PROGRESSIVE POULTRY RAISING 



The cooling of the eggs is accomplished by taking the 

 tray out of the machine and placing it on a table or, 

 where the regulator does not interfere, on top of the 

 machine. The eggs should be allowed to cool until 

 they feel cool though not stone cold, to some sensitive 

 part of the body such as the lips or the eyelid. 



It is customary to test the eggs twice during the 

 incubation period, usually about the seventh and four- 

 teenth days, so that the infertile and dead-germ eggs 

 may be removed. The exact time of testing is really 

 immaterial. Some incubator operators prefer to make 

 the test on the loth and i8th days. The testing should 

 always be done, however, so that the infertile eggs may 

 be made use of by feeding to other chicks or the laying 

 stock and the dead-germ eggs destroyed before they 

 begin to putrefy in the machine. 



After the i8th day the incubator should be closed and 

 kept closed until the hatch is well over unless some 

 very unusual circumstance makes it desirable to open it. 

 After the hatch is well over which will be usually the 

 2oth day for Mediterranean breeds and the 2ist for 

 the heavier breeds the chicks should be left in the incu- 

 bator without feeding for at least thirty-six hours. 



A very large chick loss by inexperienced poultry 

 raisers would be avoided if they did not make the mis- 

 take of feeding the chicks too soon after hatching. At 

 the time the chick breaks its way out of the shell nearly 

 half of the original yolk of the egg is still in the digestive 

 tract undigested. It usually takes at least thirty-six 

 hours for the digestion and absorption of this material. 

 If the chicks are fed before this material fully absorbs it 

 is quite likely to prove fatal owing to its fermentation 

 and putrefaccion. 



March and early April is the time 



Time of to hatch chicks of the heavier breeds 



Hatching where winter eggs are looked for from 



the pullets. This means that they 



must be set in February and March. The eggs of the 



Page Nineteen 



