CHAPTER X 



THE MOTHER HEN 



On all poultry farms the sitting hen is more or less used 

 to hatch the eggs and rear the chickens. The instinct of 

 the hen to sit on the eggs is called broodiness. Until recently 

 the hen was used exclusively as a means of hatching eggs, 

 but the last few years have seen a marked development 



Fia. 63. — This mother hen hatched seventeen fluffy chicks from seventeen eggs. 

 Tlie nest was in a corner of tins small 3 by 5-foot colony house. 



in artificial methods. When the hen sits on the nest and 

 hatches the eggs we commonly call it natural incubation. 

 Here the hen, herself, generates the heat necessary to develop 

 the embryo. After hatching she also takes care of the chicks 

 until they are big enough to look after themselves (Fig. 63). 

 Desirable Points in a Good Mother. — The success in 

 natural incubation depends entirely upon the qualities pos- 

 112 



