INCUBATION. 



183 



of the body, while huddling together under their 

 mother's wings ; whereas their belly often rests 

 the while on the cold moist earth the very re- 

 verse of what took place in my apparatus, in 

 which the feet were the best warmed. The 

 chickens themselves indicated that they were 

 more in want of having their backs warmed than 

 any other part of their body ; for, after all of 

 them had repaired to the warmest end of the 

 apparatus, instead of squatting, as they naturally 

 do when they rest, they remained motionless, 

 standing bolt upright upon their legs, with their 

 backs turned toward the sides or end of the 

 apartment, in order to procure the necessary 

 warmth. I therefore judged that they wanted 

 an apparatus which might, by resting on them, 

 determine them to take the same attitude as 

 they naturally assume under hens, and I con- 

 trived an inanimate mother that might supply, 

 in this respect, the want of a living one." 



The apparatus contrived by M. Reaumur upon 

 these principles, consisted of a box lined with 

 sheep-skin, having the wool on it, the bottom 

 of the box being of a square form, and the up- 

 per part of it sloped precisely like a writing- 

 desk. The box thus constructed was placed at 

 the end of a coop, or cage, shut in with a grat- 

 ing of osier, net, or wire, and closed above with 

 a hinged lid, the whole being so formed that 

 the chickens could walk round the sides, as 

 shown in the previous engraving. 



The desk-like slanting direction of the cov- 

 ering permitted the chickens to arrange them- 

 selves according to their several sizes; but as 

 they have, like all young birds, the habit of 

 pressing very closely together, and even of 

 climbing upon one another, the small and the 

 weaker being therefore in danger of being 

 crushed or smothered, M. Reaumur constructed 

 his artificial mother open at both ends, or, at 

 most, with only a loose netting hanging over it. 

 Through that the weakest chicken could escape 

 if it chanced to feel itself too much squeezed ; 

 and then, by going round to the other open- 

 ing, it might find a less inconvenient neighbor- 

 hood. 



One improvement upon this consists in keep- 

 ing the covers sloped so low as to prevent the 

 chickens from climbing on the backs of each 



other, and raising it as they increase in growth. 

 Another consists in dividing the larger coops 

 into two, by means of a transverse partition, so 

 as to separate the chickens of different sizes. 



"The chickens," says M. Reaumur, "soon 

 showed me how much they felt the convenience 

 of my artificial mother, by their fondness for 

 remaining under it and pressing it closely. As 

 soon as they had taken their little meals, they 

 were seen jumping and capering about; and 

 when they began to be weary, they crowded to 

 this mother, going so far in that they were com- 

 pelled to squat, as I perceived by the impression 

 of the backs of several chickens on the woolly 

 linings when the cover was turned up. No nat- 

 ural mother, indeed, can be ^so good for the 

 chickens as the artificial one, and they are not 

 long in discovering this instinct being a quick 

 and sure director. Chickens, indeed, direct 

 from the hatching oven, from twelve to twenty 

 hours after their escape from the shell, will be- 

 gin to pick up small grains or crumbs of bread ; 

 and, after having eaten and walked about a lit- 

 tle, they soon find their way to the fleecy lodge, 

 where they can rest and warm themselves, re- 

 maining till hunger puts them again in motion. 

 They all betake themselves to the artificial moth- 

 er at night, and leave it exactly at daybreak, 

 or when a lamp is brought into the place, so as 

 to produce an artificial daybreak, with which, 

 it is worthy of remark, old hens are not affected, 

 but remain immovable on their roosts." 



M. Bonnemain put the chickens hatched by 

 his apparatus in a place where four pipes, fixed 

 under boards, were made to run along at equal 

 distances, a very little above the level of the 

 ground. These pipes were filled with hot wa- 

 ter, and had loose flannels attached to them, 

 loaded with a light weight, so as to furnish for 

 the chickens a soft body for warming chiefly 

 their backs. 



In one or other of the houses thus wanned 

 with hot water, M. Bonnemain's chickens were 

 permitted to run about or rest at pleasure ; while 

 in order to keep them clean, the floor is covered 

 with a layer of fine gravel, which soaks up the 

 dung, and is swept away every day. The arti- 

 ficial mothers are cleaned, the skins beat, tlii 

 wool combed, the chickens which may be dirty 



