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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Oct. 1 



are three or four days old I let them run out 

 on the grassy lawn, confining them only 

 when it rains or when there is a very heavy 

 dew, and, of course, keeping a warm brood- 

 er for them until they are a week or ten days 

 old. The fireless brooder is certainly all 

 right when they get old enough to keep warm 

 without the aid of artificial heat or heat from 

 a mother hen. 



I am feeling very happy just now to think 

 I have got so near perfect success in raising 

 chickens. The only obstacle in the way of my 

 present success is in getting the chickens in 

 the incubator safely past the " dead-in-the- 

 shell " trouble The incubator starts them all 

 right and carries them, apparently, to matur- 

 ity all right; buta great many die in the shell a 

 few days before they should hatch. Breaking 

 open the shell, as Philo suggests, is of very 

 little use. They usually die any way unless 

 they can break the shell of their own accord. 

 Keeping the eggs in the incubator until the 

 last week, and then giving them to hens to 

 finish, obviates a great part of the trouble. 

 You may suggest that my incubator is not up 

 to date; but so far as I can learn there is al- 

 ways more or less of this trouble, this "dead- 

 in-the-shell," with every incubator on the 

 market — perhaps not as much with some as 

 with others; and there is some trouble with 

 sitting hens also along in the summer and 

 fall. But the hens are certainly ahead of 

 any incubator yet made, in this one respect. 

 If I am mistaken I shall be very glad to be 

 corrected; but I believe that the best author- 

 ities agree with me. 



Of course, there are plenty of incubators 

 advertised to hatch 75, 80, and even 90 to fa5 

 per cent of the fertile eggs; but as nearly as 

 I can get at it the general average is not 

 over one chicken from two eggs. Let me 

 quote again from the unbiased authority of 

 a government official. The following is 

 from that most excellent up-to-date book 

 that we quoted from before, "The Dollar 

 Hen." (See advertisement on cover.) 



May I give the results of a series of full-season hatch- 

 es for 1908, each involving several thousand eggs? 



First, a State experiment station, the name of which 

 I do not care to publish. Incubators kept in a cement 

 basement which has flues in which fires were built to 

 secure "ample ventilation." This caused a strong 

 draft of cold dry air, making the worst possible condi- 

 tion for incubation. The hatch for the season aver- 

 aged 25 per cent, and was explained by lack of vitality 

 in the stock. 



Second, the Ontario Agricultural College. A room 

 above ground, moisture used in most machines, and 

 various other efforts being made to improve the hatch- 

 es by a stall' of half a dozen scientists. Results: Hatch 

 48 per cent. The incubator manufacturers call the ex- 

 perimenters names, and say they are ignorant and 

 prejudiced. 



Third, Cornell University. Dry ventilated basement 

 representing typical conditions of common incubator 

 practice of the country. Results: Hatch hi per cent — 

 results when given out commonly based on fertile 

 eggs, and every one generally pleased. 



Fourth, one of the most successful poultrymen in 

 New York State, who has, without knowing why, hit 

 upon the plan of using a no-moisture type of incuba- 

 tor in a basement which is heated witli steam-pipes, 

 which maintains temperature at 70 degrees, and has a 

 cement floor which is kept covered with water. Re- 

 sults: Hatch 59 per cent. 



As a fifth in such a series I might mention again the 

 Egyptian machine with the uniform vapor pressure of 

 the climate, and the three chicks exchanged for four 

 eggs. 



While an official in the United States Department of 

 Agriculture I gathered data from original records of 

 private plants, covering the incubation of several hun- 

 dred thousand eggs. Such information was furnished 

 me in confidence as a public official: and as a private 

 citizen I have no right to publish that which would 

 mean financial profit or loss to those concerned. 



Of records where there were ten thousand or more 

 eggs involved, the lowest I found was 44 per cent; and 

 the highest — that mentioned as the fourth case above — 

 or 59 per cent. The great majority of these records 

 hung very closely around the 50-per-cent mark. 



A "poultry secret" said to be 1000 YEARS OLD. 



I notice in the last two numbers of Gleanings you 

 tell how to test eggs that have been incubated for 18 or 

 20 days to find if they contain live chicks. I wish to 

 remind you of the method the Chinese are supposed 

 to have used a thousand years ago, and I believe it is 

 the surest and simplest way of all. Remove the eggs 

 from the incubator: and after they have been out 15 to 

 30 minutes, according to the temperature of the air, 

 pick up each egg, being careful not to turn it over, and 

 place the top side to the lid of your closed eye. If it 

 contains a live chick it will feel warm, almost hot: 

 but if the germ is dead it will feel cool. After a little 

 practice you will be able to pick the strong, weak, or 

 dead germs veiT rapidly and accurately. 



Naco, Ariz., Aug. 6. A. J. Swan. 



A successful hen's nest made of rock and 



NOTHING else. 



Air. Root.— I can not tell how much I enjoy your 

 writings in GLEANINGS, especially the Home and poul- 

 try departments. The way you show up the so-called 

 secrets is refreshing. I have been caught several 

 times myself. I must tell you of an experience a 

 friend of mine had with a sitting hen, which seems to 

 ine to destroy the arguments on the moisture theory. 

 The said hen was lost for some time. A diligent 

 search was made from time to lime until one day she 

 was discovered under the house. My friend crawled 

 under with considerable difficulty, and discovered 

 that she had laid 14 eggs on a large flat rock which 

 happened to be just hollowing enough so that the 

 eggs did not roll off, and there she sal without a parti- 

 cle of any thing to make the nest of, and she hatched 

 out 12 chicks— all good healthy birds. What do you 

 think of thai? M. F. Freeborn. 



Nantucket, Mass., Sept. 6. 



I think, friend Freeborn, that the above 

 indicates that there is something nobody un- 

 derstands even yet about the mystery of the 

 sitting hen's ability to hatch eggs under ad- 

 verse circumstances. In this case the eggs 

 were certainly warm on one side and cold 

 on the other, or comparatively cold, unless 

 the hen gave off sufficient animal heat to 

 warm up that cold stone and keep it warm. 

 As 12 chickens from 14 eggs is a pretty fair 

 hatch, may be we had better have some 

 stoneware hens' nests. By the way, there 

 is a man advertising a nest made of concrete. 

 When you want to banish the vermin, just 

 build a fire inside of the nest with some 

 straw and heat it up hot. This will surely 

 make it sweet and clean. The inventor sa>;s 

 the nest is not at all expensive if you get his 

 directions and make them on your own 

 premises. 



" the proudest hen in ALABAMA." 



Recently I read in our bee-journal (yours to write, 

 ours to read), about giving incubator chicks to a 

 broody hen. My superior officer had some coming 

 from hundreds of miles away: hatched August 24, re- 

 ceived here 2Bth, 8 P.M. " Broody hen " was in a new 

 nest on two artificial eggs: a netted runway, 10 x 6, well 

 sanded, for a front lawn. She accepted each of the 24 

 Rose Comb White Wyandottes with a gentle cr-r-r-r, 

 and strutted off with them next morning into her new 

 park, the proudest hen in Alabama. The 24 chicks 

 seem to recognize their filial duty in return for her un- 

 remitting care. Thanks for the idea. It's great. 



Florence, Ala., Aug. 29. ■ H. A. MoODY. 



