RANKIN'S DUCK BOOK 



by which he should run, the higher or Ibwer. I wrote him 

 that his glasses were all right, and that- he was the -one at 

 fault, and had he followed- instructions and tested his eggs 

 he would have had no such trouble. He wrote that as his ma- 

 chine was not quite full, and as he had plenty of room, he 

 neglected to test them, thinking it would make no difference. 



I do not propose here to give my experience, together 

 with the many experiments made during the past years, but 

 shall aim to give the reader simple instructions for hatching 

 and growing ducks for market and selection of breeding stock. 

 I would say here that the first thing for the operator to learn 

 in turning the eggs. is to do it- carefully and well, ..without 

 breaking or unnecessarily jarring them; and then, to do it as 

 quickly as possible, especially if done in a cold atmosphere, 

 so as not to derange the heat in the egg-chamber. The next 

 thing is to maintain as even a temperature as possible during 

 the hatch. I do not think that a variation of one degree is 

 at all detrimental. But different people have different ideas 

 of regularity. A man who did not have a first-class hatch, 

 wrote me that he had kept the machine right to business, as 

 it had run between 90 apd 110 degrees during the entire hatch. 

 Another man wrote that his machine had been as low as 100 

 degrees, and once up to 103 degrees, and wishing to know if 

 I thought it would be fatal to his hatch. 



There is no such thing as accuracy in the composition of 

 some men, things are run "hap-hazzard," failure and misfor- 

 tune are always attributed to conditions, circumstances, or 

 hard luck, — never to themselves, — and in case of a poor hatch, 

 always the incubator. Instructions go for nothing with them. 

 An enterprising incubator maker told me one day that he be- 

 lieved that the world was composed of cranks and fools (at 

 least the poultry part of it). The one-half did not know any- 

 thing, while the other half had all that was worth knowing 

 and despised all instructions and common-sense. 



In running your machine, the first step is to set it level 

 and see that the glasses register alike in both ends of the ma- 

 chine. Next, procure good oil, 150. test (as poor oil will ne- 

 cessitate frequent trimming, besides crusting the wick). Do 

 not use more flame than is necessary, as it will only be a 

 waste of oil, and with some machines will increase the ven- 

 tilation, and at the same time decrease the moisture. Be reg- 

 ular in both filling lamps and trimming them, as irregularity 

 frequently involves forgetfulness, and that sometimes means 

 disaster to the hatch. In trimming, it is well to turn on the 



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