290 POULTRY BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT 



were set in the machines and 436 chicks were hatched, or 

 45.5% of the eggs set. Three hundred and thirty-five were 

 set under hens and 196 chicks were hatched, or 58.5% of 

 the eggs set. As the same hens' eggs were used in each 

 method, the hen has the advantage, and had she not been in 

 cramped quarters for a portion of the hatches, her hatches 

 would have been larger." (Ontario Agricultural College, 

 Bulletin 163.) 



Prof. Edward Brown, President of the International 

 Association of Poultry Instructors and Investigators, in 

 the "London Illustrated Poultry Record," says: "The 

 most ardent advocate of artificial methods of hatching can- 

 not but acknowledge that there is something yet to learn, 

 or rather that incubators are second best and hens are 

 first." 



Natural Incubation and Brooding. By the natural 

 methods of hatching, the cost of the incubator is eliminated, 

 hens taking its place. In the same way brooders are dis- 

 pensed with. Hens may be set and chicks reared in one 

 coop, or house, such as is illustrated on page 293. Assuming 

 that it requires as many eggs to hatch one hundred chicks 

 with hens as with an incubator, three coops costing not 

 more than $8 each will be required, each coop accommodat- 

 ing four sitting hens. By setting the hens at one time the 

 chicks hatched in one coop may be given to two hens to 

 brood. The hens need not be included in the cost of the 

 equipment, for they will be worth practically as much after 

 hatching and rearing their chicks as before. Neither is it 

 necessary to charge the method with eggs that might have 

 been laid by the hens if they had not been used for hatch- 

 ing. It is doubtful if the hen will not lay as many or more 

 eggs during the year if she has hatched and reared a brood 

 of chicks than if her natural instincts had not been gratified. 

 By taking a month or six weeks off for hatching in the 



