23o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
April 14 
Infertile Eggs ; an Incubator Talk. 
“What do you do with the eg^s tested out at this 
time ? ” 
“Use them for feed for young chicks, ducks, etc.” 
“About what percentage of fertile eggs do you 
hatch ? ” 
“ We do not figure on the per cent of fertile eggs. 
That is the way the incubator manufacturers get their 
high percentages. They test eggs that are nearly 
ready to hatch, select only the strong ones that are 
pretty sure to each hatch a chicken ; of course they 
can get a high record. We calculate that we will get 
about half as many good strong chicks or ducks as we 
put eggs in the incubator. From some of our hatches 
we get more than .'50 per cent, from some we get less, 
but if they average about 50 we are satisfied.” 
“ I see that your incubators vary in size, which do 
you prefer ? ” 
“The larger size, holding about 480 hens’ eggs. 
These have a lamp at each end, and an even tempera¬ 
ture is more easily maintained. They are considerably 
more economical to operate too, in proportion to the 
amount of work done. Here is one of the smaller 
ones with the lamp at one end which shows the differ¬ 
ences between the two ends. As you see this is one 
of the older makes and does not work so well as the 
newer patterns. We have to raise the end opposite 
the lamp several inches higher than the other in order 
to have it work well.” 
“ I see you have all Pineland incubators. Do you 
consider them superior ? ” 
“ They are as good as any.” 
“ I believe they are self-regulating. Will they run 
themselves ? ” 
“ Not much. No incubator will run itself. We take 
great pains when they are first starting, to see that 
they work all right, and afterwards watch them very 
closely. After they get well heated up, they will run 
very evenly, but the last thing we do at night is to 
examine them all and see that the temperature is all 
right; and this is the first thing to be done in the 
morning.” 
“ How is this incubator house built?” 
“The part below ground is built of brick; that 
above ground of boards with tar paper. It is ceiled 
overhead, with an air space between that and thereof. 
There are ventilators in the ceiling by which it may 
be ventilated when necessary. As you see, there is a 
fire-place at one end and a coal stove in which a fire 
may be started when needed.” 
On one side on a shelf were arranged a number of 
different lots of eggs, all numbered to distinguish the 
pens from which they were taken. Some of the finest 
are the Minorcas and the White Leghorns. The 
Brown Leghorns do not average so large and are not 
so white in color, but the little brown beauties are 
probably not exceeded in number of eggs laid by any 
breed. 
Best Egg Trade; How To Get It. 
“ Do you make a specialty of eggs for any particular 
purpose ? ” 
“Yes, we do. We keep a large number of purebred 
fowls. It costs no more to keep purebred stock than 
it does cross-breeds or mongrels, and we can sell the 
eggs by the sitting for hatching, at a good price. 
Then we sell a great many for incubators ; of course 
whatever surplus we have, goes to market. We also 
buy a good many eggs from the stores and farmers in 
the vicinity for the latter purpose.” 
“ Do you have special customers for the latter ? ” 
“We send six cases, or 180 dozen, a week to the 
Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York.” 
“ I suppose you get extra prices for these ? ” 
“ Yes ; we get quite an advance above the quoted 
price for strictly fresh eggs.” 
‘ ‘ How did you secure this trade ? ” 
“ I happened to meet the proprietor, and in talking 
with him on the subject, he finally said I might send 
a case on trial to see how he liked them. Then I got 
an order for two cases a week, which was shortly 
after increased to four, and finally to six, which is the 
number we send them now every week.” 
“ Do you send them by express ?” 
“ Yes; two cases at a time. It costs no more to ship 
two ! ” 
“ What kind of cases do you use ? ” 
“ Common egg carriers with pasteboard partitions; 
sometimes they come back pretty well smashed up. 
These eggs are all candled ; nothing goes in but what 
erfectly fresh and all right; a layer of excelsior is 
placed in the bottom of each case, and another on top 
of the eggs.” 
“ Does it make any difference about the color of the 
eggs ?” 
“ No, they don’t care anything about the sheilas 
long as the contents are fresh and all right. This is 
a good trade. Our checks come every week, and there 
is no trouble.” 
“Do you consider the selling of fancy eggs by the 
sitting more profitable than selling them for market?” 
‘ ‘ Much more so. There is quite a di fference between 
selling eggs for $1 to $2 a sitting, and selling them for 
one to four cents apiece.” 
“But doesn’t the advertising necessary to get the 
trade eat up the profit ? ” 
“No. The expense of advertising is a very small 
percentage of the price received.” 
