HATCHING WITH INCUBATOR AND HEN 



195 



a round hole about as large as a teacup, 

 and the little entrance window about six 

 inches square. An iron pipe running 

 through is the heating arrangement. In- 

 side the box, to fit close over the pipe, is 

 a cap of wood with flannel curtains 

 dropping to the floor under which the 

 chicks hover. Don't you think this is 

 too close a place? The outside box is 

 only 6 inches deep, then they hover in- 

 side ; this only gives 4 inches space for 

 the chicks. Please tell me if you think 

 the lid to brooder would be better of 

 wire or where do you think the trouble 

 is? Also tell me how granulated milk 

 is prepared. We have lately begun feed- 

 ing to everything in the poultry yard, 

 beef scraps, bone meal and linseed meal 

 in what we think proper proportions 

 once a day. Should chicks only eight 

 weeks old be fed this ration the same 

 as hens? What causes eggs to be ridgy 

 and uneven? Can one feed to produce 

 larger eggs? Our hens are large, but 

 lay small eggs. — Mrs. J. B. S. 



Answer — I think that the lack of oxy- 

 gen in your brooder is the only difficulty 

 with your chicks. Still, I am very much . 

 afraid that tuberculosis may have got 

 in and infected the brooder. If possible, 

 move your chicks into a weaning house, 

 open entirely on one side (or only 

 closed with chicken wire). Make a lit- 

 tle frame of gunny-sacking or out of a 

 piece of blanket that they can go under. 

 This will rest upon their backs to keep 

 them warm. Give them no other heat. 

 At this season of the year (August) 

 eight weeks old chicks should have no 

 heat whatever, at night. I think you are 

 keeping your chickens too warm, with- 

 out enough fresh air and possibly they 

 may have mites or lice. Air their sleep- 

 ing place well ; put the hover out into 

 the sunshine every day. This will kill 

 the germs of tuberculosis better than 

 anything. 



Granulated milk is made at Bing- 

 hampton, N. Y. I do not know the 

 process. 



Chicks eight weeks old can have the 

 beef scraps, bone meal and linseed meal 

 in the same proportions as hens. 



Uneven eggs are caused either from 

 defect in the oviduct or from an insuf- 

 ficiency of lime or hurried laying. 



Some strains of hens lay small eggs 

 and overfat hens will lay small eggs. 

 More protein added to their food will 

 often increase the size of the eggs: By 

 choosing the large eggs for hatching, 



you can increase the size of the eggs 

 in the next generation. 



Chicks Dying in Shell— A large per 

 cent of my chicks, fully developed, die 

 the day they are due to hatch, even af- 

 ter pipping the shell. They seem to dry 

 in the shell. — Mrs. D. D. 



Answer — Float the eggs in warm wa- 

 ter. That will help the chicks to break 

 through the shell better than anything 

 I know of. Next time try sprinkling the 

 eggs after the eighth day twice a week 

 with warm water. I think you will find 

 it is what is needed in your dry climate, 

 and is likely to help matters. 



Fooling the Hen — Is it possible to 

 fool a sitting hen into caring for some 

 incubator chickens when she has not 

 hatched them herself — Mrs. C. R. 



Answer — If your hen has been sitting 

 for a week or ten days, she will "take 

 to" the chicks as well as though she had 

 hatched them herself; especially if she 

 is a Plymouth Rock or Buff Orpington. 

 Those two breeds have a greater affec- 

 tion for chickens than some of the oth- 

 ers. Be sure that the hen is entirely 

 clear of lice, and if she is a large hen, 

 put from IS to 18 under her at night; a 

 smaller hen should have from 12 to IS, 

 not more, if you expect the chickens to 

 do well. I have trained capons to act 

 as mothers; they do even better than 

 the hens. 



Thermometer— Will you kindly tell 

 me where I could get tested thermom- 

 eter for incubator; also where I could 

 have one tested which I already have? 

 — H. H. C. 



Answer— At any good drug store you 

 can have your thermometer tested. If 

 you want to buy a new one, go to the 

 agent selling your make of incubator. 

 Take the new one also to the druggest 

 and have him test it thoroughly, be- 

 cause the thermometers, as they are sea- 

 soned sometimes vary some degrees, and 

 even a new one cannot be trusted. 



Helping Them Hatch— I find my 

 White Plymouth Rock eggs are very 

 slow about hatching and some I know 

 would die in the shell if I had not 

 dropped a few drops of lukewarm water 

 on their heads, as it seemed they would 

 get about half out and then the white 

 skin would dry on their heads and hold 



