20 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 
eggs in the natural process. The fertile egg 
is hatched when the egg is subjected to a heat 
over 100 degrees, F., for a period of about 
twenty-one days. The mother hen, by setting 
on the eggs for this period, will bring off her 
hatch on the twenty-first day, if she has been 
given ordinary care. Let us see what are the 
principles involved in this natural incubation, 
that we may the better understand the arti¬ 
ficial method of incubation. 
When the hen first becomes broody, and 
wants to sit, she might try to “steal her nest.” 
This is another way of saying that she will try 
to locate some secluded spot, and after she has 
succeeded in laying a dozen or fifteen eggs, 
she will then spend nearly her entire time on 
the nest, until she proudly marches back to .her 
old haunts with a small clutch of chickens. 
0 
It is a natural instinct of most hens to be¬ 
come broody in the spring of the year,- to re¬ 
produce their kind. A constant desire to sit 
on the nest is a sure sign of broodiness. When 
one has the eggs to put under the hen to hatch, 
it is best first to try to secure a general pur¬ 
pose bird for this method, as they have been 
found the best, for reasons previously stated. 
