HATCHING WITH INCUBATOR AND HEN 



177 



incubator at too low a temperature. 

 We want to give the eggs as much 

 oxygen (fresh air) as possible without 

 chilling them. 



Cripples Some of my incubator 

 chickens are almost cripples when 

 they are taken from the incubator. 

 Some have crippled, crooked and 

 crumpled up toes, others have one 

 leg too short, or turned out the wrong 

 way, and some of them are not able 

 to stand up they hold their head 

 back so far that they fall backward. 

 A. H. S. 



Answer The cause of cripples in- 

 variably is irregularity of tempera- 

 ture in the incubator. Your incuba- 

 tor has been too hot at some period, 

 probably the last week; this causes 

 cripples. Those that hold their heads 

 back do so from the eggs not having 

 been turned sufficiently during incu- 

 bation. 



As you do not mention the name 

 of the incubator, I cannot tell you 

 just where the lack is. It may be 

 poor oil; it may be it is run in a 

 draught and it may lack ventilation. 



Lack Oxygen I took 200 thrifty 

 chicks from the incubator about eight 

 weeks ago. They did very well for 

 about two weeks, when they began to 

 die and today I have 50 left, and these 

 look too scrubby to be worth raising. 

 I have given them extra attention and 

 the best feed. They get pale around 

 the head, grow weak and are skin 

 and bone when they die. I think 

 they have consumption. The brooder 

 is a tight box and no ventilation, ex- 

 cept the lid has a round hole about 

 as large as a teacup, and the little 

 entrance window about six inches 

 square. An iron pipe running through 

 is the heating arrangement. Inside 

 the box, to fit close over the pipe, 

 is a cap of wood with flannel curtains 

 dropping to the floor under which the 

 chicks hover. Don't you think this 

 is too close a place? The outside 

 box is only 6 inches deep, then they 

 hover inside; this only gives 4 inches 

 space for the chicks. Please tell me 

 if you think the lid to brooder would 

 be better of wire or where do you 

 think the trouble is? Also tell me 

 how granulated milk is prepared. We 

 have lately begun feeding to every- 

 thing in the poultry yard, beef scraps, 

 bone meal and linseed meal in what 



we think proper proportions once a 

 day. Should chicks only eight weeks 

 old be fed this ration the same as 

 hens? What causes eggs to be ridgy 

 and uneven? Can one feed to produce 

 larger eggs? Our hens are large, but 

 lay small eggs Mrs. J. B. S. 



Answer I think that the lack of 

 oxygen in your brooder is the only 

 difficulty with your chicks. Still I 

 am very much afraid that tuberculosis 

 may have got in, and infected the 

 brooder. If possible, move your 

 chicks into a weaning house, open en- 

 tirely on one side (or only closed 

 with chicken wire). Make a little 

 frame of gunny-sacking or out of a 

 piece of blanket that they can go un- 

 der. This will rest upon their backs 

 to keep them warm. Give them no 

 other heat. At this season of the 

 year (August) eight weeks old chicks 

 should have no heat whatever, at 

 night. I think you are keeping your 

 chickens too warm, without enough 

 fresh air and possibly they may have 

 mites or lice. Air their sleeping 

 place well; put the hover out into the 

 sunshine every day. This will kill 

 the germs of tuberculosis better than 

 anything. 



Granulated milk is made at Bing- 

 hampton, N. Y. I do not know the 

 process. 



Chicks eight weeks old can have 

 the beef-scraps, bone meal and lin- 

 seed meal in the same proportions as 

 hens. 



Uneven eggs are caused either from 

 defect in the oviduct or from an in- 

 sufficiency of lime or hurried laying. 



Some strains of hens lay small eggs 

 and over-fat hens will lay small eggs. 

 More protein added to their food will 

 often increase the size of the eggs: 

 By choosing the large eggs for hatch- 

 ing, you can increase the size of the 

 eggs in the next generation. 



Setting Hens Can you tell me 

 what is the matter with my chickens? 

 They seem good and healthy until 

 they start to set, then they invariably 

 develop a severe case of diarrhoea, 

 which causes them to leave their eggs 

 after a few days. I have now a hen 

 that wants to set, and have just re- 

 ceived a setting of thoroughbred eggs., 

 but today I noticed the same trouble 

 as with the others, except that she 

 seems to be a great deal worse, for 

 her droppings are of a bloody na- 



