1154 CYCLOPEDIA OF UVE STOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



Vni. How to Operate the Incubator. 



Each tray holds about 80 eggs, laid in promiscuously, the same as in a 

 nest, making total number for incubator 240 eggs. First fill the tank 

 with boiling water, but never allow it to remain in the tube on top, as it 

 thus increases pressure ; hence, when tank is full to top of the tube, 

 draw off a gallon of water. Fill it 48 hours before putting eggs in, and 

 have heat up to 115 degrees before they are put in. As the eggs will 

 cool down the heat, do not open the drawer for 6 hours, when the heat 

 should be 103 degrees, and kept as near to that degree as possible, until 

 the end of the hatch. It is best to run it a few days without eggs, to 

 learn it thoroughly. Place incubator in a place where the temperature 

 does not fall I)elow 00 degrees. As the heat will come up slowly, it will 

 also cool off slowly. Should the heat be difficult to bring up, or the eggs 

 be too cool, you can raise or lower the trays, using small strips under 

 them. You can also stop up or open the air tube in the front openings 

 of the ventilator whenever you desire. When the eggs are put in, the 

 di-awer will cool down some. All that is required then is to add about a 

 bucket or so of water once or twice a day, in the morning and at night, 

 but be careful about endeavoring to get up heat suddenly, as the heat 

 does not rise for five hours after the additional bucket of water is added. 

 The cool air comes from the ventilator pipe, passing through the muslin 

 bottom of the egg drawer to the eggs. Avoid opening the egg drawer 

 frequently, as it allows too much escape of heat, and be careful not to 

 open when chicks are hatching, unless compelled, as it causes loss of heat 

 and moisture at a critical time. Cold draughts on the chicks at that 

 time are fatal. Do not oblige visitors. Be sure your thermometer records 

 correctly, as half the failures are due to incorrect thermometers, and not 

 one in twenty is correct. Place the bulb of the thermometer even with the 

 top of the eggs, that is, when the thermometer is lying down in the drawer, 

 with the upper end slightly raised, so as to allow the mercury to rise, 

 but the bulb and eggs should be of the same heat, as the figures record 

 the heat in the bulb, and not in the tube. Turn the eggs twice a day 

 at regular intervals — six o'clock in the morning and six o'clock at night. 

 Do not let them cool lower than 70 degrees. Turn them by taking a row 

 of eggs fi-om the end of the tray and placing them at the other end, 

 turning the eggs by rolling them over with your hand. By removing 

 only one row you can roll all the rest easily. Give no moisture the first 

 week, very little the second, and plenty the third week. Do not sprinkle 

 the '^&2®. For moisture, put a wet sponge, the size of an egg (placed 

 In a fiat cup), in each tray, the second week, and two spongos in each 

 tray the third week. Do not put in sponges until you are about to shur. 



