62 CHICKS 



of controlling the natural chicken raiser, these faults would 

 long ago have been overcome. Mother hens do certainly 

 break eggs, even tear nests asunder and bury eggs; they 

 crush young chicks and they lead them into too wet grass 

 fields — but why let them? The trouble is not with the hen, 

 it is with the conditions and surroundings. 



The Hen is Satisfactory if Properly Handled. 



I once heard a discussion between the agent of an incuba- 

 tor concern and a fancier, who, like myself, is a hard, old- 

 fashionedadvocate of the hen as God made her. The latter 

 finally remarked that there was no difficulty in getting good 

 hatches and raising a large percentage of the chicks if the 

 man who set the hen knew as much as the hen. To my 

 mind this comprises the length, the breadth and the depth of 

 the situation as it exists today and as it always existed. 

 Incubators are nothing new, nor are hens. They had both 

 before Pharaoh's time. The hen was the nearest to perfec- 

 tion then and is yet. 



This does not mean that there is no use for the incubator 

 and brooder. These machines not only assist the poultry 

 business, but they actually make some branches. Anyone 

 embarking in the business upon a commercial basis must 

 use these machines, but to my mind such an enterprise would 

 be better if the breeding stock was raised by the natural 

 method. To those who are engaged in raising fancy poultry, 

 I unreservedly recommend the hen as we knew her yesterday 

 and know her today. 



If we are to use hens, how are we to use them so that they 

 will not break eggs and kill chicks in one way or another? 

 I am glad to briefly outline the method that we have prac- 

 ticed for the past few years an dwhich has a\-eraged us nearly 

 eight good, strong, healthy, sure-to-live cliicks out of every 

 thirteen eggs. , 



There is a great deal in selecting the proper kind of a hen ; 

 an ideal hen for a mother will be of a quiet disposition and 

 weigh from five to six pounds. These are taken from the 

 nests in which they have thoroughly developed the pro- 

 pensity to sit, and placed in nests of special design. 

 Making the Nests. 



These nests are made in sets of four. Each nest is 



