50 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



that only in warm weather. Thirteen eggs are 

 enough for the largest hen in winter, and a small 

 one cannot do justice to more than eleven. When 

 you have a setting of expensive eggs it is well to 

 divide them between two hens. 



Next to freedom from insect pests, shade is prob- 

 ably the greatest item in a sitting hen's comfort. 

 She is hot and feverish and unable to move about 

 and find a cool spot or to take the frequent sip of 

 cool water that means so much to a hen. In cool 

 weather she will be comfortable in any well venti- 

 lated house or coop. In summer there is no place 

 like the shade of a large tree. These details seem 

 too minute to be worth while, but the success of the 

 hatch often depends upon just such little things. 



The Hen-Incubator 



Much of the annoyance and worry connected with 

 the care of hen-mothers will be avoided if a good 

 many hens are set at the same time. When the clear 

 eggs are tested out on the seventh day, the remain- 

 ing eggs may be given to part of the hens and the 

 rest reset. Then when the hatch comes off, the 

 chicks may be given to part of the hens, twenty or 

 twenty-five to each hen, and the other hens reset. 

 In this way ten hens could easily hatch and raise 

 150 chicks in a season, and if a small incubator 

 were set to help out the hens the second time, they 

 could raise 200 chicks. 



There are several devices for setting a number 

 of hens in compact quarters, and these are known 

 as hen-incubators. One is an arrangement by 

 which the nests are banked against a house, each 

 having its own door, so the hens may be kept con- 

 fined except when they leave the nest to eat. By 

 another plan the nests are arranged on the ground 



