ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION 



which New England people call carelessness, the results will be 

 unsatisfactory and the incubator manufacturer will get the 

 blame. An incubator is not endowed with intelligence. That 

 most essential quahty must be supphed by the operator, and 

 that word "intelligence" is very significant. Possibly the term 

 common-sense or "horse-sense" explains it better, because it is 

 not essential that a man or woman be a trained scholar, but it 

 is necessary that one be able to understand the plain directions, 

 and then follow them. 



One difficulty is that the instructions have such a different 

 meaning to different individuals, because they understand words 

 differently. Take, for example, the instruction to fill and trim 

 the lamp once a day. To a careful and tidy housewife that 

 means that the lamp is to be filled pretty well up to the top, the 

 charred crust of the wick brushed off, the burner carefully wiped 

 and the perforated air plate in the base of the burner is to be 

 brushed clean and then wiped clean and dry, and then the lamp 

 itself is wiped clean of any dust collections and, in fact, of all 

 dirt and dampness, whether of oil or moisture. To the "care- 

 less" individual the same instructions to fill and trim the lamp 

 mean that the can of oil is up-ended, slap-dash, and oil spurted 

 into the lamp until it is overful, then the thumbnail (or a 

 match-stick) is run along the edge of the wick tube to scrape off 

 the incrusted wick, the scrapings falUng over the burner and 

 especially upon the air-plate in the base, the lamp is relighted, 

 chucked back into place and left to its fate. This isn't a "fancy 

 sketch" — we have seen incubator lamps mishandled in just that 

 way, and the man was called a "hustler" and had the name of 

 "tvirning off a whole lot of work." Evidently the work was 

 "turned offl" 



We don't at all mean that there is to be a lot of "fussing" 

 with the lamp and other details of caring for an incubator, be- 

 cause there is not. It is a fact, though, that a very great dif- 

 ference in mental habit means a very great difference of interpre- 

 tation (or understanding) of instructions by different persons, 

 and while one will easily and successfully manage his incubators 

 and get good hatches another will so bungle his work as to get 

 poor hatches every time, and he will be the one to complain 

 that incubators are no good, or that he hasn't luck with them. 



NO SUCH THING AS "LUCK" 



There is no such thing as luck with an incubator. There 

 is some element of "luck" in hatching with hens, but with a 

 well made and well regulated incubator the element of "luck" 

 isn't in it at all. If instructions are followed and the regulator 

 rightly adjusted the temperature is held to a degree, and with 

 the temperature kept at the desirable point and the ventilation 

 what it should be the eggs will hatch if handled right. If the 

 regulator doesn't control the temperature the machine is at 

 fault, because the up-to-date incubators of to-day will keep the 

 temperature right; if you haven't an incubator with a regulator 

 that regulates you haven't the right incubator! 



We should remember that the incubator manufacturer 

 wants us to have good hatches; it ia to his interest to have us 

 succeed, as an unsuccessful customer is a, poor advertisement 

 for his machine. The instructions sent out with it are calculated 

 to aid to a successful operating of the incubator, but we must 

 do our part and supply the element of intelligence and common 

 sense. If anyone buys an incubator in the expectation that all 

 he has to do is put in the eggs and then take out the chicks at 

 the end of three weeks he will get badly left. The house- wife 

 knows a kitchen range is a tool or implement for accompUshing 

 certain results with foods for the family, and she also Icnows 

 that she must guide the range in its work, regulating the heat to 

 the particular work she desires to do, putting in and taking out 

 the loaves of bread at the right time., etc. Just so with the 

 incubator. It is an implement with which we can acoomphsh 

 the hatching of chickens at any time we choose if we do our part, 



just as the house-wife accomplishes a successful baking by doing 

 her part; the essential thing is that we "do well our part." 

 As we said before we don't want to be continually "fussing" 

 with the incubator; leave it alone and give it a chance to do its 

 part! Many a fair promise has been wrecked by injudicious 

 meddling on the part of the operator, and if we can get amateurs 

 to understand that they are doing the best service by letting 

 the incubator entirely alone, excepting the regular trimming 

 and filling of the lamp and turnjng and airing of the eggs, we 

 shall have decidedly aided to good results. Of course, the 

 thermometers must be glanced at night and morning to be sure 

 the temperature is steady, and the air in the incubator room 

 must be fresh and pure, but, beyond that, the less the incubator 

 is fussed with the better. Judgment must be used, also, in cool- 

 ing and airing the eggs, and especially must we be careful if 

 the incubator room is cold. In winter it is good economy to 

 warm the incubator room to (say) sixty degrees, so as to avoid 

 the severe shock to the embryos of taking the eggs out of the 

 warm incubator into a temperature well down towards freezing. 

 Embryo chicks are decidely. more dehcate in winter than in 

 April and May, and it is in winter they are Hable to be subjected 

 to a particularly trying low temperature; the spring eggs are 

 decidedly stronger and more hatchable, and yet the winter eggs 

 are the ones likely to meet the extra trying conditions. We 

 must use judgment in all of the details of incubator manage- 

 ment, as do the incubator operators who have made the splendid 

 successes. "Don't care" never made a success of this (or any 

 other) work! 



TEST THE EGGS 



A not imcommon fault of inexperienced incubator operators 

 is to neglect testing the eggs. This is a mistake for several 

 reasons. First, there is always a proportion of eggs that are 

 absolutely clear, running usually from 10 to 25 or 30 per cent, 

 and those clear eggs are perfectly good for cooking. They are 

 not quite fresh, of course, since the six or seven days that they 

 have been in the machine have "staled" them to a certain ex- 

 tent, but no more than if they had lain on' the counter of a 

 country store for a few weeks — as is very frequently the case. 

 Large operators usually sell these infertile eggs to bakers and 

 confectioners, and they are used up in making cakes, pies, cus- 

 tards, etc. 



A decided advantage in removing from the trays these 

 clear eggs is that there is more room for the fertile eggs in the 

 trays, and they can be turned and handled more easily; even if 

 no second test is made, a first test, to take out the clear eggs, 

 certainly should be made. 



A second test about the sixteenth or seventeenth day, to 

 remove germs that have died since the first test, is a help to a 

 good hatch. Those dead eggs usually throw off slight odors or 

 deleterious matter, hence a good hatch is promoted by getting 

 them out of the machine. Another argument for testing eggs 

 is that it increases one's knowledge of embryonic Ufe and devel- 

 opment, and enhances the interest of artificial incubation. A 

 good tester is sent out with every incubator sold and we strongly 

 urge the buyer to start right, — and learning to test his eggs is 

 an important part of that start. 



Dark shelled and thick shelled eggs are more difficult for 

 an amateur to test than are the more common white-shelled 

 eggs, for the reason that the hght does not shine through them 

 so well, and even an experienced tester may mistake a clear 

 egg for a probable germ; that is, the yolk may throw a shadow 

 that will have the appearance of a good, strong germ. 



It is well in learning to test to break a few eggs that one 

 is doubtful of and learn the appearance of clear eggs, dead germs, 

 strong-living germs, etc. Do not be afraid to sacrifice a dozen 

 or two of eggs in the interest of gaining knowledge — ^it is a good 

 investment in the long rim. 



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