SALE OF NEWLY HATCHED CHICKENS 195 
will be able to produce a large percentage of healthy live chicks 
with a poor or defective machine. It is also imperative that the 
incubator be suitably housed. It ought, if possible, to be in a 
building that is absolutely free from vibration, that has a plentiful 
supply of fresh air and is not liable to sudden changes of tempera- 
ture. A stone or brick building is always preferable to a wooden 
erection, and as a rule a large dry airy cellar is preferable to a house 
on the ground level. Some soundly built old stables have done 
good work as incubating sheds, and any decently built stone or 
brick building should be successful as an incubating house. 
The capacity of the incubator should, of course, be in proportion 
to the business expected, and if it is found necessary to have a 
hatching capacity of 1000 eggs it is probably better to have four 
machines holding 250 each than ten holding 100 each. When 
one has acquired a perfect mastery of the instrument some may 
prefer one machine to hold all the eggs required. There are in 
this country at least two machines with a capacity of 5000 eggs, 
but it goes without saying that such an incubator involves an 
immense responsibility. No one dare take a risk with an incubator 
of this magnitude, and as a rule it needs the constant services of 
two watchers—one by night and one by day. 
Anyone taking up the day-old chick trade will probably be 
well advised to begin in a comparatively modest manner until 
his experience and business justify his adoption of large-scale 
methods. It may be stated that women are frequently best 
suited by Nature and habit for the successful incubating of 
chickens. I have in my mind two instances in my own knowledge 
of women who with little experience incubated and hatched more 
successfully than any one man in a large poultry-farming district, 
and a great many day-old chick businesses are under the control 
of women. There is no hard manual work in connection with the 
trade, and woman’s care and patience, combined with her deft 
fingers and light sense of touch, are qualities that tell in an industry 
of this sort. 
A regular supply of fertile eggs will be necessary from January 
to June in order to keep the incubators filled, which requires a 
