UC-NRLF

SB 277 3flS

THE LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

Book 45 Section 18

/(Y

INCUBATION I

*Si

A 'GUIDE TO

Profitable Poultry Raising,

E. & C. VON CULIN.

PRICE, ONE DOLLAR.

DELAWARE CITY, DEL.

E. & C. YON CULIN.

1894.
Copyright, 1894 by E. & C. Von Culin.

VON CUIylN.

C. VON CUI^IN.

This book is written to aid and inform beginners
who know little or nothing of artificial incubation
and brooding ; to assist those who have learned
something about it and wish to know more ; and
to supply a handy reference for those who know it
all.

As originally written, it would have made a
volume three times as large as the present one, but
the people of to-day want everything boiled down,
concentrated, concise, convenient. A tiiple ex-
tract contains all the perfume and vital qualities of
three times its bulk of plain tincture ; so we have
rewritten it, carefully eliminating all superfluous
matter, and placing the gist of it before our readers
in a compact form, convenient for the desk and
not too cumbersome for a good-sized pocket. In-
stead of using a thick, porous paper, which would
increase the bulk fourfold, we have chosen a heavy,
superior plate paper and new type, believing that
our readers would prefer elegance to unnecessary
bulk.

INCUBATION IN EGYPT.

Artificial incubation is almost as "old as the
hills." It was known and practised in ancient
Egypt, and is to-day an important industry of that
interesting country.

While no monumental picture of an incubator
has been discovered, the authorities are a unit in
the belief that the Egyptian hatching houses of the
present time are substantially the same as those of
prehistoric Egypt.

Diodorus of Sicily speaks of it as an art that had
been in use a long period before his time. Pliny
says nearly the same. The Roman Emperor
Hadrian found it generally practised in Egypt, and
makes special mention of it in his description of
the usages and customs of that country.

A French missionary, who traveled in Egypt in
1737, says: "I found there were about four
hundred chicken- ovens, each one furnishing about
two hundred and forty thousand fowls, making
about one hundred millions produced each year
5

from this source alone. In selling them, they do
not count them, but measure them by the bushel,
like grain. Though there are always some
smothered, this process saves the trouble of sep-
arating them according to quality and size. In
attempting to ascertain the origin of this practice
of artificial incubation and to explain its success,
two facts should be noticed ; first, that it was
exceedingly useful to multiply the amount of food
as healthy as that furnished by the flesh of birds ;
and second, without some such process fowls of all
kinds would have become very scarce, for the
reason that the heat is so great in the laying season
that the pullets abandon their eggs for the society
of the cocks. Finally, geese, ducks and other fowls
are also multiplied by incubation."

The Egyptians of to-day are extensive raisers of
all kinds of poultry, and as hens do not sit well in
that or any other hot country, most of the birds
are hatched in artificial hatcheries or incubating
houses, which, on account of their necessarily large
size and consequent expense of building and man-
agement, are not built upon the farms of the
poultry raisers, but are owned principally by
Copts, who make a business of hatching for the
farmers and villagers on shares or for a stated
price, the eggs being carried to them by the poultry
keepers, who receive the birds, or their share of
them, when hatched and ready to remove.

Notwithstanding the fact that they cling to their
primitive style of incubation, the Egyptians are
among the most successful in artificial hatching,
6

and it is worth while to note that they use no hot
water tanks in their hatching rooms. Hot air
suits them better because it is easier to control
than hot water, and more economical important
items in a hot country and where fuel is high.

Though slow to adopt improvements, it is proba-
ble that they will ultimately make use of the porta-
ble incubators which require no night attendant,
and with which each farmer may do his own hatch-
ing at home. More than ten years ago a French
company in Egypt were using portable incubators
in hatching ostriches at their ostrich park at
Matareeyeh, which lies ten kilometres northwest of
Cairo and one kilometre south of the ruins of Helio-
polis, not very far from the old railroad which runs
direct from Cairo to Suez.

EGYPTIAN INCUBATING HOUSE.

The ' ' mahmal " or incubating house is built of
sun-dried bricks and contains from eight to twenty-
four ovens. On each side of a passage is a row of
ovens and fire-places. The ordinary size of
the ovens is 10 feet long, 8 feet wide and 6
feet high. The fire-places are above the ovens,
and are the same length and width as the ovens,
but not so high. There are doorways to each
oven, large enough for a man to enter, and a small
opening between the ovens and the fire-places.
Besides this there is an opening connecting all the
fire-places. The latter have places for the smoke
to escape, and there are also chimney holes in
the roof of the passage but they are seldom
opened. The eggs are placed in the ovens upon
mats or in chopped straw, in tiers one above the
other, usually hot more than three high. The
8

fuel used is " gellah," made of the dung of ani-
mals mixed with chopped straw and moistened to
form flat, round cakes, which are sun-dried before
they are used. Only half of the number of ovens
are used the first ten days, and the fires are
lighted upon the fire-places above them only. On
the eleventh day these fires are extinguished and
other fires are lighted on the remaining unused
fireplaces. Then some of the eggs are removed
from the first set of ovens to the fire-places above,
which are, of course, still heated, though the fire
has been removed. When the first eggs are
hatched and the second half hatched, fresh eggs
are placed in the position made vacant by those
first hatched. This rotation continues- until the
hatching season is over. The chicks are kept in a
warm room for two days and then delivered to the
various parties for whom they are hatched.

Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, in his " Popular Ac-
count of the Ancient Egyptians, 1854," describes
the ovens and the process as follows: "The
modern process, like that of ancient times, is this :
they have ovens expressly built for the purpose ;
and persons are sent round to the villages to col-
lect the eggs from the peasants, which, being given
to the rearers, are all placed on mats, strewn .with
bran, in a room about 1 1 feet square, with a flat roof
and about 4 feet high, over which is another cham-
ber of the same size, with a vaulted roof and about
9 feet high ; a small aperture in the centre of the
vault (at /), admitting light during the warm
weather, and another (e) of larger diameter,

immediately below, communicating with the oven
through its ceiling. By this also the man
descends to observe the eggs ; but in the cold
season both are closed, and a lamp is kept
burning within ; another entrance at the front
part of the oven, or lower room, being then
used for the same purpose and shut immedi-
ately on his quitting it. By way of distinction I
call the vaulted (A) the upper room and the lower
one (B), the oven. In the former are two fires in
the troughs a b, and c d, which, based with earthen
slabs, three-quarters of an inch thick, reach from
one side to the other against the front and back
walls. These fires are lighted twice a day ; the
first dies away about midday, and the second,
lighted at 3 P.M., lasts until 8 o'clock. In the
oven the eggs are placed on mats strewn with
bran, in two lines corresponding to, and immedi-
ately below, the fires a b, and c d, where they re-
main half a day. They are then removed to a c,
and b d ; and others (from two heaps in centre),
are arranged at a b, and c d, in their stead, and so
on till all have taken their equal share of the warm-
est positions, to which each set returns again and
again, in regular succession, till the expiration of
six days.

11 They are then held up, one by one, towards a
strong light ; and if the eggs appear clear, and of
an uniform color, it is evident they have not suc-
ceeded ; but if they show an opaque substance
within, or the appearance of different shades, the
chickens are already formed, and they are returned
10

to the oven for four more days, their positions
being changed as before. At the expiration of the
four days they are removed to another oven, over
which, however, there are no fires. Here they lie
for five days in one heap, the aperture (<?,/) and
the door (g} being closed with tow to exclude the
air ; after which they are placed separately about
one or two inches apart, over the whole surface of
the mats, which are sprinkled with a little bran.
They are at this time continually turned and
shifted from one part of the mats to another, dur-
ing six or seven days, all air being carefully ex-
cluded, and are constantly examined by one of the
rearers, who applies each singly to his upper eye-
lid. Those which are cold prove the chicken to
be dead, but warmth greater than the human skin
is the favorable sign of their success.

" At length the chicken, breaking its egg, gradu-
ally comes forth ; and it is not a little curious to
see some half exposed and half covered by the
shell ; while they chirp in their confinement,
which they show the greatest eagerness to quit.

"The total number of days is generally twenty-
one, but some eggs with a thin shell remain only
eighteen. The average of those that succeed is
two- thirds, which are returned by the rearers to
the proprietors, who restore to the peasants one-
half of the chickens ; the other being kept as pay-
ment for their expenses.

" The size of the building depends, of course, on
the means or speculation of the proprietors ; but
the general plan is usually the same ; being a series
ii

of eight or ten ovens and upper rooms, on either
side of a passage about 100 feet by 15, and 12
in height. The thermometer in any part is not
less than 86 or 88 Fahr. ; but the average heat
in the ovens does not reach the temperature of
fowls, which is 104.

" Excessive cold or heat are equally prejudicial
to this process ; and the only season of the year at
which they succeed is from the i5th of Imsheer
(23d of February) to the I5th of Baramoodeh (24th
of April), beyond which time they can scarcely
reckon upon more than two or three in a
hundred."

Fig. i, plan of hatching house, A A A A, plan
of the upper rooms or fireplaces ; F, passage
between ovens ; g g g g, doors ; e e e e, opening
between ovens and fireplaces ; G G, rooms for
attendants, fuel, etc. Fig. 2, section of hatching
house; A, upper rooms or fireplaces; B, lower
rooms or egg ovens. Fig. 3, plan of upper rooms
or fireplaces ; fire placed at a, b, c, d. Fig. 4,
lower rooms or ovens, showing eggs in place.
Figs. 5 and 6, sections from back and front of
upper and lower rooms.

A GOOD INCUBATOR.

To succeed in raising poultry, either for broilers
or for egg production, it is necessary to have a good
incubator. A tolerably good or ordinary one will
not do ; you should have the very best you can
find, regardless of cost, because the first cost cuts
a very small figure when compared with the losses
which always follow the purchase of a "Cheap
John " incubator (?). Of course, you know there
are various kinds of cheap affairs misnamed incu-
bators.

