THE CHICK BOOK 



11 



the egg chamber. Natural variations in the atmospheric 

 humidity exert no influence, provided the aqueous tension 

 is held the same within the egg chamber as without, and 

 this is attainable in very few machines. 



From the hour the egg reaches the incubating tempera- 

 ture there Is a condition present within It which I have 

 never seen noticed or described by any investigator. It is 

 what might be termed a partial vacuum, a tension, or a ten- 

 dency to shrinkage or contraction, which would naturally 

 cause the absorption of oxygen to be more rapid than it 

 it were compelled to depend upon diffusion only. This ten- 

 sion is more apparent on about the fourteenth day than at 

 any other period. It seems to be rythmic or Intermittent 

 and is suggestive of the process of breathing as we perform 

 it, except that its operation is so slight as to be impercep- 

 tible except under certain conditions. 



Every atom of water contained In the egg is intended to 

 pass through the circulation of the embryo in combination 

 with the other elements, and is absolutely essential to the 

 perfecting of the structure, and after having been so util- 

 ized It is, as with any other elements that have beeen chem- 

 ically transformed and served their purpose, thrown oft 

 as waste matter in the form of gases or urates. A weak 

 germ, and by that I mean one that has not had a strong 

 vitality, or life principle or impulse, implanted in it by the 

 parent, or that has been reduced to this state by abuse, is 

 retarded in its development. The impulse has either been 

 checked or was weak to begin with. The normal diminution 

 of the contents is checked or ceases entirely. The operator 

 Is told that he is using too much moisture and not ventilat- 

 ing enough, so out come the water pans and open go the 

 slides, and at the same time an examination of all the eggs 

 would perhaps show many at the normal stage. A strong 

 current of air is now driven through the machine under the 

 delusion that all that is necessary to make these weak 

 germs hatch is by some means to extract the surplus mois- 



ture they seem to contain and increase the air space, and I 

 have no doubt but some would be tempted to draw it out 

 with a hypodermic syringe if it were contained in a pocket 

 in the egg and they were not convinced by actual experience 

 that a rupture of the membranes would be fatal. 



I would suggest to any who have doubts on this ques- 

 tion to select a tray or a machine full of eggs showing small 

 air spaces, say about the tenth to the fourteenth day, place 

 them in a machine by themselves, take out all the water 

 pans, open wide all ventilators, force all the air you can 

 through the machine, and if you wish drive a warm blast 

 throHgh It by a fan motor, and see how many of them will 

 come to exclusion. You can evaporate them fast enough 

 and the faster, the quicker and surer the death. 



There are some things about incubation we can never 

 know. The life principle or impulse is beyond the grasp of 

 finite minds. Starting with germs that in every living thing 

 are identical in structure and appearance, and developing 

 them from one plane to another until they reach the limit 

 to which their impulse carries them, they become men, birds 

 or fish, and thus perpetuate their species, the fittest always 

 surviving. We mortals may speculate and theorize upon it, 

 but we cannot fathom it. 



Our hypothesis is that the Creator placed in the normal 

 egg just what Is needed there — no more, no less — and that 

 if we can duplicate natural conditions we can successfully 

 incubate them artificially, presuming that the parent bird 

 in the incubating process contributes nothing but heat. If 

 we can do this, and at the same time furnish oxygen suf- 

 ficient to sustain the process we will succeed, but it must 

 , be just enough — no more, no less. The right amount to 

 gauge the machines for, varies with the outer temperature, 

 the stage of hatch and the machine used, as all vary in. 

 their power to induce currents — some are forced, others ar« 

 natural. All these points must be taken into consideratiott. 



H. B. MOSS. 



A Substantial, Practical Brooding House la Use at White Leghorn Poultry Yards. 



