20 EAISING FOWIiS AND EGGS 



ers to brood and shelter and keep them from perishing in in- 

 fancy, especially in frigid weathe^ ? 



" Artificial mothers are already invented," replies the maker 

 of incubators. We are aware of this fact. But how far wUl 

 those machines go toward the desired end, when we speak of 

 what is to be done for tens of thousands of chicks, possible to 

 be produced ? " Multiply the number of machines ? " Very 

 good. But this would not remedy the objection, in our wet, 

 cold days and nights ; while in Egypt it scarcely ever rains, 

 and the climate is constantly sufficiently warm to permit of 

 dispensing with " mothers," natural or artificial. They do not 

 use them there, at all, and thus they can raise chickens in quan- 

 tities, as we can not. 



That chickens can be multiplied among us, artificially, and 

 that to a certain extent they can be reared through means sim- 

 ilar to those long in vogue among Egyptians, there is little 

 question. That hundreds of batches of chickens are nowadays 

 hatched and raised, at least to goodly marketable size in Amer- 

 ica, we are assured is the fact by those who have in the last 

 three or four years used the Yankee " incubators," invented 

 by our people in New York, and Boston. 



We will now turn to the subject of hatching chickens in the 

 ordinary way — as we are compelled to do, for the most part — 

 under hen-mothers. 



The early Spring-time with us is the appropriate season in 

 which to commence the work of chicken-raising. Adult fowls 

 become "broody," or, in other words, they then incline to sit 

 upon the second litter of eggs they have laid. And this 

 " hatching fever " or motherly instinct in fowls, first exhibits 

 itself in the month of February, March, or April, annually. 



We have stated heretofore, and we repeat it just here for 

 the information of those interested, that hens wiU ordinarily 

 lay about so many eggs in a year, with good fair keep and 

 treatment — but that the egg-product may be greatly increased, 

 within a given period, by the daily use of extra or stimulating 

 feeding. 