The great demand for incubators and brooders
has tempted sash manufacturers, makers of show
cases and others, to get out various boxes, cases,
tanks and barrels, with various attachments, and
call them incubators or hatchers. Some buy a lot
of almost expired patents, and boom the new
machine on the reputation of the old one, to which
the patents originally applied, while the new ma-
chine possesses none of the good points of the old
one, which to build would cost considerably more
than the new one is sold for.

Many of this class never had any merit, and went
out of the market, but new ones bob up along the
line, have their day of deceit and disappear. Watch
for them.

The wonderful improvements in mechanism in
the last few years have made it possible to procure
a first-class machine in almost any line, and incu-
bators and brooders have moved in the front rank
of progress. There is no difficulty in getting a
14

good incubator, provided you are careful to avoid
bad ones and are willing to pay a fair price for the
best.

Do not be deceived by a similarity in names of
incubators or hatchers. It sometimes happens that
a sharper, with plenty of cash to advertise and push
a business will drive a rattling trade in a good-
looking inferior machine for several years, making
thousands of sales and hosts of unhappy purchasers.
Then, when complaints pile up like blocks of ice in
a gorge, and respectable papers begin to question
the wisdom of allowing the advertisement to remain,
and the business begins to decline, he gets out
another cheap trap and gives it another name,
similar to that of a first-class hatcher, which has an
established reputation. Sharps or sharks of this
kind sometimes hatch out a new firm name with
the new machine, and the people make a rush for
the cheap affair, many of them confusing or con-
founding it with the meritorious machine, whose
name it approaches as closely as possible, without
possessing a single feature, except the name, which
could be called even a weak imitation. These
tricksters disappoint their customers and injure the
reputation of a good machine. Look out for
them.

HOW TO CHOOSE AN INCUBATOR.

We are not going to tell you which make of
incubator to buy ; but we are going to try to show
you how the various kinds of incubators are con-
15

structed, their several methods of operation, and
the good and bad points of each method, with our
reasons for calling them good or bad, as the case
may be. Having used nearly all the makes now
on the market, and many that have gone out of
the market, we should be able to do so very fairly.
Then we shall leave you to judge for yourself.
This you can do intelligently if you will carefully
examine each machine, either by actual sight of it,
or by the illustrations which their manufacturers
send out to inquirers.

First look at the machine, or a picture of it, read
the description which accompanies it, and be sure
that you understand how it works. If the prin-
ciples are clear to you, then consider whether or
not the application of those principles as shown,
will produce the results essential to successful incu-
bation if, in your opinion, they will accomplish
all that the manufacturer claims for his machine.

If the construction and principle are correct, the
maker can have no good reason for failing to show
them plainly to his prospective customers.

When a manufacturer fails to show and explain
the interior work and construction of an incubator,
you will be pretty safe in your conclusion that
either he has nothing good to show, or he has
something bad to conceal. These are enlightened
days, and the average man or woman readily
understands the artist's lines when accompanied by
simple explanations.

Do not be deceived by handsome appearance,
big claims, or miraculous testimonials. Beauty is
16

no objection, if it is not made a substitute for util-
ity. Good testimonials are highly valuable, but
look into them write to a few of the persons who
give them.

Do not be deceived by low prices. The best
article cannot be made, much less sold, at the price
asked for the poor or bad one. A house is a house,
yet no one expects to get as good a house for
$1,500, as he can build for $3,000. No one will
say that one house is just as good as another,
regardless of plan, material or cost.

DON'T MAKE A FAILURE

For the sake of a few dollars on the start.
So many people say, "Well, I will buy a cheap
incubator and try the hatching business, and if
I succeed with it, I can then buy a better one."
This is false economy. It is like buying a poor
horse to go a long journey. The horse fails to
carry you to your destination, and when he gives
out on the way, you must either buy a better horse,
or walk.

Nine out of every ten failures in poultry raising
are due to false economy at the start. No farmer
who knows anything about harvesting would use a
scythe in preference to a modern self binding
reaper because the scythe is cheaper. Nor will he
buy any but the very best reaper, even if it does
cost a little more than some others. It is true
economy to have the best and to start right.

THE BEST SIZE INCUBATOR.

Many beginners are undecided as to what sized
incubator to get. If we wanted a capacity of 300
eggs would get three incubators of 100 eggs capa-
city each ; if 600 capacity, three of 200 eggs each ;
if 750, three of 250 each ; if 1200 capacity, three
of 400 each ; if 1800 capacity, three of 600 eggs
each. This is much better than getting one large
incubator for all the eggs. It costs more for the
several smaller machines than for one large one for
all the eggs, but the advantages are : You can
have fresher eggs for each incubator, you can sort
the eggs if you have large quantities, and select
those with shells of same kind and thickness for
each incubator ; you can place duck, turkey or
goose eggs in separate machines, or use a different
machine for each variety of hens' eggs. You can
keep a record of each kind and quality ; you will
learn more about the amount of moisture for each
class of eggs, and will soon become able to hatch
all kinds of eggs equally well. If you make a
mistake you will discover it more easily and can
rectify it more readily ; the result of a mistake or
an accident will not be as expensive, and you will
have a better chance to retrieve any loss which you
may sustain through accident, carelessness or
neglect of rules in hatching, for it would hardly be
likely to affect but one machine, and as that one
would only contain one-third of your full quota of
eggs, you would have the other two-thirds left
even if all in one machine were ruined, and you
18

would not be apt to repeat the performance (or
non-performance) with either of the other two
incubators. *

HOT AIR OR HOT WATER 2

A question which is sure to confront the beginner
(and the old poultryman who determines to use
the incubator instead of hens) is : Which is prefer-
able, a hot air or hot water incubator?

