CHAPTER X 
REARING FROM INCUBATORS 
HAT I have said about the rearing of chicks generally 
\ \ ] applies with afew modifications to broody or incubator 
hatched birds. A few hints about the incubator may 
not be out of place. There are so many excellent machines now 
on the market that it is idle to specify, but one may warn the 
public against buying an incubator that is too cheap. As a rule 
the very inexpensive machines, even if they are reliable in their 
fitments, are too insufficiently ‘“‘packed”’ to keep the incubator 
at a consistent temperature, and protect the contents against 
the varying shocks of heat and cold. No absolutely compensa- 
ting incubator has yet been invented, and by “compensating ” 
I mean a machine which, once started, will keep at one uniform 
temperature no matter what the changes of weather and the read- 
ings of the outside thermometer, but practically all the standard 
makes of machines, if suitably housed, will keep a wonderfully 
even heat. What one has chiefly to guard against is not so much 
changes of outside temperature as the little ‘“‘ accidents” that 
make all the difference to the hatch. If oil is used as a heat supply 
it must be the best oil obtainable, and the lamp itself must be 
practically automatic excepting for the daily trimming of the 
wick. One must make certain of an ample supply of oil, for any 
deficiency in this respect is fatal. 
Before the eggs are committed to the incubator it should first 
have been tested for, say, forty-eight hours, to make sure that 
it is in working order. Every make of machine has its own 
printed instructions, and these should be followed out to the letter. 
There is no mystery about an incubator, and its mechanism is now 
reduced to the simplest proportions. Some are worked by hot 
air and some by a hot-water tank. Both are equally good, and 
go 
