FIRST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 35 



LESSON V. 



Hatching Chicks With Hens. 



WITHOUT entering here into a discussion of the relative merits and advantages of 

 artificial and natural systems of incubation, I want to state first of all that many 

 of those, who do not get satisfactory results by natural methods, and do get much 

 better results by artificial methods would have had much better results than they 

 did by natural methods if they had been as careful to make conditions right for the hens to 

 do their best, as they try to be with the incubators. 



The cost of an incubator, the value of the eggs required to fill it, and the fact that anything 

 going wrong with the machine may mean a total loss of the eggs put into the machine, and of 

 three weeks time, makes operators of incubators appreciate the importance of doing all in 

 their power to make conditions for a good hatch. But the fact that a hen left entirely to 

 herself may bring off a good hatch, and the fact that hens can be put off with very indifferent 

 hatching accommodations, leads many poultry keepers to do their hatching with hens under 

 conditions not favorable to good hatching. 



"Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well." If one is going to hatch with hens he 

 should, as far as possible, give the hens a chance. He should go beyond this, and seek to 

 avoid all things which operate against good hatching with hens. 



Where to Set the Hens. 



Sitting Hens in Eegular Poultry Houses. The quarters for sitting hens should be com- 

 fortable and convenient to work in. If possible such a house or pen as is used for laying and 

 breeding stock should be used for the sitting hens. About the only changes desirable are the 

 removal of unnecessary fixtures, and, if the place is very brightly lighted, some darkening of 

 the windows. 



The floor should be cleaned, all litter and manure removed, and, if the floor is of earth, It 

 should be forked over, to give as clean a surface as possible. 



While access to a yard is not absolutely necessary, I consider it important; for my experi- 

 ence has been that, on the whole, hatches were better, chickens more thrifty, and hens kept 

 in better condition when they were able to get outdoors every time they came off the nest. 



If nests are placed only on the floor, ranged around the walls, a pen will accommodate about 

 the same number of sitters as it will of layers. It can be used for a few more than it is 

 advisable to put in it for laying, but to keep down the work of caring for the sitters it is best 

 not to crowd them too much. 



Making Special Quarters for Sitting Hens. It no quarters like those used for other stock 

 can be taken for hatching purposes, and some other arrangement has to be made, the first con- 

 sideration is to see that it provides freedom from disturbance, and that it is not a place in which 