No one can answer that question better than
yourself, if you will just look into it, and make
good use of your natural intelligence. Hear
argument on both sides, but examine the evidence,
look at the apparatus, there is nothing hidden,
mysterious, or complicated about it. The prin-
ciples are as simple as addition and subtraction.
You do not have to ask a professor of mathematics
whether or not two and two make four, or which
is the greater number, one or two ? Neither will
you have to depend upon any man's advice in this
matter, if you have ordinary intelligence and the
self confidence which every man must have to
succeed in the poultry (or any other) business.

The reason that so many intelligent persons go
wrong in this matter is that they do not stop to
think.

There is so much nonsense written and pub-
lished, that the man who will not do his own think-
ing and reasoning will almost certainly get bewild-
ered. For instance a writer in a prominent poultry

paper recently wrote advocating hot water incu-
bators " because hot water heat is moist" and sug-
gested that it was the duty of those possessing
" knowledge" to give it to the fraternity through
the columns of the poultry papers (and the editor
published the nonsense without a word of com-
ment).

In another poultry journal an advertiser of a hot
water incubator, says : "Hot air is necessarily
foul air. Hot water is next to hot blood, the hen's
life giver to eggs."

Did you ever hear such philosophy ?

We do not need a sage to tell us that " hot
water is moist" but we have yet to discover an
incubator in which the eggs are placed in the
water. Neither do we know of one in which the
hot water tank is open to the egg chamber ; nor
would a single chick hatch in an incubator with
the heater tank so opened.

Nor have we any knowledge of blood sweating
hens.

The heating tanks of all hot water incubators
are both air-tight and water-tight as far as they
connect with the egg chamber, and if they never
leaked, not a single drop of moisture would ever
get into the egg chamber from that source ; and
except in those machines having a top opening or
tube from the hot water tank, in which a float or
other device is used to operate on a regulator lever
or valve, by expansion of water in said tank, the
water in the tank would never evaporate or grow
less, but would suffice for running the machine
20

through one or a dozen hatches, except it were
necessary (as is frequently the case) to draw off a
quantity when overheated and to add cold water
to hasten the reduction of temperature.

But as far as supplying moisture to the eggs
not a drop is supplied by the hot water tank.
There is no moisture from the hot water ! Now
where is the ' ' moist heat ? "

How do all hot water incubators, as well as all
hot air incubators, get their moisture ?

From open pans above or below the eggs.

If moisture oozed from the hot water tank there
would be no necessity for moisture pans.

Now let us look at the hot air incubator. It has
a heater over the eggs, just as the hot \Vater
machine has. You can call it a tank or a reser-
voir, and it is perfectly air-tight in relation to the
egg chamber. The egg chamber is heated by
radiation from the lower surface of this tank or
reservoir, and it gives just as much moisture to
the eggs as does the heat which radiates from the
lower surface of the hot water tank which is
none whatever ! Neither can it give any fumes,
because neither gas nor water can penetrate the
metal radiator which has no opening whatever into
the egg chamber. The heat or hot air does not
pass from the lamps to the egg chamber any more
than it does in the hot water incubator.

The moisture is supplied from open pans above
or below the eggs, just the same as it is in the hot
water machine.

Now in the face of these facts is it not ridicu-

lous, not to say insulting to the intelligence of
poultrymen, to assert that the heat from a hot
water tank is moist heat.

We will go farther and say that the best hot
water incubators use moisture pans with from four
to ten times the area of evaporating surface used
in the modern hot air incubator. If the heat from
the hot water tank is moist, why use more water
in the egg chamber than is used in the hot air
machine?

Now, let us see what logic there is in the asser-
tion that "hot air is necessarily foul air," when
applied to an incubator.

The egg chamber of a modern hot air incubator
contains atmospheric air which is drawn into it
from the room in which the machine stands,
through ventilators having no connection whatever
with the heat reservoir, and the heat reservoir has
no opening whatever into the egg chamber. The
bottom of the heat reservoir is sheet metal and
forms the top or ceiling of the egg chamber.

When the lamps are lighted the latent heat in
the oil is gradually evolved, and passes up through
the fire proof conductors into the reservoir. When
a sufficient quantity of this heat or caloric accu-
mulates in the reservoir being supplied faster
than it can pass out through the draft tubes of the
reservoir, which is open to the outer air above it,
it begins and continues to radiate from the metal
bottom of the reservoir and is diffused throughout
the egg chamber. Nothing passes through this
metal radiator but the heat ; no air, no gas, no
22

odor simply the mysterious agent which chem-
istry has named caloric.

