 

 yolks and hardened or cheesy accumulations in the caeca — we found 207 

 chicks had cheesy spots in their lung-s, 138 had hardened yolks, and 113 

 had abnormal caeca. Again, if we take a combination of the conditions 

 found where the lungs, yolk, and caeca are abnormal, we find 102 in this 

 class; where the lungs and yolk are diseased there are 164. 



Notes on Table III. — Hens vs. Incubators. 



958 egg's were set in the machines, and 430 chicks were hatched, or 

 45.5 per cent, of the eggs set. 



335 egg's were set under hens, and 196 chicks hatched, or 58.5 per 

 cent, of the eggs set. 



As the same hens' eggs were used in each method the hen has the 

 advantage, and had she not been in cramped quarters for a portion of the 

 hatches her hatches would have been larger. 



It will be noticed that the mortality of the chicks hatched on May nth 

 was very high. I think that the mortality was not, entirely, due to incuba- 

 tion. With this hatch, we decided to mark and weigh each chick from 

 ^ach egg. To do this we used pedigree trays of our own design. Each 

 hen's eggs on the nineteenth day of incubation were placed in a separate 

 compartment, and the tray put in a machine. This, of course, makes all 

 but one egg from each hen finished in a machine. With this particular 

 machine we ran the temperature very high, and kept it there until the 

 chicks were over 24 hours old. These chicks panted very much. They 

 began dying about the usual time, and had the usual symptoms. My 

 personal opinion is that if the chicks pant very much in a machine, they 

 are likelv to have a heavy death rate. 



Pedigree and weight records were not kept of the April chicks, but 

 were of all others with the exception of the hatch of May 6th. Where the 

 mortality of the chicks hatched by machines, as given in the above table, 

 is different from that given for the entire machine in another table, the 

 mortality here given applies only to the chicks from the eggs laid by the 

 same hens as those set under hens. 



Hen-hatched chickens from eggs set July 18th suffered somewhat from 

 leg weakness. More mortality was due to this than any other cause. 

 The chickens were reared in a very small run, and were fed all they would 

 eat, or food was in front of them at all times. Had these chickens been 

 reared in an open field this difficulty might have been overcome. The 

 mortality of the chicks from machine No. 2 was practically all from the 

 common cause, bowel trouble, etc. The hens that were set in the incubator 

 hatched chickens on the average low in vitality, several of them showing 

 the usual symptoms of white diarrhoea. We have never hatched such 

 chickens, in any year, from hens setting on earth. 



From what I observed of the chicks, those hatched from hens setting 

 on moist earth grew the best. 



