REPORT OF BOARD OF FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONERS. 



27 



before transferring them to the incubators. Of the first lot of 1,100 eggs 

 &o placed. 822 hatched — a greater percentage than had been secured by 

 the use of the incubator alone. Even better results were obtained later ; 

 out of a lot of 500 eggs, 411 were hatched, or 82 per cent. 



It is a general complaint among pheasant breeders that the eggs laid 

 toward the end of the season are weaker in fertility than those laid 

 earlier. This has not been the case with the eggs hatched at the, Game 

 Farm during the past season ; for of the last 123 laid, 100 were fertile. 



It is planned, for the next year, to carry on experiments in coopera- 

 tion with the State University, at the State Farm at Davis, to see if 



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Pheasant chicks hi brooder yard at Game Farm. 



satisfactory results can not be obtained with incubators alone, thus 

 abandoning the use of hens. 



Although the trial with incubators has not met with the success that 

 was hoped for, the artificial brooder, on the other hand, has given 

 entire satisfaction, and has proved to be far ahead of any natural method 

 for the raising of birds in large numbers. The brooder-house is a build- 

 ing divided into five compartments, opening into screen runways, 8 feet 

 wide by 90 feet long. At one end of the building a furnace is set in 

 a shallow pit, and leading from it a terra cotta pipe laid in a trench 

 runs the entire length of the building. This pipe is boxed in. and 



