30 



the entrance is at the other end, with a door at the top and bottom 

 of the stairs, each door ha\ang a sUde 8 by 12 inches, which is used for 

 more ventilation, and there is a small ventilator out through the roof. 

 There is no heat supplied other than the incubator lamps. 



In this room there are eight No. 3 Standard Cyphers Incubators, 

 holding from 380 to 400 eggs each, according to the size of the eggs, 

 of the 1906 and 1907 patterns, having the drawers for the chicks to 

 drop into after they are hatched, and the drop bottom; and they also 

 have an electric light placed close to the thermometer, so that the 

 temperature can be read easily and correctly. The temperature is 

 then brought up to 102J° and the eggs put in, which will bring the 

 temperature down again, but when it gets up to 102^°, which it should 

 do in less than half a day, the ventilating holes in the bottom of the 

 machine are opened. The lamp is filled and the char rubbed off (not 

 trimmed) of the wick, and any black incrustation that may have ac- 

 cumulated on the burner scraped off every day; and if the porous 

 brass plate around the wick tube gets fouled up, that must be taken 

 out and thoroughly brushed off. 



The eggs are not turned the first two days, but after that they are 

 turned night and morning every day until they begin to pick the shell, 

 excepting the days Avhen they are tested. The heat is not allowed to 

 get above 103° during the first week, but during the second week it 

 will naturally rise a little, owing to the animal heat that will begin to 

 develop in the eggs; but if it goes much above 103°, take the eggs out, 

 or leave the door open and cool them down again. About the time 

 they begin to pick out, if the heat goes up to 104^° or 105° of its own 

 accord let it remain; but if it goes any higher, bring it back with the 

 regulator, but do 7iot open the door. 



The chicks are not allowed to drop down into the drawers until they 

 are nearly all hatched, as there is Cjuite a difference in the temperature 

 in the two places, and by keeping them up on the tray until a good 

 part of them are thoroughly dried off and smart, then the smartest 

 ones will come to the front, and so many of them drop down in so short 

 a time that none of them get injured by the change of the temperature, 

 as they keep each other warm. The door is not opened until the morn- 

 ing of the twenty-third day, when they are taken to the brooder, and 

 the machine cleaned up thoroughly and set again. 



Before putting the eggs in the incubator, they are all sorted out 

 according to the number on each egg showing the breeding pen that 

 they came from, and a record is kept of how many eggs are set from 

 each pen, so that when they are tested, those that are thrown out can 

 be sorted and set down in another column. The first column has the 

 number of the pens; the second, the number of eggs from each pen; 

 the third, the number of unfertile eggs; the fourth, the number of 

 germs that started, but are dead or "addled" eggs on the first test; 

 the fifth, those that are dead on the second test; the sixth, the eggs 

 that do not hatch ; then, by adding all of the eggs that are thrown out 

 from each pen and subtracting them from the number of eggs set in 

 column 2, we have the seventh column, which shows just what each 

 pen of breeders is doing. 



If a certain pen's eggs are not fertile, change the male bird at once, 

 giving the first one a rest, when he may be used later on to take the 

 place of another who is becoming exhausted. In changing the male 

 bird, which is one-half of the flock, as far as fertility is concerned, we 

 have done about all we can for this feature, unless it is to change 

 again; for, although it is sometimes argued that the hen may be to 

 blame, or her condition, it is safe to assume that a hen that is in good 



