HOW TO MAKE A BEGINNING i 
they have pecked their way to freedom at the end 
of twenty-one days, a nominal fee compensating the 
man who owns the incubator for his work. 
The perfection of mammoth incubators which 
have a capacity of several thousand eggs has given 
a tremendous impetus to this business of hatching 
chicks on a large scale and has made it possible for 
the man with a small flock to dispense entirely with 
sitting hens. However he acquires his chickens, the 
beginner will do well to bear in mind the point al- 
ready brought out, that he will inevitably lose some 
in the course of the brooding period, and half at 
least of the number raised may reasonably be set 
down as cockerels. 
I have said that twenty-five hens is a good num- 
ber for the amateur, but there is no reason why the 
flock should not be smaller. It is a reassuring fact 
that the small flocks lay the largest percentage of 
eggs. There are little portable houses costing about 
ten dollars in which eight hens can be carried through 
a Winter and that number of hens will keep a small 
family in eggs under proper conditions. 
It is not necessary to have an outside yard for 
the poultry to run in, although such a yard is pref- 
erable because less work is required than when 
