656 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



dry room they may be slightly mois- 

 tened, using about one teaspoonful of 

 water to 100 eggs in damp weather and 

 an ounce in dry weather. Water can 

 be supplied by means of a saturated 

 sponge or a saucer placed in the bottom 

 of the egg chamber, or the eggs slightly 

 moistened with the hand in turning. 



Determining fertility of eggs — After 

 six or seven days' incubation, either with 

 the hens or incubators, the eggs should 

 be examined to see how many are fertile, 

 This is determined by placing them at 

 one end of a pasteboard tube and looking 

 through them toward the light. Fer- 

 tile eggs show a dark movable spot with 

 several veins running from it. Eggs 

 with weak germs show simply a cloudy, 

 stationary spot surrounded by a ring- 

 like structure, while sterile eggs are 

 clear and the yolk is readily seen. Both 

 the eggs with weak germs and the sterile 

 eggs should be removed from the incu- 

 bator at once to be used for cooking or 

 hard boiled and used as food for chicks. 



The chicks in eggs with weak germs 

 die before the twentieth day of incuba- 

 tion. Allowing the eggs to cool for one- 

 half hour to an hour each day, in imita- 

 tion of the hen leaving the nest for 

 food, does not appear to be of any value, 

 as the chicks are no hardier and do not 

 hatch out any better than where they are 

 not cooled. The eggs are usually tested 

 three times, on the seventh, tenth, 

 and fourteenth days of incubation, and 

 all except the perfectly fertile eggs re- 

 moved, since the dead eggs absorb heat 

 and give off gases that may injure the 

 chicks in the good eggs. The natural 

 temperature of the healthy hen is 103° 

 F. A long continued temperature of 

 108° F. is fatal to the egg germ. 



The chicks will require little if any 

 help in getting out of the shell and the 

 door of the incubator should not be 

 opened during this period unless abso- 

 lutely necessary. They should remain 

 in the incubator until the last hatched 

 are all dried off. 



Selling day-old chicks — A promising 

 industry has recently sprung up in the 

 selling of day-old chicks. The chicks 

 are shipped in shallow wooden boxes 6 

 inches deep, with small holes in the 

 sides near the top for ventilation. The 

 top is covered over with two thicknesses 

 of burlap fastened with slats. The 

 chicks are taken from the incubators as 



soon as dried, packed somewhat closely 

 in these boxes and can be shipped a 

 thousand miles with safety since they 

 require no food for 48 to 60 hours after 

 hatching. 



Care of chicks and brooders — During 

 the winter and early spring months in 

 the northern states, the brooders should 

 be set up in some building. As the 

 weather gets warmer, they should be 

 placed outdoors. Where colony houses 

 are used, the brooders can be put in 

 these. And, as the chicks outgrow the 

 brooders, they will be already established 

 in the colony houses. The temperature 

 in the hover of the brooder, 2 inches 

 from the floor for the first few days 

 after the chicks are put in, should be 

 maintained at 90 to 05° F., and grad- 

 ually lowered until the end of two weeks, 

 when it should be about 75° F. Chick 

 grit, coarse sand, and fine gravel should 

 be thrown over the floor of the brooder 

 and exercising compartment and lightly 

 covered with chaff or finely cut clover 

 hay. 



Good ventilation, plenty of pure air 

 and exercise must be provided for the 

 chicks in the brooders at all times. The 

 outside running ground of the young 

 chicks must be protected from cold 

 drafts and any excessive lowering of the 

 temperature. If the chicks become 

 chilled soon after hatching they show a 

 mass of dry feces about the anus and 

 usually die within a few days. With- 

 out abundant exercise, diarrhoea and va- 

 rious other troubles are also brought 

 on. In warm weather shade is essential 

 and fresh water must be provided. 



Feeding of young chicks — The chicks 

 should not be fed until about 36 hours 

 after they are placed in the brooders. 

 Stale bread soaked in milk and squeezed 

 dry may be given for the first day or so, 

 and rolled oat meal, boiled rice or 

 wheat added on the third day. For the 

 first three or four days they should be 

 fed a small amount four or five times 

 daily. Care should be observed not to 

 overfeed at this time as digestive dis- 

 orders are easily brought on and large 

 numbers of the chicks will die. Johnny- 

 cake, millet seed, cracked wheat and 

 cracked corn are all excellent grain and 

 may be fed in small amounts scattered 

 in the litter on the floor. Hard boiled 

 eggs, used as noted on page 654 are ex- 

 cellent and from about the tenth day 