‘ ‘ Do you pack the eggs in these cases when you sell 
in quantities for hatching ? ” 
“Yes, and wrap each egg in paper. Not enough so 
that it will fit in the case tight, but so that it will 
vibrate slightly. They carry well in this way.” 
“ Do you have any trouble in getting the stock to 
lay in the fall ? ” 
“ Not if they are properly fed. They must be well 
fed and crowded in growth and they will be strong, 
vigorous and ready to lay early in the season.” 
“ How early do your ducks begin to lay ? ” 
“They began this winter in December, although we 
did not get very many eggs until January.” f. h. v. 
(To be continued.) 
ALL ABOUT INCUBATION. 
Hints and Advice from a Veteran. 
man’s duty in PARTNERSHIP WITH THE WOODEN HEN. 
How to Operate an Incubator. 
The article in The R. N.-Y. of March 24, entitled “A 
Homemade Incubator,” while admirable in most re¬ 
spects, does not go far enough, and so is liable to cause 
trouble and loss by presenting only the bright side. 
The incubator is all right, when provided with a regu¬ 
lator, and will hatch 80 or 90 per cent of the fertile 
eggs, but why not tell the whole truth and say what 
this 80 or 90 per cent really means ? Such statements, 
like those in many of the incubator catalogues, lead 
the novice to think that he can get eight or nine 
chickens from every ten eggs placed in the incubator, 
whereas this is so wholly misleading that it causes in¬ 
tense disappointment, and loss in many cases where 
it means almost ruin. If chickens could be hatched at 
this rate, they would be as cheap and common as 
weeds, whereas A. F. Hunter, editor of Farm Poultry, 
says that if you hatch one-half the eggs and raise one- 
half the chickens hatched, you will be doing well. So 
far as my experience goes, there is not 1 in 25 who can 
do this, and there are more failures in the use of incu¬ 
bators in connection with the poultry business than 
in any three or four other businesses of which I ever 
heard. Find one who has succeeded, and you will find 
25 who have failed. 
At every poultry show, incubators are shown bring¬ 
ing forth the most phenomenal hatches, some running 
as high as 98 per cent, but so far as the general pub¬ 
lic is concerned, these hatches are frauds of the rank¬ 
est kind. Two or three incubators are filled with eggs 
to hatch just in time for the show, and then a few days 
before the eggs are to be sent on, the eggs from all the 
incubators are most carefully tested by an expert, and 
only those selected which are almost certain to hatch. 
These are sent to the show in boxes especially made 
for the purpose, placed in the incubator selected, and 
hatch out just in time to swindle others into buying 
incubators, in the firm belief that 98 per cent of the 
eggs started with can be hatched. When you hear of 
a hatch of 300 chickens, you can safely decide that 
these 300 were obtained from 450 to 550 eggs, or more, 
according to the season of the year. 
Why Regulators Are Needed. 
Mr. Schultz virtually says that regulators for the 
heat are no good, and that he prefers not to use one. 
One can run a steam boiler without a pressure gauge 
and may get along all right, but he may, and almost 
surely will, bring disaster upon himself. Having run 
incubators for years, I earnestly advise every one not 
to take an incubator without a reliable regulator, as 
a present, unless he have nothing else to do but watch 
the heat, or can afford to lose the eggs. A regulator 
for the heat, that will not vary more than from one to 
two degrees, is as necessary to success as a regulator 
is to a watch, if one have any other business to attend 
to. What is wanted is not only to feel, but absolutely 
to know, that when one leaves the incubator in the 
morning, it will need no more care or watching until 
it is time to turn the eggs again at night. The heat 
varies with every change of temperature, and the 
flame that will hold the heat during the cool hours of 
the night will almost cook the eggs during the day. 
After having made my own incubators and tried to 
get along without regulators, I advise every one who 
is going to use an incubator for profit, to buy the best 
incubator he can afford. If, however, one prefers to 
make his own incubator and dispense with a regulator, 
then he should place the incubator somewhere handy, 
and get every member of the family interested in 
watching the thermometer. During the third week, 
if the eggs are valuable, he should keep a closer watch 
than ever. The eggs, to hatch well, must be kept at 
a uniform temperature, as nnd^r a hen, and to keep 
this even temperature, a regulator, and a good one at 
that, is necessary, and especially so during the last 
week. Life is too short to spend it hovering around 
an incubator, when a simple mechanical device will 
regulate the heat automatically as no human being 
can. 
