CHAPTER VII. 

 ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 



INCUBATORS AND BROODERS. 



In endeavoring to lay before our readers something 

 that may be to their advantage, I will avail myself of the 

 opportunity of describing that which is in practical 

 operation) and do not call upon others to assist me in 

 solving theories. There are hundreds of methods of 

 hatching chicks artificially, as nothing more is necessary 

 than keeping the eggs for three weeks under certain 

 conditions of heat and moisture. What are those con- 

 ditions, and why do failures occur so often, even when 

 every attention is given the process? 



In the first place, there are a great many unforeseer 

 difficulties in the way that are overlooked or not antici 

 pated. An incubator cannot hatch every fertile egg, 

 neither can the hen do so; yet there are some manufac- 

 turers who claim that the incubators made by them will 

 hatch every fertile egg. To test the hatching of fertile 

 eggs, I procured eggs from two different places. After 

 placing them in the same incubator, and at the same 

 time, I removed all clear eggs by the tenth day. Of the 

 first lot of fifty eggs thirty-two were fertile, and of the 

 second lot of fifty there were thirty-four fertile eggs. 

 The eggs of the first lot hatched thirty chicks, while 

 every chick of the second lot perished in the shell. 

 Upon investigation, I found that the fowls from which 

 the eggs of the first lot had been procured were in full 

 health, and had plenty of exercise, a cockerel of about 

 (65) 



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