THE CHICK BOOK 



It is well in learning to test to break a few eggs that 

 one is doubtful of and learn the appearance of clear eggs, 

 dead germs, strong-living germs, etc. Do not be afraid to 

 sacrifice a dozen or two of eggs in the interest of gaining 

 knowledge — it is a good investment in the long run. 

 Supply Fresh Air. 



Be certain that there is an abundant supply of fresh air 

 in the incubator room at all times. A serious mistake of 

 beginners is being afraid that a little fresh air will jeopard- 

 ize the hatch. It is important to remember that if you 

 have 150 living germs in an incubator all of those 150 living 

 organisms are consuming oxygen -jvery day and every min- 

 ute of the day, hence it is important that they be abundantly 

 supplied with that life-giving element. If the incubator is 

 in a moderately warm place, say about 60 degrees, more air 



or soft-roasters early in the spring. Having the incubator 

 and brooder equipment and the winter season being a time 

 when the farm work does not crowd so hard, ii is natura 

 to think of having some chickens to bring forward to mar- 

 ket; the cash received from selling them is always welcome. 

 A most important point in starting the incubators is that 

 they be carefully and thoroughly cleaned up, especially on 

 the inside where the actual work of incubating is done. It 

 is not so well known as it should be that disease germs 

 lurk in uncleaned incubators and brooders and that not a 

 small proportion of the mortality of baby chicks is due to 

 the unsanitary condition of incubators and brooders. A few 

 years ago the Rhode Island Experiment St.ation was much 

 troubled with this mortality of baby chicks, and some hun- 

 dreds of cases were carefully examined for the purpose of 



An Incubator House Banked with Earth to Protect It Against Changes of Temperature. 



can be admitted to the machine and the eggs can bo cooled 

 and aired a longer time than if the machine is ia a consider- 

 ably colder place. This means that cooling and airing the 

 eggs should be much less in cold weather than in mild, 

 spring weather; then, too, you can do decidedly more cool- 

 ing and airing the last third of the hatch than earlier, and 

 the living embryos will be the better for it, The practice 

 of operators varies considerably, some cooling and airing 

 the eggs a great deal after the flr.sc week, and there are some 

 who cool and air from the very start almost. Generally 

 speaking, however, if the incubator ia in a cool place it 

 will be found that the eggs get sufficiently cooled and aired 

 at the daily turning the first week, then a few minutes a day 

 the second week, and the last week (up to the time of pip- 

 ping) five to ten minutes a day is none too much. In- 

 deed, if the animal heat in the eggs is strong and the tem- 

 perature of the incubator room is 60 degrees or above, quite 

 a long airing daily will be beneficial. 



Some of the Difficulties of Late Hatching. 

 Some poultry raisers start hatching in the fall, with 

 the purpose to have broiler chickens to sell in the wintet 



locating the cause, and one of the causes given in the report 

 is: "Imperfect sanitation; lack of ventilation, sunlight, 

 etc., e. g., tuberculosis flourishes in dark, poorly ventilated 

 brooders; 15.1 per cent of the post-mortems showed more or 

 less evidence of tuberculosis." A similar case was reported 

 as afflicting several practical poultry farms last winter and 

 so serious did the trouble become that an expert on poultry 

 diseases was called in to carefully examine a lot of the dead 

 chicks to see If he could locate the cause. He hadn't pro- 

 ceeded far when he located tuberculosis as being the princi- 

 pal cause; a thorough cleaning up and disinfecting of incu- 

 bators and brooders was prescribed and within a week the 

 deaths practically ceased. 



"Prevention" is so very much better, simpler and easier 

 than cure! How much of both pecuniary loss and trouble 

 those poultrymen would have saved if they had simply 

 cleaned up and disinfected the incubators and brooders be- 

 fore commencing operations in the fall. Improper, feeding 

 and overcrowding are also prominent causes of the loss of 

 baby chicks, but those are easily preventable causes; any 

 oiife losing ctiicksfrom those causes has only himself to 