Suppose we fill the heat reservoir with water,
coffee, milk or wine, and heat the liquid say, to
150, what follows? Why the heat (caloric)
radiates from the metal bottom of the reservoir
and is diffused through the egg chamber, just as
it does when the reservoir contains air, and this
radiated caloric or heat mingles with the air in the
egg chamber and is absorbed by the eggs until
they and the air immediately surrounding them
are heated to 102, 103 or 104, according to the
desire of the operator.

The air in the egg chamber thus becomes warm
air or "hot air," and if there is good ventilation
in the egg chamber, the hot air is not foul air.

Now, what becomes of the assertion that "hot
air is necessarily foul air."

When it comes to the question of hot water
heaters or hot air furnaces for heating houses, an
entirely different principle is involved. Although
you get no moisture at all from hot water pipes,
you get pure heat from them ; but the hot air fur-
nace is heated red hot or nearly so, and the current
of air which passes over this superheated surface
is burned, or loses a greater portion of its oxygen
before it enters the room mingled with the heat,
and it also has a chance to carry coal gas with
it. The hot air of the house furnace passes
directly from the furnace into the room.

Not so with the hot air heater of the incubator,
for it will probably be heated to about 150 and
23

\m J J> *b & C& el) fo els els els ejs <J> J3 Js <J* Is ti els ejs els 3s els ej ejj els ejs el els J els c& els els els ejs els els els els 3s to/

the air which passes up the lamp flues into the
heater never comes in contact with the eggs, but
keeps passing out the vents and valves of the
heater itself.

The temperature of the water in the hot water
tank would be about the same if said tank was
the same distance above the eggs.

It does not require a profound intellect to com-
prehend this, and persons who are deceived in the
matter owe it to their own carelessness.
* If hot air is foul air, why do not some of those
wise fellows try cold air in the egg chamber of
their incubators?

The man who spoils his own affairs through
ignorance has our sympathy, even if he does not
deserve any ; but the man who undertakes to in-
struct others in matters which he does not at all
comprehend, is almost a rascal.

The writer of a book for poultry raisers, pub-
lished within the last three or four years a man
who poses as an expert in artificial hatching, and
charges for his advice, says, in explaining his
preference for hot water incubators over hot air
machines :

" The reason for this, to our mind, is that the
hot water gives more of a moist air, etc."

We expect to hear of this man writing a book
for farmers, advising the use of butterflies and
grasshoppers the butterflies to make butter and
the grasshoppers to make grass.

The advantage of the hot water tank in the
incubator is, that when the water in the tank is
24

heated it takes a long time for it to cool off, and
it is thus a protection to the man who is too lazy
to fill the lamps, for his eggs are not apt to cool
off enough to kill the germs in them. But if he is
too lazy to fill the lamps, he is apt to be too tired
to go turn them down or add some cold water dur-
ing the hot part of the day, and when he goes to
look at the machine he finds the temperature 5 or
10 too high. How about the advantage then ?
If this happens on an extra warm night, or while
he is away from home, what becomes of the hatch ?
Which do you think most disastrous, underheat or
overheat ? We say overheat.

The advantages of the hot air incubator are, that
the heat or hot air can be turned away from and
out of the hot air reservoir easily, quickly and
automatically, without disturbing the condition of
the egg chamber. The entire contents of the reser-
voir can be ejected by change of current, and re-
placed with cool air in a few minutes ; and by action
of the automatic regulator the heat currents are
again turned into the reservoir and the temperature
raised therein to the desired degree. This is done
by the action of a thermostat in the egg chamber,
controlling to a certainty and quickly the temper-
ature within the heat reservoir. This is an utter
impossibility with the hot water tank, so that when
it becomes overheated, as is often the case, you
must either turn down the lamp and wait for the
water in the tank to cool, draw off some of the hot
water and ,pour in some cold, open a large venti-
lator from the egg chamber and let the heat and
25

moisture escape together, open the door and risk
chilling the eggs, take out the eggs and sprinkle
them with tepid water, or let the eggs cook. In
a properly constructed hot air incubator (not one
with single wall or thin walls) the heat is easily
confined and controlled, being automatically sup-
plied or cut off by the regulator, which acts as
does the safety valve of a steam boiler. It also
consumes less oil than the hot water machine.

The disadvantages of the hot air incubator are
that the kzy man who cannot look at it once in
24 hours may let the lamps burn out and the
machine cool down. Then, if somebody should
deliberately put the lamps out, it would cool off, in
the course of time.

But how about if somebody deliberately (or
otherwise) turned up the lamp of the hot water
incubator, would it not go to the other extreme ?

The sage who says water in the heater tank is
like the hot blood in the hen, knocks the " moist
heat" theory in the head, for a setting hen does
not sweat. Neither does a very warm dog. The
overheated dog pants, and drops of moisture fall
from his tongue ; an overheated hen also pants.

