28 California Poultry Practice 



the lamp out, boil the burner in water in which you have put a table- 

 spoonful of baking soda, then polish it up and it will be as good as 

 new. Put in a new wick every time you set a new hatch and do as 

 I tell you and you will never be bothered much with chicks having 

 diarrhoea. Most of the bowel trouble comes either from chills or 

 filth, either in the incubator or brooder. 



Always use the best oil you can get. Some incubators will burn 

 poor oil but all of them do much better with good oil. Whenever 

 an incubator smokes you are using poor oil with a machine that 

 calls for good, refined oil, or you have the lamp too full or the wick 

 too high. Don't blame the machine but go to work and remedy what 

 is wrong. If for any reason the egg chamber gets smoke in it, open 

 the doors and take the eggs out until the smoke has passed away when 

 it will be safe to return them, if you have cut off the cause of the 

 smoke. 



Don't forget that the egg is the chief source of moisture needed 

 under ordinary conditions. If too much moisture is added the 

 chicks drown, or they grow so fast that the shell is filled before the 

 chick is due; then it has no room to work and it is -a case of 

 "dead in the shell." Don't forget, that when there is too much 

 moisture in the incubating cellar the air does not circulate as freely 

 as when the moisture is not so abundant. If you can adjust the 

 moisture question the rest is easy. And except during the months of 

 July, August and September we are fairly safe about the moisture 

 on this Coast unless in some of the inland valleys. 



Don't forget that irregular and inefficient attention to filling lamps 

 and turning eggs are to blame for a large percent of poor hatches, 

 and that these things are entirely under your control. Have a certain 

 time to do these things and let nothing interfere with that duty. 



Don't get excited if it should happen that your lamp gets 

 in a blaze. Just go with a gunny sack or something that it not in- 

 flammable and get the lamp out of its place and carry it to a place of 

 safety. Wrap a gunny sack around it and the fire will go out. Then 

 open up the egg chamber so that if there is any smoke there it can 

 escape. If the eggs are hot take them out and cool, being careful not 

 to leave out long enough to chill, then return to the incubator. Don't 

 start the lamp up again until you have cleaned up all soot that may 

 have gathered in the pipes or heating chamber, because most likely 

 you will have the same thing happen again. 



In case of accident keep cool and your good sense will come to 

 the rescue. 



How Young Chicks Look The First Two Weeks 



So many people do not know how chicks of the several breeds look 

 when young and they sometimes think the}' have been buncoed when 

 the chicks do not look just like the old ones. 



