ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION 



it up carefully you -will not find such a wide difference in results 

 between the natural and artificial methods for the given number 

 of eggs incubated. You don't feel alarmed if you find from 

 four to five chicks dead in the eggs under a hen, yet the same 

 percentage loss in a 100 or 200-egg incubator startles you, be- 

 cause it looks bigger, owing to the greater number that you see 

 at one time. 



Two infertile eggs and four chicks dead in the shell out of 

 a sitting under a hen is a very common thing. In a machine con- 

 taining one hundred eggs the same percentage would mean at 

 least fifteen infertile eggs and thirty chicks dead in the shell, 

 which would seem alarming to the inexperienced. 



Experienced incubator operators feel well satisfied if they 

 ■find that their entire season's work gives them an average of 

 fifty chicks for each hundred eggs set. Some are able to better 

 this average. Hatches made during the spring months, the 

 natural breeding season, will frequently run a much higher per- 

 centage. I have obtained 75, 80, 97 and 108 chicks from the 

 120 eggs set when hatching in March, April and May and many 

 others can report like results. Earlier and later hatches have 

 given 50 to 65 chicks, sometimes more, very seldom less, while 

 even some spring hatches have not averaged better than 50 per 

 cent of the eggs set. I considered the results good and never 

 once thought of blaming the incubator. Hens would not have 

 done better with the same munber of eggs, conditions being 

 equal. 



One hundred per cent hatches are sometimes made in in- 

 cubators, but like the thirteen chicks from thirteen eggs that 

 advocates of the natm-al method like to boast of as "old biddy's'' 

 record, they are exceptional cases. 



Get a good incubator, use good fresh eggs from soimd, 

 healthy, vigorous breeding stock and be reasonable in your ex- 



pectations. If you do this, take my word for it, you will not be 

 disappointed. 



An old time poultryman recently said to me, "I wouldn't 

 set 500 eggs under hens again if you'd give me the eggs and pay 

 me for my trouble. I'll take an incubator every time, keep my 

 conscience clear and a clean sheet with the recording angel. 

 I haven't the time nor the patience to hatch a lot of chicks with 

 hens." I have no doubt that many feel as he does and I know 

 that I do. 



CARE OF THE INCUBATOR 



After the chicks have been removed from the machine 

 give it a thorough cleaning. If the incubator has burlap or 

 other porous material covering the bottom of the nursery, this 

 should be cleaned and removed. Run the machine for a day 

 or two to thoroughly dry it out before starting a new hatch. 

 When a number of hatches have been nm it is advisable to use 

 a weak solution of some creoKn disinfectant in warm water to 

 wash out the interior of the egg chamber. Before starting with 

 another lot of eggs be sure to dry and air out the egg chamber 

 thoroughly. Ordinarily disinfectants will only be required at 

 the close of the hatching season before the incubator is put 

 away. 



Always store the machine in a, dry place where the wood- 

 work will not be hable to be affected by moisture and so swell 

 and warp out of shape. Never leave an incubator with the 

 lamp filled, if this is done the oil is hable to creep up on the 

 metal and the result will be that when the machine is next 

 started it will smoke and give trouble. A little attention given 

 to taking care of the incubator when through hatching will 

 prove a saving both in time and money and aid greatly in the 

 preservation of the machine itself. 



A FEW HINTS ON BUYING INCUBATORS 



DO NOT PUT IT OFF— BUY A GOOD INCUBATOR— CONSIDER THE RIGHT SIZE- 

 LOCATION OF THE INCUBATOR— THE ABUSE OF INCUBATORS— TEST THE EGGS 



A. F. HUNTER 



O NOT put off buying too long, that is, until the 

 season for hatching is near at hand. An in- 

 cubator will cost no more bought early than at 

 the time you want to begin to use it, and there 

 are very manifest advantages in getting it into 

 your possession, and becoming to a certain ex- 

 tent famihar with it. 

 While extreme delays may be unusual, still, there are pos- 

 sible delays, owing to the transfers which may be necessary in 

 transit. Therefore we say buy your machine in good time so 

 as to avoid the possible misfortune of delay. Another point is 

 that you have an opportunity to set up the machine at a time 

 when you have plenty of leisure to do it right and get the con- 

 ditions right. 



We heard from a lady in Montana who says that she bought 

 an incubator last spring, got it home to her house about noon, 

 went to work uncrating it and setting it up as soon as she had 

 eaten her dinner, and at 5 o'clock in the afternoon put the eggs 

 into it. A little consideration of the risks those eggs were sub- 

 jected to will illustrate the point. She had never seen an in- 

 cubator before and had no idea of running one excepting what 

 she got in the directions sent with the incubator. As for- 

 tune favored her, she got a good hatch, but the chances were 

 certainly very much against it; and it is very foohsh to take 

 chances when we can avoid them by taking time by the forelock. 

 It is good, sound advice to take three or four days in which to 



gradually warm up the machine to the desired temperature, see 

 that the regulation is properly adjusted to the desired point, 

 become familiar with the individuality of the lamp so that the ' 

 flame can be set at pretty nearly the same point after each fill- 

 ing and trimming, — ^in fact, become "familiar" with the methods 

 of operating the incubator. This is purely elementary advice, 

 but the great bulk of incubator buyers are amateurs, and very 

 many of them have never operated incubators before, hence 

 these same "A, B, C" points have to be gone over frequently. 



BUY A GOOD INCUBATOR 



Do not make the mistake that some beginners do of buying 

 a cheap incubator because you risk less in case you do not suc- 

 ceed with it. We had that argument made to us in a letter 



in which the writer said he preferred the because it was 



cheapest, and if he did not succeed with it his loss would be 

 smaller. We have no right to say that a cheap incubator is 

 not a good incubator; nor to say the reverse, that the highest 

 priced incubator is the best incubator. The point we wish to 

 suggest is the one which the 'late President Harrison made in 

 his oft-quoted statement about the cheap coat. It is a well 

 known fact that a cheap pair of shoes cannot be made of so 

 good leather nor so well made as a pair of shoes costing, say, 

 twice as much; no one would expect to get as good a pair of 

 shoes for $1.50 as he would for $3; in the very nature of 

 things it is impossible that he should. 



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