INCUBATING 81 
Let one person attend to the incubator, 
otherwise some detail will be neglected or 
done twice. Test the eggs for infertile ones 
any time after the seventh day, either with 
an egg tester or by holding the egg between 
the thumb and first fingers, making a shade 
of the rest of the hand. At seven days the 
infertile eggs are readily recognizable be- 
cause they are perfectly clear. They should 
be removed, boiled and fed to the chickens. 
When a hatch is coming off, the incubator 
should be kept closed. Any chickens worth 
hatching will break out themselves. It is 
not often that the chickens you help out of 
the shell are worth saving. A good hatch 
should start on the twentieth day and be 
over the twenty-first day. A late hatch 
usually results in a number of cripples or 
weak chickens that usually die before many 
days. 
Leave the chicks in the incubator for 24 
hours or until they are thoroughly dry. 
Meanwhile get your hover or brooder in 
readiness. After the hatch is over remove 
the trays, brush out all the dust and clean 
off all stains ready for another setting. 
Once an incubator thermostat is adjusted 
to 103 degrees there is very little difficulty 
