ARTinCIAL INCUBATING AND BROODING 



as they will go to give the chicks a chance to drop into the 

 nursery below the trays, or, if there are two trays, one may 

 be pushed back and the other drawn forward, leaving a space 

 at the front and back of the egg chamber for the chicks to fall 

 into the nursery. 



Now close the machine and let it remain closed until the 

 hatch is over. If it has been running evenly and regulating 

 properly it is perfectly safe to trust, and interference at hatch- 

 ing time will only injiu-e or spoil the hatch. 



Learn to let the incubator alone at hatching time. When 

 the chicks are hatching it will do so harm Jor the temperature 

 to run as high as 105 degrees, but it should not go higher. 



Never open the incubator to "help" a chick which seems 



is a large number of very wet chicks in the machine, but as soon 

 as the chicks have dried the trays should be removed. 



By leaving the incubator door open in this manner a greater 

 volume of fresh air is suppKed for the use of the chicks which 

 now require a considerable quantity for breathing purposes 

 since their lungs have been brought into action. While the 

 incubator has sufficient ventilation for all purposes of incuba- 

 tion, and for supplying sufficient oxygen to the embryo chick 

 through the blood vessels lining the egg shell, it does not give 

 a sufficient amount of fresh air for use of a machine full of 

 lusty young chicks which have broken out of their shells and 

 are making use of their full lung capacity for the first time. 



Chicks hardened off in this 

 maimer always make a better 

 life of it than when confined 

 too closely to the machine. It 

 will be advisable to let the 

 chicks remain in the incubator 

 for 24 to 36 hours after hatch- 

 . y^ \ \ ^^S' ^*' ^^'^ ^^^ °^ which time 



Tl >r?^^ / / tliey should be placed in the 



^^r^ 



36— DRINKING FOUNTAIN AND FEED HOPPER 



to be having a hard time to get out. Such practice is almost 

 certain to injure the balance of the eggs by releasing the mois- 

 ture and cooling the eggs. When the chicks have all hatched 

 as near as you can judge by looking through the glass in the 

 incubator door, the ventilators should be thrown wide open; 

 at this time remove the egg trays and all egg shells from the 

 machine, turn the buttons on incubator door to the perpendicular 

 and close the door against them, fastening it in place by means 

 of a wire attached to a tack driven into the body of the machine 

 and make it fast to the knob on the incubator door. This 

 leaves the door open a Uttle and allows a greater volume of air 

 to enter the egg chamber, assists the chicks to dry off properly 

 and helps harden them at a temperature a little lower than that 

 at which they were hatched. This should not be done if there 



brooder which has been made ready and is running all 

 heated up waiting for them. 



WHAT IS A GOOD HATCH 



Don't expect too much of your incubator. Many compe- 

 tent men believe that they get just as good or better results 

 from the season's work with incubators as they could with hens. 

 They have good ground for their belief. 



Some hens will hatch thirteen chicks from thirteen eggs 

 sometimes. Many more hatch but five or six chicks and there 

 are plenty of hens that do not hatch any chicks at all or that 

 spoil nearly all of their eggs. 



You get chicks dead in the shell from various causes when 

 hatching under hens and you get them in incubators. Summing 



40 



