The Hen as a Mother. 27 



flocks known. It is not sufficient to have the eggs hatch, but 

 the hatch should be of strong and vigorous chicks, in order 

 that but few losses may occur. In the spring and summer, 

 when the hen can secure a variety and is at liberty to exercise, 

 the eggs produce better hatches, and the chicks are not so 

 easily injured by cold ; but drawbacks seem always to remain, 

 as the lice are as annoying in the warmer season as the cold is 

 at the earlier period. The judgment and observation of the 

 poultryman are more helpful to success, however, than advan- 

 tages of the season. 



WORKING A LIVE INCUBATOR. 



Miss Carrie T Meigs, a northern Vermont lady, gives the 

 following account of her method of working what she calls 

 "the natural live incubator." 



" Success with this incubator depends upon a turkey and a 

 sitting hen tame enough to handle. Never set a hen that flies 

 off the nest when you approach, or one that pecks your hand 

 fiercely while you are putting the eggs in the nest. Last 

 season I set a Barred Plymouth Rock hen, March 25, in my 

 hen-house. The ground was all covered with snow, so I could 

 not set her there, which is the best place. As soon as the 

 weather was warm enough, I moved her outdoors and set 

 her under a box on the ground. July 25 I took her off the 

 nest and made her go with the other hens ; but she was deter- 

 mined to get back to her nest during all that day. This hen 

 had sat continuously 123 days. In the fall, I dressed her and 

 sent her to Boston with a No. i lot, and she was as nice and 

 fat as any. 



' ' A turkey will take care of anything, whatever its size, while 

 a hen will kill any but her own chicks, hence a turkey is a first- 

 rate brooder. Sometimes I set the hen on duck's-eggs, then on 

 hen's and then on turkey 's-eggs, just as I had a supply. When 

 she hatched a brood I took them to the brooders, i. e., the tur- 

 keys, and they brooded them with their own little ones. At 

 last the old gobbler, noticing the great size of the families, 