But there is a time (we almost forgot to mention
it) when the water tank gives moisture to the eggs,
and that is when it springs a leak, which, in the
majority of hot water machines, and especially
cheap ones made by contract, is as likely to occur
in the middle of a hatch as at the beginning or
end or may happen as easily at midnight as at
daybreak. If you are on the spot just at the time
26

and have another (empty) incubator heated up
and ready, you can transfer the eggs to it, and
send for a plumber or tinsmith at leisure.

Another peculiarity of the water tank is that
when the lamp does go out unexpectedly, either
by reason of neglect to fill or trim, or from the
clogging and sticking of the lamp trips used on
most hot water machines, and the water gets
cooled off, it takes a long time to get it heated
again ; whereas, the temperature in the hot air
reservoir can be raised from minimum to maximum
in oner-fourth the time.

From the opening of the incubator exhibit at the
World's Fair, Chicago, until the day before it
closed, we had three hot air incubators there in
constant operation, hatching chickens.

In the hottest weather all the other incubators
in operation in the building were obliged to put out
their lights at some period of the day, but the
lights on our machines were never extinguished,
from start to finish of the exhibition, except when
the gas fixtures in the building were being repaired
or altered by the authorities. A new guard once
extinguished the light on a hot water incubator,
about six o'clock in the morning, but as the oper-
ator arrived soon after, no harm was done. This
incident was made the stock of many good-natured
jokes on the guard, and the nucleus of several
funny newspaper paragraphs. A certain hot water
incubator concern (not the one whose light was
put out) has made it the subject of a grand fairy
tale, in which they make it appear that all the
27

incubator lights were put out, that the men who
were operating the three hot air machines admitted
that their eggs were ruined, but that no injury was
done the eggs in their own machine. As the lights
on our machines were never put out by a guard,
we never had any complaint or admission of the
kind to make, nor did we ever hear of any other
lights than the one noted being put out by the
guard.

MARKING EGGS.

The man who is in the poultry raising business
for profit, will use every known means to make it
a success. By a few marks upon the eggs he
makes it possible to know all about each hatch,
the causes of success or failure and the direct
means by which to improve.

FIG. 14.

Fig. 14 shows one side of an egg marked for
record. 2 indicates the month (February being
the second) in which the egg was set ; 4 the day
28

of the month * 25 the day of the month when it is
due to hatch ; T indicates that the egg was tested
on the 5th or 6th day of incubation, and that it
contains a strong live germ, as shown in Fig. i, in
article on testing eggs ; L indicates that the egg
was tested again on the loth day ; and 4 that the
air space is about the same as shown in Fig. 4, in
article on testing eggs. A different figure would
indicate that the air space on loth day corres-
ponded with that shown by a Fig. of corresponding
number.

FIG. 15.

Fig. 15 shows the opposite side of Fig. 14. A
should correspond with the name of the party or
yard which furnished the eggs ; S indicates a thick
shell. If the letter T were substituted it would
indicate a thin shell.

We have said in another place that the different
shells require different treatment to obtain the best
results. You will notice that while, as a rule, dark
shells are thicker than white ones, you will find
some thin shells among the dark ones and some
thick shells among the white ones.
29

FIG. 16.

Fig. 1 6 shows a different egg marked on the
same plan of Fig. 14. 2-28 indicates that the egg
was set on 28ih day of 2d month (February 28th) ;
3-20 that it is due to hatch on 2oth day of 3d
month (March 2oth) ; D a doubtful or weakly fer-
tilized egg when first tested on 5th or 6th day ; W
that it has been tested on loth day ; 8 that the air
space on loth day corresponds with that shown in
Fig 8.

FIG. 17,
30

In placing eggs in the trays elevate the large end
as shown in Fig. 17, so that the head of the chick
will form in that end. If the head forms in the
small end there are nine chances to one that it will
never get out of the shell.

TABLE FOR KEEPING RECORDS.

The accompanying table will be found very use-
ful for recording hatches, and such records will
enable the poultryman to discover and explain in-
telligently the causes of his successes or failures in
hatches ; to anticipate and avoid the poor material,
and to classify and properly treat that which he
does use. In marking or recording air spaces
make it as near as you can, but do not attempt to
measure them all.

BECOBD OF HATCHES.

< Eggs from,

M
W

"ocT

Number of eggs, ....

100

4 Variety,

L
50
50

100

1 Dark esrsrs,

100

5
95

100

"vO~

p-i

1 Lisht egers

I Thick shell, . . .

60
40
^5

-I 6

4
90

Tj-
" CO
M

^S~

^ON"

00~

j Thin shell,

5
92

J Fertile . .

i
7

Doubtful,

Tested out, ......

. 6

vO
ID

"^
CO

Air space loth I,., . . .

~~8
4

Airspace loth D., . . .

Airspace i6th L,., ...

Airspace i6th D., . . . .

~87

Hatched strong, .

DAY .

HYGROMETER , WET BULB

DRY ' '
SPIRAL

Hatched weak, . .

2
10

Died about days, ....

5
10

10
2
19

Died about days, ....

"89

Ji.
10

~8o

Unfertile,

Per ct hatched F. E.,

COOLING THE EGGS.

Cooling the eggs, or airing them, as it is gen-
erally termed, is a very important part of incuba-
tion, and careful attention to it will be repaid by an
increased percentage and stronger chicks.

