NATURAL INCUBATION 



The beginner may find it best to incubate with hens in prefer- 

 ence to an incubator. The hen, having laid the egg, is the natural 

 mother, has the mother instinct given by the Creator, and is cer- 

 tainly the one intended to hatch and brood the chickens. To the be- 

 ginner in the chicken business there is less present outlay in a few 

 sitting hens than in installing even a small incubating and brood- 

 ing plant under artificial methods. The trials of those who find 

 sitting hens troublesome are mostly due to their own inability or 

 their lack of patience with the hen. Hens must be treated with 

 patience and gentleness, for in no way can a hen that has the "set- 

 ting fever," as our grandmothers called it, be coerced against her 

 will. 



How to Make Nests 



The nest should be about fourteen inches square. Some breeders 

 use boxes twelve by sixteen inches, but I prefer the square nests. 

 If the nest is to be on an earth floor, rake the floor, then scoop a 

 place about thirteen inches across in the form of a saucer; firm the 

 shape well with the hand, and when it is smooth and firm, take hay 

 or short straw, or tobacco stems, and firm that again in the proper 

 shape, and the nest is made. Should it be necessary to have the 

 nest in a box or on a board floor, take a clean box, have the front of 

 the box just high enough to retain the nesting material ; the backs 

 and sides may be higher ; put several inches of fresh earth into the 

 box, firm it with the hand into a saucer-shaped hollow, and be sure 

 to pack the earth high into the corners, so there will be no possibil- 

 ity of the eggs rolling into a corner and being chilled or lost. The 

 nests should be flat at the bottom, shaped like a saucer and not 

 like a bowl- If too deep, the eggs will roll together, sometimes pile 

 up and get cracked or broken. 



When only a few hens are to be set, the nests can be placed in 

 any convenient location where the hens may be quiet, comfortable, 

 away from other fowls and in the shade. I have found trap nests 

 with two compartments very satisfactory, placed under a tree. I 

 also have made sets of nests, giving each hen a nest and a small 

 run, with a dish of water, a hopper with grit, corn and wheat always 

 before her, shut off from all intruders. If hens are to be set in large 

 numbers, a separate hennery in which from six to twenty hens can 

 be set on the same day is the most convenient. The nests in this 

 house or room should be placed with their backs to the wall and 

 should face towards the center. Grit, corn, water and a dust bath 

 for them to bathe in must be before them at all times. After a few 

 days, if this hennery has a separate yard from the other fowls, the 

 door of the house may be left open so the hens can go out of doors 

 and take a dust bath in the open air, but the food, water and grit 

 must be in the house in sight of all the hens. 