What to do About Heat. 
The incubator should be perfectly level, and the 
heat uniform in every part. If any part be higher than 
the others, the heat will at once rush there, the eggs 
will be hotter than in the other portions of the tray, 
and a poor hatch will be the result. Only tested ther¬ 
mometers made for incubators should be used, and at 
least two should be on hand, not only to make this 
test, but in case of accident to one. Set the regulator 
at 101 or 102 degrees, and after testing out the infer¬ 
tile eggs, see that the bulb of the thermometer is 
always in contact with a fertile egg, and that the 
upper end of the thermometer is raised slightly so 
that the degree of heat may be seen through the 
inner glass door. This inner door should fit, when 
closed, against packing material so that no air can 
get past it, and should be of glass, while the outer 
door should be solid, and also closed tightly. The 
chicks are formed complete in the eggs by the 10th 
day, their movemeut may be distinctly seen, and then 
the animal heat begins to assert itself and the ther¬ 
mometer is likely to shoot up several degrees in the 
most unaccountable manner. With a good regu¬ 
lator, nothing is to be feared, as the heat from the 
lamp is at once shut off, but if there be no regulator 
and this rise in heat be not noticed, the vitality of the 
chicks is affected. For the first two weeks the trays 
may be raised an inch or so nearer the tank, and oil 
saved, but beginning with the third week the drawer 
must be lowered back to its place, for then the animal 
heat begins to rise, and even when the lamp is shut 
off the temperature will run up to 105 and 106 de¬ 
grees. As soon as this is noticed, if there be no regu¬ 
lator, put out the lamp at once and open both doors 
until the heat falls to 101 degrees, and then close the 
doors again. If the heat is from the chicks alone, 
there is no need for anxiety, but one should be sure 
that it is not from the lamp. When the heat rises to 
106 degrees caused by the lamp, and remains for a 
number of hours, one need not be surprised at chicks 
that die by the time they are three or four weeks old. 
Keep the heat at 101 or 102 degrees while the hatch is 
taking place, as this is the critical time, and don’t 
meddle with the glass door, but keep it shut. The 
rises in temperature are what do the harm, while the 
falls only delay the hatch; but good hatches of strong 
chicks cannot be expected when the heat is constantly 
going from one extreme to the other. 
What Eggs and How to Handle Them. 
If broilers are desired, start the incubator in Janu¬ 
ary with eggs from large fowls, but don’t take the 
eggs from small hens as they will produce only runts 
which will never pay for their feed. If one keep his 
own hens he should see that there is no in-breeding, 
and that neither hens nor roosters are fat. I would 
not take eggs as a present from flocks that have had 
the roup, for this disease is carried a.'ong like consump¬ 
tion, and the eggs either will not hatch, or the chicks 
are not worth raising. I never use very large or 
very small eggs, or those that are not of a normal 
shape. Eggs that are fresh do not need to be turned 
for the first three days, but after that they should be 
turned twice a day until the 16th day, then once a day 
until the 19th day, when moisture is applied, and the 
doors should be closed until after the hatch is over. If 
ever there was a time when one should exercise self- 
control it is after the eggs have begun to pip. Do not 
open the doors to get out shells, or help single chicks, or 
take out chicks that have dried off, but wait until the 
hatch is over. Those that are so weak as to need 
help are seldom worth saving, though there are some 
exceptions. Every time the door is opened, cold air is 
admitted, the hatching heat altered, and most likely 
some of the chicks will be lost. The moisture should 
be applied in large, open pans, placed either on the 
bottom of the incubator, or on supports above the eggs 
and just under the boiler or tank. Have the water not 
hotter than about 103 degrees. Never put in two 
layers of eggs thinking to hatch more chicks. In all 
top-heat machines, every quarter-inch represents one 
degree of heat. If the top layer is two inches thick, 
and the thermometer shows but 101 degrees in the 
lower layer, the top layer will be at a heat that will 
ruin every egg. If any of the eggs in the top layer 
should hatch, the chicks will not live. Eggs from 
moulting hens are almost useless for hatching. Infer¬ 
tile eggs remain perfectly clear. Eggs do not hatch as 
well during the winter as in the spring and summer, 
and so the loss is much greater during the cold months 
of fall and winter. Eggs that have been chilled will 
not hatch. Eggs from pullets do not produce strong 
chicks, but if compelled to use them, see that roosters 
are fully de'reloped, Young roosters are never desir- 
