PO UL TR r- CRAFT. 165 



CHAPTER XI. 



Hatching and Rearing Chicks. 



230. The Two Systems. There are two methods of hatching and 

 brooding chicks : the natural, in which the chicks are hatched and brooded 

 by hens ; and the artificial, in which they are hatched in incubators and 

 brooded in houses, as described in ^[46- 48, or in separate out-door brooders. 

 The conditions which would determine the choice of method were stated in 

 ^[60. The natural method is still in most general use. The other is oftener 

 used by those operating on a large scale, and is coming, year by year, into 

 more general use. As to results, that depends more on the operator than 

 on the method. * As good chicks can be reared without hens as with them. 

 In using the natural method, the operator divides the responsibility with the 

 hens ; in using the artificial method, he assumes it all. After weaning, the 

 treatment of the chicks is essentially the same, no matter which method had 

 been previously employed. 



THE NATURAL METHOD. 



231. Remarks. The sitting hen's reputation for fickleness and per- 

 versity is not deserved. The trials of those who find the care of sitting hens 

 and hens with chicks too troublesome, are mostly due to the failure to furnish 

 proper facilities for the work, and to handle the stock systematically. It is 

 easy to handle hens and chicks in large numbers if one goes about it in the 

 right way. The complaints against hens are : they do not persist in broodi- 

 ness ; they will not sit elsewhere than on their laying nests ; after being set, 

 they desert the eggs ; they remain too long away from the nests, allowing eggs 

 to become chilled; they quarrel among themselves, and break eggs; they 

 trample chicks in the nests ; they kill each other's chicks ; their chicks are 

 lousy, etc. These are preventable evils. 



* NOTE. That those who fail with one method often succeed with the other, is to be 

 attributed to personal differences in taste and temperament, and in the bent of talent. It 

 seems to be impossible for some persons to acquire the little, elementary, engineering 

 skill required to successfully operate an incubator ; yet these same persons may be very 

 expert in the use of the natural method. And there are many people who will never 

 force themselves to do the routine work of caring for sitting hens in such a way that good 

 results are a practical certainty; but will take pleasure in working with machines, and 

 will be very successful with them. Many poultry keepers work equally well with either 

 method ; and not a few people who try to raise fowls fail, no matter which method they 

 try. 



