422 POULTRY CULTURE 



moisture, proper temperature, and proper position. The eggs 

 should lay on their sides. 



To successfully operate an incubator it must be in a room 

 not subject to sudden changes in temperature; an abundance 

 of fresh air with ventilation at the top and bottom of the room. 

 The humidity should be high, and the sun's rays must not 

 strike the incubator at any time during the day. 



The incubator must be level, lest you have hot corners. 



A cellar is a good place, provided it is dry and clean and free 

 from foul gases. 



The eggs in the incubator need not be turned after the 

 eighteenth day, and the incubator should be kept closed. 

 As soon as the chicks begin to pip the moisture pans should 

 be removed and the aperture for the chicks to drop through 

 opened. The incubator should then be closed and kept closed 

 till the hatch is over. The struggling chicks sometimes raise 

 the temperature of the incubator beyond the ability of the 

 regulator to control it, so that it is necessary to keep close 

 watch of the thermometer. The thermometer must not be 

 allowed to run over 105° F. 



Leave the chicks in the incubator at least seventy-two hours 

 after the hatch is over. This will allow the absorption of the 

 yolk left in the abdominal cavity of the chick at the time of 

 hatching. 



If the baby chicks are taken off and fed too soon, and they 

 gorge their intestines before the yolk is practically all absorbed, 

 there may be an interference with absorption of this yolk 

 by pressure on the absorbing vessels and digestive complications 

 result. 



A woolen-lined, hooded basket should be used in removing 

 the chicks from the incubator to the brooder. A cold wind 

 striking them at this time may result fatal to many of the baby 

 chicks. 



Poor hatches may be due to too uneven a temperature. 

 The eggs in the incubator not being turned for the last three 

 days allows the chick to work around and be head up. All 

 chicks should be out of the shell in eighteen hours after hatch- 

 ing begins. Often the chick can be aided by turning with 

 "pipped" side up and by cracking the shell around the circum- 