"I do not need to cool the eggs," says some-
one, " my incubator has all the ventilation they
need." It may have plenty or too much ventila-
tion, yet for best results the eggs should be cooled
once a day, beginning on the second day and con-
tinuing to. the eighteenth, inclusive.

The hen leaves her nest once a day, if allowed,
and in exceptional cases where she does not do so
voluntarily, she should be taken off once a day.
The hen that leaves and returns regularly to her
nest, hatches much better than the one that does
not. In moderate weather in the spring the hen
does her best hatching. She leaves her nest for a
limited time and returns ; the eggs do not get
chilled, but are properly cooled.

In hot weather the hen is often driven from the
nest by lice or mites. The eggs get plenty cooling,
but do not hatch well. This is partly due to
neglect of the hen and to a lack of vitality in the
eggs. It cannot be all laid to too much cooling,
because eggs will stand considerable exposure in
hot weather. And it is so with eggs in the incu-
bator. They may be left out much longer in hot
weather than in the spring or winter. In early
spring and winter the hen sits closer ; she moves
the eggs from centre to outside, and they are
33

cooled quicker than in warm weather. When she
leaves her nest once a day for food she returns
quickly. The same course must be pursued with
the incubator, i. e., the eggs must not be exposed
as long in cold as in warm weather.

Once a day, beginning with the second and end-
ing with the eighteenth day, the eggs should be
cooled to about 80 Fahrenheit, not cooler. This
can be done after turning them in the morning.
One soon learns to tell the degree of heat by lay-
the hand on the eggs or by holding an egg against
the face. When the surface of the egg indicates
80 the inside is of course warmer.

The incubator should always be closed while the
eggs are out cooling, for it is not desirable to cool
the machine. When the hen leaves her nest she
does not dive into the water or sit upon a cake of
ice. When the eggs are out of the incubator it
takes more heat to keep the egg chamber at the
proper temperature, and the regulator, if it is a
good one (and an incubator without a regulator is
behind the times), will turn on extra heat, and
when the cooled eggs are replaced, will turn on
still more, automatically, which is turned off again
in the same way when the egg chamber recovers
its proper temperature.

Nine-tenths of the successful users of incubators
cool the eggs ; so do the manufacturers of incu-
bators when they want to make a good hatch.
Cooling the eggs is one of the important items in
incubation, but not the only one, you will not suc-
ceed if you neglect the others.
34

TESTING EGGS.

This is a very important part of the business,
and if properly attended to will throw a flood of
light upon many perplexing problems in natural
as well as artificial incubation. It not only eluci-
dates but proves the truth or fallaciousness of our
theories in the line of hatching.

Men are frequently heard to say that they never
bother with testing eggs. That they cannot replace
the unfertile eggs with others, and therefore noth-
ing is gained. They are told by the best authori-
ties that boiled eggs are not good food for chicks,
and as for themselves, of course they would eat
only fresh eggs. Then there is a risk of taking
out hatchable eggs ; so they run all the eggs
through together. They say that they can break
the unhatched eggs when the hatch is over, and
see which were unfertile and who cares whether
they were or were not fertile if they did not
hatch ?

To those men we can only repeat. "Where igno-
rance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise."

To attain the best results it is absolutely necessary
to test the eggs in process of incubation. If the
eggs all come from one farm or yard, and they
prove a large per cent, unfertile, weakly fertilized, or
stale, you will notify the party from whom you got
them, and he can look into the matter and rectify
it, if he will, and afterwards serve you with vigor-
ous fresh ones. If he will not do so, then you
can avoid him, and procure better (or worse) ones.

If the eggs are from your own stock, and you
know that they are fresh, and they prove unfertile
or lack strength, you will know it, and can pro-
ceed at once to remove the cause, and thus save
time, eggs, and complaints from your customers to
whom you sell eggs for hatching.

If you have several yards, you should mark the
eggs from each yard so that you can tell which are
the best and which the poorest, and then treat the
stock in each yard according to the requirements
indicated by the testing of their eggs. There is a
cause for each imperfection, and you should dis-
cover and remove it.

You may test your eggs this month and find
them all right ; next month they may be all wrong,
suppose that you wish to set two hundred eggs,
and get several lots of eggs from different yards or
persons, to make up the number. One or two lots
may be first-class, while of other lots nine-tenths
are unfertile and the balance too weak to hatch.
If the separate lots were not marked you would
condemn the whole lot and the parties from whom
you bought them ; and if you did not test them, .
you would probably condemn the incubator or the
hens.

In selecting and marking eggs it is well to avoid
extremely large or very small ones, odd shaped
ones and those with cracked shells.

In testing you can very often trace a number

of unfertile eggs to a particular hen by a peculiarity

in shape and a uniformity of size that is where a

considerable number of eggs of a uniform size all

possess the same peculiarity of shape, you can be
reasonably sure that they were all laid by the same
hen. You can use that hen's eggs for market
instead of putting them in the incubator next time
(unless you remedy the defect in the bird), and
leave room for better ones.

