POULTRY FOR PROFIT 45 



in January or February. Even March, if it hap- 

 pens to be cold, finds most of them disinclined to the 

 duties of maternity. Under such circumstances the 

 incubator is the only hope, and it is by no means a 

 forlorn one. Especially successful will the hatch- 

 ing of these early chicks be if broody hens can be 

 found to mother the chicks. It will be noticed in 

 the data given by the Oregon Station that incubator- 

 hatched chicks do considerably better if they are 

 brooded by hens, and while this is not always pos- 

 sible, it can often be managed. As soon as a hen 

 becomes broody, put her in a nest away from the 

 other hens, and treat her just as if she were to be 

 given a clutch of eggs. When the incubator hatch 

 is nearly due, give her a few eggs to hatch, and she 

 will mother as many chicks as you wish to give her. 

 The chicks should all be given her while she is still 

 on the nest or as soon as she is put in the coop. 

 When a hen becomes wonted to her brood she will 

 often object to taking more chicks. 



On any farm or plant where chicks are hatched 

 to sell an incubator is a necessity. A few breeders 

 do advertise hen-hatched chicks, but it is so difficult 

 to hatch with hens in large numbers that only few 

 attempt it. The manufacture of incubators has 

 reached such a high degree of development that 

 when the operator comes to his work with a rea- 

 sonable skill satisfactory results are to be expected. 

 When any great number of chicks are found dead 

 in the shell at the close of the hatch it is more than 

 likely that inbreeding or weak parent stock, which 

 often is the direct result of inbreeding, is more to 

 blame than the method of incubation. 



THE HATCHING EGG 



An egg consists of four parts: (1) the germ, 



