316 



Nature-Study Agriculture 



Incubation 



FIG. 257. 

 ing shell. 

 a hinge. 



W. T. Stilling 



A convenient box for supply- 

 Notice that the top opens on 



Self- 

 regulating 

 incubators 



organs. Commercial 

 chick feed is a very 

 convenient and satisfac- 

 tory feed for chicks until 

 they are old enough to 

 eat ordinary grain. If 

 their feed is prepared at 

 home, it may consist of 

 rolled oats, hard-boiled 

 eggs chopped up with 

 the shells, stale bread 

 or toast moistened, and 

 cracked corn or other 

 grain. Too much soft 

 feed will injure their 

 digestions. It is well to 

 give them buttermilk to drink from the first day. When 

 they are about a week old, they may be given a little dry 

 mash each day. Chick mash should contain more bran 

 and less of the more concentrated meals that are used 

 in the mash for laying hens. If the chicks have all the 

 milk they want, they do not need any meat meal in their 

 mash. 



The body of a hen has a temperature of about 106 

 degrees, and when brooding her eggs she is able to keep 

 them at about 103 degrees. By keeping eggs sufficiently 

 warm with a slow smudge or charcoal fire, the Egyp- 

 tians and the Chinese in very early times practiced 

 artificial incubation. 



Self-regulating incubators first came into use about 

 1875. They are devised, as nearly as possible, to repro- 



