78 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



noise may cause no injury ; but sudden occa- 

 sional loud noises, or concussions, are known 

 to cause deaths and deformities. Even a hen 

 instinctively chooses a quiet and retired place. 

 It also helps to have as uniform a temperature 

 as possible, especially if the regulator is not of 

 the very best. Airy, dry cellars answer exceed- 

 ingly well, and in America some of the large 

 poultry-farmers find it pays, by increased pro- 

 duction, to build their special incubator-rooms 

 ashalf cellar or basement and half aboveground, 

 or to bank up soil round the greater part of the 



cubators, shows on what a scale incubation is 

 conducted in the States, and we have had notes 

 of even larger installations. Fig. 46, illus- 

 trating as it does part of the establishment of 

 a well-known British lady poultry-farmer, is 

 not less interesting, for it shows a clever adap- 

 tation of existing farm buildings. It is a room 

 43 feet long by 12 feet wide, and about 16 feet 

 in height, and was the cider cellar of the old 

 farmhouse, which, by removing the flooring of 

 the room above it, has been converted into a fine 

 lofty chamber, with plenty of light and air. 



Fig. 46. 



Edwards's Incubator Room at Cualey, Gloucestershire. 



walls. Recent improvements in thermostats 

 remove a great deal of the necessity for this ; 

 still, extremes of temperature are better avoided 

 as far as possible. Another point of some im- 

 portance is that the incubator should not be in a 

 direct draught, else the eggs maybe dangerously 

 chilled when withdrawn for turning or airing. 



In Figs. 46 and 47 are illustrated two good 

 examples of incubator rooms. That of Mr. 

 Karstendiek, of New Orleans, containing as it 

 did when photographed fifty-five 300-egg in- 



Built with thick stone walls, and the floor sunk 

 some 2 feet below the ground, with windows 

 high up near the ceiling, this cellar makes a 

 splendid incubator room. Fresh air is ad- 

 mitted by well inlets low down in the wall at 

 intervals beneath the incubators, and the 

 vitiated atmosphere rises and passes out by the 

 windows some 12 feet up near the ceiling. The 

 room faces south, but is protected from too 

 much sun by a sheltering yew tree, and against 

 the north side are stables and out-buildings. 



