At CHING PH CHICKS 71 
shining brightly, it is only necessary to darken the 
room and hold the eggs over this hole in order to 
test them. If a black curtain fastened to the board 
is dropped over the head, it is not even necessary to 
have the room dark. 
Eggs are often pipped on the twentieth day and 
the chicks should be out by the end of the twenty- 
first day. However, a hatch is delayed or pro- 
longed if the temperature has been low, just as it 
may be hastened by running the temperature high. 
It is a normal hatch when all the chicks appear 
within a few hours and at the proper time. 
It is well to restrain one’s impatience and keep the 
door of the incubator closed while the hatch is going 
on, except that near the end some of the shells may 
be removed. The natural heat of the chicks is 
likely to send the thermometer up near the close of 
the hatch and the temperature must be regulated ac- 
cordingly. It is not wise to remove the chicks until 
they are well dried, for they will not need food for 
several hours and are better off in the machine, if 
the latter is not allowed to get too hot. Hatching 
a lot of chickens in an incubator is always an in- 
teresting experience, for the whole process is one of 
the most wonderful of Nature’s mysteries. 
