POULTRY. 



1085 



Fig. 18 correctly represents one of the most popular of the 

 standard, self-regulating incubators, called the " Eclipse." 



The advantages to be derived from the use of a good incu- 

 bator are many. In the first place, one can set a large number 

 at any desired time without waiting for sitting hens, and this is 

 a matter of prime importance to poultry raisers who desire to 

 raise any considerable number of early broilers for market. Next, 

 there is an actual saving of time and money it requiring very 



FIG. 18. ECLIPSE INCUBATOR. 



much less time to care for three hundred eggs in a self-regulat- 

 ing incubator than it would to care for the twenty-five or thirty 

 sitting hens that would be required to hatch the same number 

 of eggs the natural way ; and the cost of running the incubator 

 is more than balanced by the cost of food necessary for the num- 

 ber of hens that would be required to do the same amount of 

 work. I would also call attention to the fact that incubator 

 chicks are always free from lice to begin with, and incubators 

 do n't trample the life out of chicks before they get fairly out 

 of the shell. 



Incubator chicks that break the shell promptly on the twen- 

 tieth, twenty-first, or even the twenty-second day (they will be 

 out on time if the temperature has been kept right), are just as 

 strong and healthy in every way, and if properly cared for 



