288 POULTRY BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT 



flock ; second, because farmers, as a rule, have not the time 

 to give the necessary care to the incubator and brooder; 

 third, because the cost of equipment is much less; and 

 fourth, that under farm conditions better chicks will be 

 reared by the natural way. 



The advantages of the artificial method are mainly ap- 

 parent on the large special farms. Incubators are a neces- 

 sity on these farms first, because non-sitting breeds are 

 kept on many of them; second, because not enough sitters 

 can be secured early in the season for hatching chicks to 

 supply the market with early spring broilers; third, it is 

 claimed that the incubator lessens the labor where large 

 numbers are hatched. A fourth, and important advantage, 

 is that the use of incubators makes it possible to keep the 

 chicks free from lice and mites and certain diseases. 



There are, however, large poultry farms, where egg pro- 

 duction is the chief object, that use the natural method, 

 noticeably that of the Little Compton district of Rhode 

 Island. Artificial methods would be more generally used 

 than they are were it not for the fact that there are 

 problems in artificial incubation and brooding that are not 

 encountered in natural incubation and brooding. What- 

 ever may be the real merits of the two ways of hatching, 

 it is certain that the incubator has become a considerable 

 factor in the poultry industry, and it may be that with 

 improvements in manufacture and methods of operating 

 the machine it may in the future still further supersede 

 the hen. 



Comparisons of the Two Methods. Reports of experi- 

 ments on the relative efficiency of the hen and incubator, 

 are somewhat contradictory. In tests at the Oregon Station 

 that extended from April to July comparative results were 

 secured. These experiments were made in the spring and 

 summer months, and it has been the experience at this sta- 



