194 MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



HATCHING WITH INCUBATOR AND HEN 



Poor Hatches — We have been run- 

 ning our incubator since February and 

 our hatches have been quite poor. Our 

 hens are two years old and so are our 

 roosters. The hens are fed regularly, 

 and have a large run with plenty of al- 

 falfa ; a clean airy coop. 



The chicks, when hatched, are strong 

 and vigorous. We have some six weeks 

 old, and we have not lost one, but when 

 they are hatching many die in their 

 shells. Out of 450 eggs 77 tested out not 

 fertile or dead germs, and out of 373 

 remaining eggs, only 182 hatched. We 

 are hatching White Leghorns. Can you 

 tell us what to do, or what the matter 

 is? We have been following your ad- 

 vice in many things. 



Do you think that slamming of doors 

 or jarring is bad for incubators when 

 hatching?— Mrs. M. P. DeW. 



Answer — I think the fault in your in- 

 cubator is that it has not sufficient ven- 

 tilation. An insufficiency of oxygen will 

 cause poor hatches such as you describe. 

 With the care you give your fowls and 

 their being two years old, the fault does 

 not lie in the parent birds or their eggs, 

 therefore it certainly comes from a 

 faulty incubator. In the future, air the 

 eggs three times a day ; fan out the stale 

 air of the incubator each time you air 

 the eggs, and if you find they are dry- 

 ing out too much, sprinkle them, after 

 the first week, twice a week with warm 

 water. Slamming the door or jarring 

 the incubator during incubation is not 

 advisable, but on the day of hatching it 

 would not injure them. 



Infertility— Will you kindly tell me 

 what to do to make eggs more fertile? 

 I have a fine pen of Columbian Wyan- 

 dottes, eight pullets mated with a cock 

 two years old. They are fed on dry, 

 mash of bran, ground barley, corn meal, 

 alfalfa meal and beef scrap, with plenty 

 of grit, shell, charcoal and ground bone 

 before them all the time, and are run- 

 ning in a corral of grass and clover; 

 they have plenty of fresh water and the 

 hens lay well. What chicks I do get 

 are strong and healthy; out of fifteen 

 eggs only two were fertile. 



I have another pen, four hens, two 

 years old, mated with a cockerel one 

 year old. Fed the same in every way; 

 their shells are smooth but full of clear 



spots. What shall I feed to make shells 

 better?— Mrs. E. H. G. 



Answer — The usual requirements 

 missing from the food when eggs are 

 infertile are green food and animal food, 

 therefore, I would advise you to feed 

 more green food, more animal food and 

 a great deal less barley and corn meal. 

 Wyandottes are apt to get too fat to 

 have good fertility unless they have 

 plenty of exercise and the four old hens 

 require more lime. Mix some fresh 

 quick lime in water to the consistency 

 of pancake batter; let it stand 24 hours, 

 then pour out a cake of it on the ground. 

 It will soon dry, and by crumbling a lit- 

 tle of it every day, the hens will pick il 

 up. Add a teaspoonful of baking soda 

 to a quart of their drinking water and 

 keep this before them for a week. By 

 this means I think your egg shells will 

 improve. 



Cripples — Some of my incubator 

 chickens are almost cripples when they 

 are taken from the incubator. Some 

 have crippled, crooked and crumpled up 

 toes, others have one leg too short, or 

 turned out the wrong way, and some of 

 them are not able to stand up — they 

 hold their head back so far that they 

 fall backward— A. H. S. 



Answer — The cause of cripples in- 

 variably is irregularity of temperature 

 in the incubator. Your incubator has 

 been too hot at some period, probably 

 the last week ; this causes cripples. 

 Those that hold their heads back do so 

 from_ the eggs not having been turned 

 sufficiently during incubation. 



As you do not mention the name of 

 the incubator, I cannot tell you just 

 where the lack is, it may be poor oil ; it 

 may be it is run in a draught and it may 

 lack ventilation. 



Lack Oxygen — I took 200 thrifty 

 chicks from the incubator about eight 

 weeks ago. They did very well for 

 about two weeks, when they began to 

 die and today I have 50 left, and these 

 look too scrubby to be worth raising. I 

 have given them extra attention and the 

 best feed. They get pale around the 

 head, grow weak and are skin and bone 

 when they die. I think they have con- 

 sumption. The brooder is a tight box 

 and no ventilatiotn, except the lid has 



