32 The Business Hen. 



BREAKING UP A BROODY HEN.— With the larger breeds the 

 sitting hen becomes a nuisance in May or June. They often become 

 broody too late in the season to rear chicks for Fall laying. To "break 

 them up" we must remember that they are in a feverish condition, with 

 the blood vessels on the lower part of the body enlarged. They must be 

 "cooled off." Do not duck them in water or tie them by one leg or put 

 them in a box with sharp spikes in the bottom. Make a "hen jail" at the 

 side of the henhouse — raised above the floor. Have the bottom of slats, 

 so that the air circulates under the hen. Put her there with water and 

 grass, but no corn. She will soon find that there are no chickens to be 

 hatched out of a slat, and she will keep off the nests where the other hens 

 lay. This is far better than putting the hen in a yard with a young dog 

 or a lively cockerel to chase her about. As the broody hen is fat do not 

 feed her on the fattening foods. 



ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION.— It is well to start the season's labors 

 with a firm faith in our incubators, and that success or failure in results 

 rests with ourselves. 



1. The hens whose eggs we use for hatching should be healthy young 

 fowls, and best returns are generally received where a single strain is 

 employed. In a mixed lot the shells are of all grades in thickness; con- 

 sequently some are apt to dry down too much, and others not enough. For 

 example, the White Wyandotte eggs require much more ventilation than 

 do White Leghorns. 



2. The eggs should be set on the small end and turned half over every 

 24 hours. They should be placed in a cool, dry, clean, sweet-smelling 

 room. Hens' eggs, if carefully looked after, will keep for hatching pur- 

 poses three to four weeks. During the cool Spring days duck eggs, under 

 same conditions, will keep 10 days to two weeks. When warm weather 

 sets in they spoil very quickly ; in from four days to a week's time. 



As a rule incubators do best in a clean, well ventilated cellar, because 

 the temperature is likely to run more even, thus giving the operator less 

 trouble, and also because the atmosphere contains a moist, humid element, 

 favorable to the growth and development of the chicks in embryo. 



The instructions regarding setting up and operating, which accompany 

 the incubator, cannot be too carefully studied and followed. There is 

 usually, however, a clause concerning ventilation and moisture, which 

 necessarily leaves much to the operator's good sense and judgment, because, 

 owing to the difference in climatic conditions in our country, which tend 

 to affect the results in artificial incubation, no cut and dried rule can be 

 laid down or successfully applied. 



Where these conditions are normal, general directions on these heads 

 are all that the operator requires; but in low-lying sections and near lakes 

 or large rivers, where fogs or humidity prevails, very little additional 



