CHAPTER XVII 

 ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION 



Simplicity of Operation. — ^To-day few people question the value 

 and convenience of the incubator, though there are some who 

 suspect that hatching machines might be difficult to operate, 

 or that they require special training and considerable experience 

 before good results are to be expected. This is a mistaken idea. 

 Incubators are not difficult to run, and previous experience is 

 altogether unnecessary. Naturally, however, the more practice 

 one has with a machine, whether it be an incubator, gas engine, 

 cream separator or other implement, the more proficiency one de- 

 velops. On the other hand, there is' a kind of beginner's luck 

 in the matter of these things. The writer has seen some un- 

 usually large hatches brought off by novices. 



Regularity and Care. — Perhaps it is a discredit to call this 

 success luck. Let us call it the beginner's watchfulness, or be- 

 ginner's faithfulness in observing the necessary rules, for such it 

 really is. Later, when we become fully experienced, we are apt 

 to develop over-confidence, or a sort of carelessness, which may 

 cause difficulties. Regularity and carefulness, both in the man- 

 agement of the heating device and in the handling of the eggs, go 

 far toward insuring success. Reliable incubators are made al- 

 most automatic and fool-proof these days. They are so simple 

 that children can operate them. Therefore when poor hatches 

 result, it is well to look for other causes beside the machine. 



Condition of the Eggs. — No incubator can vitalize eggs with 

 weak germs, or overcome conditions which may have had a del- 

 eterious effect on the eggs before they were even taken to the 

 incubator cellar. The first and one of the most important steps 

 in the process of either natural or artificial incubation begins in 



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