PO UL TR T- CRAFT. 1 75 



given the chicks being placed away from the coops out of the reach of the 

 hens. Then after the hen has laid for a few days, she stops clucking to the 

 chicks ; but as hen and chicks use the same coop, she cannot help brooding 

 them. Often hens will go broody while laying in the coops, and after sitting 

 on the floor for a few days come out as attentive to the old brood as when it 

 was hatched. Not one hen in fifty will drive her chicks from her after she 

 begins laying if she has no chance to associate with other fowls. 



THE ARTIFICIAL METHOD. 



253. Remarks. The circumstances to which this method is best 

 adapted, the choice and placing of incubators, and the different arrangements 

 for brooding, were considered in ^[60, 61, and ^[45 48. The use of machines 

 to take the place of hens does not relieve the operator of the necessity of giving 

 continuous close attention to the details of incubation. On the contrary, his 

 work becomes, in a way, more exacting. Machines do not run themselves, 

 nor can a child run them. Purchasers of incubators and brooders get with 

 their machines the manufacturers' directions for running them. These are 

 not always fully adequate ; they cannot apply exactly in all cases ; there is 

 always something left to the judgment of the operator. More new operators, 

 however, make mistakes in disregarding or misinterpreting instructions than 

 in following them too closely. Radical changes from prescribed methods are 

 almost certain to be wrong. In departing from instructions (a course to 

 be taken only when he is fully convinced of its necessity, and has a clear idea 

 of what he expects to accomplish by the change) the operator should feel 

 his way as cautiously as one balancing scales when weighing out a costly 

 article. 



While there are differences in the methods of running different machines, 

 and like machines in different places, there are certain general facts of 

 universal application, and it is by these that the operator must be guided in 

 adjusting instructions to suit his circumstances. In the following paragraphs 

 the statements of noted experts and authorities have been arranged to give in 

 condensed form the latest and best opinions and advices on the principal 

 points in artificial hatching and brooding.* 



254. The Care of the Lamp. 



" The lamp should be trimmed every day. I prefer morning to any other time. The 

 charred portion of the wick can be cut off with a pocket knife. Turn the wick down just 

 a little, to make sure there is no sound wick above the burner tube. Then place the heel 

 of the knife on a level with the top of the tube, and draw the full length of the blade 

 while crossing the tube. This will make a clean cut. Be very careful to hold the knife 



* NOTE. Most of the statements credited to Mr. Cyphers, in subsequent paragraphs, 

 are from " Incubation and Its Natural Laws." Those credited to Mr. McFetridge, are 

 from " Poultry." Others are from contributed articles in Farm-Poultry, and from earlier 

 books by Mr. Boyer, in this series. 



