POULTRY-CRAFT. 175 
given the chicks being placed away from the coops out of the reach of the 
hens. Then after the hen has laid for a few days, she stops clucking to the 
chicks; but as hen and chicks use the same coop, she cannot help brooding 
them. Often hens will go broody while laying in the coops, and after sitting 
on the floor for a few days come out as attentive to the old brood as when it 
was hatched. Not one hen in fifty will drive her chicks from her after she 
begins laying if she has no chance to associate with other fowls. 
THE ARTIFICIAL METHOD. 
253. Remarks.— The circumstances to which this method is best 
adapted, the choice and placing of incubators, and the different arrangements 
for brooding, were considered in 60, 61, and § 45—48. The use of machines 
to take the place of hens does not relieve the operator of the necessity of giving 
continuous close attention to the details of incubation. On the contrary, his 
work becomes, in a way, more exacting. Machines do not run themselves, 
nor cana child run them. Purchasers of incubators and brooders get with 
their machines the manufacturers’ directions for running them. These are 
not always fully adequate; they cannot apply exactly in all cases; there is 
always something left to the judgment of the operator. More new operators, 
however, make mistakes in disregarding or misinterpreting instructions .than 
in following them too closely. Radical changes from prescribed methods are 
almost certain to be wrong. In departing from instructions— (a course to 
be taken only when he is fully convinced of its necessity, and has a clear idea 
of what he expects to accomplish by the change)— the operator should feel 
his way as cautiously as one balancing scales when weighing out a costly 
article. 
While there are differences in the methods of running different machines, 
and like machines in different places, there are certain general facts of 
universal application, and it is by these that the operator must be guided in 
adjusting instructions to suit his circumstances. In the following paragraphs 
the statements of noted experts and authorities have been arranged to give in 
condensed form the latest and best opinions and advices on the principal 
points in artificial hatching and brooding.* 
254. The Care of the Lamp.— 
‘«The lamp should be trimmed every day. I prefer morning to any other time. The 
charred portion of the wick can be cut off with a pocket knife. Turn the wick down just 
a little, to make sure there is no sound wick above the burner tube. Then place the heel 
of the knife on a level with the top of the tube, and draw the full length of the blade 
while crossing the tube. This will make a clean cut. Be very careful to hold the knife 
* Norre.— Most of the statements credited to Mr. Cyphers, in subsequent paragraphs, 
are from ‘‘ Incubation and Its Natural Laws.” Those credited to Mr. McFetridge, are 
from ‘“ Poultry.” Others are from contributed articles in Farm-Poultry, and from earlier 
books by Mr. Boyer, in this series. : 
