38 



SUCCESS WITH POULTRY 



How to Build an Incubator Cellar. 



It costs only a small amount of money to construct a. 

 first-class incubator house, or half-cellar, such as is com- 

 monly used on extensive poultry farms in the eastern states. 

 On this page we show a sectional: view of an incubator oel- 

 \^T. The exact plans for building such a cellar are at the 

 discretion of , the person chiefly interested, but in the way 

 of general directions, we submit the following? 



Onoose a well-drained location, free from seep-water, 

 and excavate to a depth of two or three feet. Two feet is 

 ample. For the walls brick or stone can be used. If these 

 are not available, hardwood or even pine plank will answer 

 first-rate, except that they will not be as lasting. Where the 

 ground is dry, plank will last for years. Build the side walls 

 up to the height of four or six feet, as desired, having these 

 walls half way below and half way above the surface of the 

 ground. Build the end walls up to a peak to fit closely under 

 the roof. 



Persona who use only one or two incubators may not de- 

 sire to go to the expense of building an incubator cellar, in 

 such cases they must choose the next best location. Som"? 

 times this will be found in the cellar-beneath tie residence; 

 at other times a spare room in the residence, and during 

 warm weather an outtiouse may be utilized. 



In using a house cellar the chief considerations are free- 

 dom from excessive moisture, and a plentiful supply of pure 

 air. Even a hen set in a damp cellar will not do well. H 

 the cellar is properly ventilated, that is if the air is continu- 

 ally being changed without too great va,riatioii in tempera- 

 ture there will always be sufficient moisture in the air. The 

 fact that a thermometer in the cellar remains at or near the 

 desired point is not proof thait conditions are right. Foul air 

 may be regulated at the same temperature as pure air, but 

 chicks fail to hatch when the machine is surrounded by it. 

 The incubator is not intended to purify the air, it is simply" 

 arranged so as to allow air to circulate through the egg 



style of Incubator Cellar Ueed on I/arge Plants. 



The roof will need to be well built. Use for the roof 

 2x6 pieces, and if thought necessary, brace it with two up- 

 rights, one placed at each end of the fairly good-sized sky- 

 light, which is placed in the center of the roof. Cheap sheet- 

 ing will answer for covering the roof. On this place six 

 inches of loose straw; on the straw throw from six to ten 

 inches of earth — that excavated — and pack it down well. 

 Use double windows for the skylight, leaving four to six 

 inches between them, and protect the top one with a wire 

 screen. It is no doubt best to have a double, or vestibule 

 door, as there will be less loss of heat when entering and 

 coming out, but this precaution is not necessary. The floor 

 can be of the natural earth, or cement, as desired. 



An incubator cellar built as above will preserve a re- 

 , markably uniform temperature, regardles of outside at- 

 mospheric changes, and in such places hot air and hot water 

 incubators are on a par — both naturally being at their very 

 best. On the large eastern farms the incubator house or 

 cellar is considered of first importance in the matter of suc- 

 cessful incubation, and where persons in the west, northwest 

 or south tnink of embarking in the business on a large scale, 

 we advise the use of a regular inpubfitor cellar siroilsw' to 

 the one here descxibed, 



chamber, and is of course dependent upon the air immedi- 

 ately surrounding it. Therefore keep the air fresh. 



If the incubator is placed jn a spare room in the resi- 

 dence, it is not wise to have one end of it near a cold outside 

 wall or window and the other end towards a fire. The pasage 

 of air through the room will not affect the hatch unless the 

 incubator comes within the direct draft, its effect would 

 then be to keep one side of the incubator cooler than the 

 other, and to cause a variation in the lamp flame. 



There is little difficulty in avoiding these things. They 

 do not call for a high degree of intelligence, simply the ex- 

 ercise of comon sense. An incubator is an easy machine 

 to manage; it calls for na great effort of the brain to run it, 

 in fact a good incubator will run itself if it be once adjusted 

 and the supply of oil kept up. 



An incubator like an egg is often misunderstood. They 

 will both stand more abuse than some persons imagine. We 

 have known an incubator that was operated by means of 

 furnishing a regular supply of hot water and drawing off the 

 cold. It was in a kitchen and during the period of incuba- 

 tion the housemaid used it for a shelf, sometimes as a table 

 ipon which to wash the plates, etc., and even then a fair 

 Ji&toh wqs secured, The }xattvh -sTOwld have been better, but 



