38 THE BEGINNER IN POULTRY 



quota of brains to the combination, you can overcome 

 her lacks very largely, and the team will win out to- 

 . gctJier. But I wish to say this very plainly : If your 

 brains will bring you more money and more satisfaction 

 in some other combination, you are committing only 

 folly to cast in your lot with poultry, unless it becomes 

 a matter of health. I think this is the rock on which 

 many poultry raisers split. If the business becomes 

 large enough to furnish a living income, it will take a 

 man's time, and he must ponder well whether or not 

 this is the best investment of his time and strength, all 

 things considered. 



It is in handling the hens which are to perform the 

 service of incubators for you that the knowledge of hen 

 nature on which I have so strongly insisted will early 

 and freely be drawn upon. It is usually essential that 

 the sitters be moved to a special brooding apartment, 

 and one who does not understand a hen can seldom 

 move her successfully, for use as a sitter. The Medi- 

 terraneans, being "non-sitters," do not often manifest 

 the sitting instinct, and it is common belief that when 

 they do, they are fickle and unreliable. However, if 

 handled by one who knows how, most of them prove 

 as reliable as those of the heavier breeds. And, when 

 not too fussy, they make the best of mothers for the 

 baby chicks. One who reasons on the subject will 

 easily see in advance that a nervous, flighty breed like 

 most of those in the Mediterranean Class, could not be 

 expected to make as good sitters and mothers under all 

 circumstances, as would the hens of quieter nature. 

 Especially is this true under the close surveillance of 

 modern methods. In some circumstances, — for in- 



