INCUBATION AND BROODING 



INCUBATING AND REARING CHICKS 



Detailed Instructions for Natural and Artificial 

 Incubation and the Operation of Brooders 



A SATISFACTORY SYSTEM FOR FEEDING CHICKS 



J. D. MASON, Gladys, Va. 



[The {oUowing practical article is taken from Farmers' Bulletin No. 5. 

 "Poultry Baising in virp:inia" published in December, 1905 by the Board 

 of Agriculture and Immigration of Virginia. Editor.] 



ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION ' 



Very clear and practical instructions come with all incuba- 

 tors of the best make, and if carefully followed even inexperi- 

 enced persons can run them successfully. 



Nearly all poultry writers favor a damp cellar as the best 

 place for hatching chickens in an incubator, because of the 

 moisture. We doubt the advisability of this. It is absolutely 

 necessary that the embryos have pure air and everybody knows 

 that the air is seldom pure where there is constant dampness. 

 If a dugout cellar is used the floor should be cemented to keep it 

 dry and the air pure. If the cellar is even with the ground it ' 

 is not necessary to cement it, for such cellars are seldom damp. 

 Sprinkle the floor well when the eggs begin to pip and keep this 

 up all during the time the eggs are hatching and this will give 

 all the moisture needed. Get all the pure air possible without 

 a draft, and the best way to secure this condition is to have the 

 windows open but sufficiently screened to prevent drafts. 



TEST FOR PROPER VENTILATION 



After placing the incubator so that it is perfectly level, 

 open the door and ventilators, place a lighted candle inside, 

 close door and carefully test the amount of air inside by gradu- 

 ally closing ventilators just sufficiently to keep the candle burn- 

 ing. If it begins to fficker, there is not enough air and the 

 ventilators should be opened just a little more or just enough 

 to keep the candle burning. Test this for about ten minutes 

 before starting off hatch and remove before putting eggs in. 

 Few manufacturers of incubators give this test in their instruc- 

 tions, but it is most important. Oxygen is necessary for the 

 embryo after it begins to breathe. The lack of it causes poor 

 hatches and weak chickens. Some poultrymen claim that it is 

 the chief cause of poor hatches and weak chickens. 



For profitable broilers, we start our hatches in February. 

 We get our highest percentage of chickens from eggs hatched 

 in April. In our brooders we raise them equally as well when 

 hatched out early, although we do not get as good results in 

 hatching. After the end of May in this climate, unless the 

 weather is unusually cool, eggs do not hatch so well nor are the 

 chicks as thrifty. 



All eggs used for hatching should be carefully selected and' 

 all mis-shapen eggs rejected. Yearling and two-year-old hens 

 furnish the best hatching eggs. 



After seeing that the incubator is at the required tempera- 

 ture of one hundred and two and a half degrees, it will only 

 require the attention of turning the eggs twice a day, morning 

 and night, after the third day, the testing out of the fertile 

 eggs, and the filUng and trimming of lamps daily. In very- 

 sudden changes of weather, the temperature may require lower • 

 ing or raising, as may be required, keeping the temperature 

 at one hundred and two and a half degrees as nearly as possible, 

 by raising or lowering the lamps. 



TESTING THE EGGS 



Excellent egg-testers, with instructions as to use, are 

 furnished with most incubators. These testers can be placed 



on an ordinary lamp, and the eggs are best tested at night when 

 the room is dark. On the sixth day of incubation we consider 

 them at their best for testing. A good strong germ has the ap- 

 pearance of a spider in the egg. A blood circle adhering to the 

 shell denotes a dead germ; a perfectly clear as well as a cloudy 

 egg is infertile and should be removed from the incubator. 

 These rejected eggs can be re-tested and the clear ones taken 

 out for use. In some markets they can be sold at a lower 

 market rate per dozen to bakers, for they are perfectly good for 

 cooking purposes, or they may be used at home, or hard-boiled, 

 chopped up and given to young growing stock. 



From the tenth to the eighteenth day cool eggs by leaving 

 the door of the incubator open after the morning turning of eggs, 

 letting the temperature drop to ninety degrees. 



THE LAST TURNING OF THE EGGS 



On the morning of the nineteenth day the eggs are turned 

 for the last time, provided they are not already pipping. They 

 should all be carefully spread out in the trays ip order that 

 the chicks may fall into the nursery of the machine, both from 

 the back and the front and so prevent unnecessary tramping 

 over the eggs that are hatching. At this time the ventilators 

 are closed until the hatch is two-thirds over. 



NATURAL INCUBATION 



Hatching eggs under hens is a much simpler matter. In 

 some experiments we made in hatching out WMte Leghorn 

 eggs under mongrel hens, we got the best results from hens fed 

 on corn while sitting, com being the greatest heat producing 

 food. 



Hens should not have eggs put under them until they have 

 remained on the nest for a day or so. If they do not leave the 

 nest for the roost at night, it is safe to put eggs under them. 

 Our hens, which were set in the hen houses, did not do so well 

 as those set where they were undisturbed by the laying hens. 

 If it is necessary to move the hen, they wiU generally accept the 

 new nest provided the change is made at night. Dark nests 

 give the best results, and they should be well filled with straw 

 or dried grass. , 



From twelve to fifteen eggs are put under a hen, depending 

 on the size of the hen. In cold weather it is best to put the 

 fewer uimiber of eggs, while late in the spring as many as seven- 

 teen can be put under them. It is just as necessary to select 

 the eggs and use only well shaped eggs for putting under hens 

 as for the artificial method of hatching. In warm weather when 

 the chicks are hable to dry in the shell it is a great help to thor- 

 oughly sprinkle the eggs. There need be no fear of chilling for 

 the heat of the hen will quickly bring them back to the proper 

 temperature. If two or more hens are set at the same time, 

 it is advisable to give one of the hens both lots of chickens to 

 mother and reset the other. 



Before starting our hatches, we thoroughly fumigate our 

 houses by burning sulphur candles in them, and as an extra 

 precaution, we sprinkle both hen and nest with lice powder. 

 Lice wiU lower a hen's vitaUty, reducing her heat and causing 

 in this way poor hatches. 



Hens are inactive while sitting, and therefore require less 

 food than otherwise. It is not necessary to feed them on the 

 nest. Have food and water accessible, but let their appetite 

 be the judge of when and how much to eat. As far as possible 

 let them be undisturbed while sitting. 



THE REARING OF YOUNG CHICKENS 



We allow our chicks to remain in the incubator forty-eight 



hours. They will not require food nor water during this time. 



When first put in the brooder a Uttle "pearl grit" is given 



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