ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION I7I 



watched, and the blaze regulated according to neces- 

 sity as indicated by the thermometer. 



If at any time the heat runs above 105, turn down, 

 the blaze and take out the eggs and cool them down 

 to 100. With hot water machines it is difficult tO' 

 reduce the heat quickly. A large body of water holds, 

 heat a long time, and for this reason hot water 

 machines are preferred to hot air machines by some 

 people on plea that if the lamp went out the heat 

 would hold so long that the accident would be dis- 

 covered before the hatch was injured. But if there 

 is plenty of wick in the lamp, and it is kept filled,, 

 the lamp will never go out. 



The second week the heat in the egg chamber 

 will run up in the afternoon if not watched. It is. 

 better to have the heat too low than too high.. If 

 the heat be too low, it means a delayed and perhaps 

 dragging hatch; if too high, it may mean the total 

 destruction of the hatch. It must be watched by one 

 person, whose duty it should be to manage the hatch 

 entirely. Where the incubator is run by the family, 

 allowing anyone who happens to have time to see tO' 

 it, the result is bad, as a rule. The incubator should 

 have one attendant who will see to it until the hatch 

 is completed. 



Testing the Eggs — The eggs should be tested on 

 the ninth or tenth day. Some use the testers which 

 come with machines or are on sale at the supply stores. 

 My plan of testing is very simple. I set a tray full 

 of eggs and an empty tray on a table, with a lamp, 

 between. The fertile eggs I put in the empty tray 

 and the infertile ones in a basket. I pick up an egg 

 in my closed hand and hold it to the lamp. If infertile,, 

 it is transparent; if fertile, dark; if doubtful, cloudy. 

 I do this rapidly, and my sense of touch is so acute 

 and sensitive that I can tell an infertile egg in the- 



