THE INCUBATION OF THE EGG 189 



in this country, when a patent was awarded to one Jacob 

 Graves for an incubator and artificial mother, which was 

 followed by James Rankin, of southeastern Massachusetts, 

 with a machine that was guaranteed to hatch as many chicks 

 as could be done with hens. From that time the increase in 

 patents, ideas, and improvements have been enormous, but 

 it is only within the last twenty years that incubators have 

 been perfected in this country to such an extent as to be 

 practical successes. 



Value of the Incubator. — Generally speaking the most prof- 

 itable branch of poultry is the production of winter eggs, 

 which is very largely dependent upon maturing the pullets 

 so that they will come into full laying before cold weather 

 sets in. To do this the time of hatching must not be 

 dependent upon seasonal conditions but under perfect con- 

 trol. The incubator is always in working order. 



Under domestication there is a tendency, more marked in 

 the Mediterranean breeds but increasing in the American 

 and English breeds, toward the suspension of the maternal 

 instinct. Leghorn breeders are often under the practical 

 necessity of renewing their flocks through the medium of the 

 incubator or of foster mothers borrowed from other breeds. 

 If this tendency toward "non-setting" increases as there is 

 every reason to believe it will, producers and breeders will 

 be forced more and more into artificial hatching. 



The relative cost of natural and artificial incubation does 

 not differ greatly. The first cost of a good incubator is 

 generally between ten to fourteen cents per egg capacity. 

 The fuel cost of incubating one hundred eggs, with kerosene 

 at twelve cents per gallon, is approximately twenty-five 

 cents. To incubate the same number of eggs by natural 

 means will require six or seven hens. The cost of feeding 

 six hens for three weeks, based on arbitrary figures of ten 

 cents per month per hen, which is full low, is forty-five cents. 



The labor of caring for one hundred eggs in an incubator 

 is considerably less than caring for the same number under 

 hens. 



Freedom from Vermin. — ^By the use of a properly disinfected 

 incubator it is possible to start chicks out absolutely free 



