MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 23 



home and they will know 'where to find her when they get cold 

 or damp or need brooding. Such a coop accommodates 15 to 

 20 chicks until they no longer require brooding, after which 

 several flocks should be combined in one and put in a portable 

 house on a grassy range. 



Whenever the hen is allowed to hatch or to mother chicks, 

 much care must be exercised to prevent lice from getting a foot- 

 hold and ruining the birds. The free and frequent use of the 

 lice powder described farther on (p. "-.), working it through 

 the feathers to the skin, is one of the best methods for destroy- 

 ing the pests. Grease or oil is effective when applied to the 

 heads and under the wings of young chicks, but care must be 

 taken not to get too much on them, especially during damp 

 weather. The feeding of chicks raised in coops with their 

 mothers does not vary much from the feeding of those raised 

 in brooders as described below. 



RAISING CHICKENS BY ARTIFICIAL PROCESSES. 

 Incubators have been much improved and there are several 

 kinds on the market that will hatch about as many chicks from a 

 given lot of eggs as can be done by selected broody hens. Fur- 

 thermore, in the experience of this Station, with proper man- 

 agement during and subsequent to incubation the chicks so pro- 

 duced are fully the equal in constitutional vigor, average dura- 

 tion of life, and productivity, of hen-hatched chicks. The best 

 present day incubators require little care, maintain an even 

 temperature arising from the development of the embryoes 

 going on in the eggs. In some machines the moisture supply 

 is automatic and adapted to the requirements; in others it has 

 to be supplied, and skill is necessary in determining the quan- 

 tity needed. The economy of the incubator is very great. A 

 36o-egg machine will do the work of nearly 30 broody hens, 

 and can be kept at work continually if desired. For more than 

 10 years past all chicks in the Maine Experiment Station's poul- 

 try plant have been hatched in incubators. There has yet to 

 appear any reason for going back to the old system of hatching 

 with hens. 



THE INCUBATOR. 



There are many makes of incubators on the market, some 

 of which will give satisfactory results. The Maine Station 



