A POULTRY COMPENDIUM. 33 



Do not remove chicks from the shell. Except in 

 very exceptional cases, the chick which cannot get out 

 of its own shell unaided it is not worth while to attempt 

 to rear. If you are very desirous to play the part of 

 an accoucheur, the best thing will be to do it in the 

 proper construction of the nest, proper precautions against 

 vermin, and perhaps one or two sprinklings of the eggs 

 with tepid water a day or two previous to the time of 

 hatching. The do-nothing-at-binh course is one which 

 takes the least of your time, and generally gives very 

 good satisfaction. 



Don't feed your chicks when first hatched. The re- 

 mainder of the yolk, which they have drawn into them, 

 will supply them with nourishment for the first twenty- 

 four or thirty-six hours. 



In about twenty-four hours after the hatching has be- 

 gun, you can remove the hen and her brood to a suita- 

 ble coop with run attached, which you have already pre- 

 pared. The subject of feeding the chicks will be treated 

 of in its proper place. * 



It is a good plan to have two or more hens sitting 

 at the same time; then you can remove the chicks from 

 one and give them to the other to rear with her own, 

 and can put another sitting of eggs under the hen you 

 have robbed, making each hen, after the first one, hatch 

 out two broods for you. 



In artificial incubation you must supply the elements 

 which make natural incubation successful. The failure 

 to supply any one of these elements will render the re- 

 sult to be derived problematical, and may issue in par- 

 tial or total failure. These elements are heat, air and 



