- S é 
ow PHEASANT FARMING VANS 
feature, in a wet climate at least, of heavily feathered legs, was 
eliminated, and the size and quantity of their eggs increased, to- 
gether with added hardiness to the young chicks. Thus I produced 
the ‘“tnear bantam,” which I have used for many seasons, but when 
the supply is exhausted, a wagon is sent out into the surrounding 
country for setting hens. This is usually at a time of the year when 
it is considered too late to set chicken eggs—May, June and July— 
but broody hens are more numerous at this time than at any other 
season. By paying for “setters” a price slightly in advance of the 
market price, many farmers are induced to hold their setting hens 
until regular trips can be made for them. In fact, the business of 
supplying the State Game Farm with setting hens has grown to 
such proportions as to become a well established side issue in this 
locality. These hens are brought in sacks, not coops, and placed 
on nest eggs in a darkened coop, and not given liberty until the fol- 
lowing day. No hen is given pheasant eggs until thoroughly 
“broken in” to the nest eggs. So anxious are some farmers to sell 
their chickens at this slightly advanced price that frequently there 
are offered whole coops of chickens that have no notion of setting. 
This has necessitated establishing a rule that ‘a setting hen is not a 
setting hen until you pick her up off the nest.” 
Hens on Pheasant Eggs 
Incubators are found most valuable when used in connection 
with setting hens. When a number of large hens are set at one 
time, all of the pheasant eggs may be removed when just beginning 
to pip and placed in an incubator that has previ- 
ously been heated to about 103 degrees. The hens 
from which the eggs have been removed may be 
re-set immediately. The smaller and more motherly hens should 
be left on their nests and not disturbed. The removal of all of 
the eggs but one or two from a hen is a mistake, since, 
30 
Artificial 
Incubating 