Among the causes of unfertile and weakly fer-
tilized eggs are an insufficient number of cocks for
the hens, or, which is just as bad, too many cocks
to a yard or colony : old or worn out cocks, ill
conditioned or debilitated cocks ; overfat or aged
hens ; too close confinement of breeding stock,
lack of green food, too much meat, forced egg
production by the use of condiments ; low vitality
of stock, from neglect to feed properly or protect
from the weather, or diseases.

Stale eggs are almost as bad as unfertile ones.
After an egg is eight days old it begins to weaken,
both the germ and the sac or tissues which en-
velope the yelk. The older the eggs are, the
fewer the chicks that hatch, and the weaker are
those which do hatch. The percentage of deformed
chicks increases with the age of the eggs.

As the yelk forms no part of the chick, but is
absorbed or taken into the chick just before hatch-
ing, and is its natural nourishment for the first
twenty-four hours after hatching, it is important
that the egg should be as fresh as possible when
placed in the incubator. If the yelk should be
stuck fast to the skin of the egg, the chick must
die, although it may break the shell.

Persons have written to us, saying that they
37

have had from one to six chicks hatch on the
second and third days after placing the eggs in the
incubator ; that they knew the eggs were perfectly
fresh, having taken them out of the nests each
day, and that they would like us to explain the
cause of the " premature " hatches.

They were simply mistaken. There was no
doubt that the eggs hatched at the times stated,
but that they were all fresh laid could not be true,
unless a miracle had been wrought. Human
ingenuity has dispensed with the hen as an incu-
bator, but it is and ever will be beyond human art
or science to shorten the period of incubation.
Newly laid eggs of certain breeds of vigorous
fowls hatch from twelve to forty-eight hours earlier
than eggs from some other breeds, or older eggs
from the same fowls ; but that is natural, and can-
not be changed by man.

Those "premature" eggs had certainly been
under a hen or hens, or subjected to a heat of at
least 101 for from sixteen to seventeen days pre-
vious to being placed in an incubator.

Now, if a few of the eggs were sixteen or seven-
teen days old, we may reasonably presume that
some of the others were nearly as old, and ii
those which hatched on the second and third days
had live chicks in them, might not some of the
others have had dead chicks in them, chicks
that had started and, after being taken from the
nest, died before they were placed in the incubator ?

If these eggs were tested on the fifth or sixth
day, any large chicks would show, and they would
38

ordinarily be taken for bad eggs, if dead ; if alive,
they would be taken for eggs previously started.
But if the germs had died at any time between the
thirty-sixth hour and the tenth day, an inexperi-
enced person would probably call them fertile
eggs and let them go, then wonder why they did
not hatch. This happens more frequently than is
generally believed. Such eggs are easily avoided
by using the tester before setting the eggs.

Chilled, limed, scalded and cold storage eggs
sometimes find their way into the incubator ; but
persons should not allow themselves to be fooled
so badly.

While the majority of persons who have good
incubators make good hatches, there are some
who would make decidedly better ones if they
would just post up a little on a few important points
which are easily learned by practice of simple and
inexpensive experiments.

Few persons understand testing eggs properly.
Some have a very imperfect tester ; some are
unable to detect the fertile eggs closely they can-
not distinguish a dead germ from a live one, nor a
weak from a strong one.

All eggs should be tested on the fifth or sixth
day ; at this test all clear or unfertile eggs should
be removed.

To become expert in testing eggs during incuba-
tion, it is necessary to have a good tester.

By the use of a good egg-tester and the engrav-
ings shown here, any person can, with a little
practice learn to test eggs rapidly and accurately ;
39

the engravings show exactly how the eggs look in
the tester.

To become an adept at testing eggs for hatching
one has only to use a good tester, his eyes and a
little judgment. Break in separate saucers (care-
fully) one which you suppose to be a good, strong,
fertile egg; one which seems to be fertile, but

A STRONG FERTILE EGG,

On the fifth or sixth day, as shown with a good tester.

weak ; one that is doubtful that is, one which you
cannot decide whether it is fertile or unfertile, and
one that seems decidedly unfertile. Break one at
a time, and examine it carefully, making note of it.
This should be done on the fifth day, or at the first
test.

A strong, fertile egg will, on the fifth day, (tem-
40

perature having been kept at 102, 103 or 104)
show a dark spot which will float and show veins
running from it, looking somewhat like a spider ;
a weaker one will show a spot but is cloudy look-
ing and muddled. The above are supposed to be
fertile. Those which look clear are unfertile. Do
not mistake the yelk for the germ or chick. All
unfertile eggs are not perfectly clear. By breaking
a few tested eggs and studying their contents, carry-
ing in your mind's eye (so to speak) the appear-
ance presented through the shell prior to the
breaking ; having broken an egg, say of the strong
fertile ones, select another from the unbroken
eggs, and see how it compares with the former.
Then having opened a fertile but weak egg select
another from the unbroken ones and see how well
you can match the germ before you. Then break
a few apparently clear and unfertile ones, and you
will be surprised to find some fertile eggs among
them if your tester is inferior, or you are careless.
You will also be surprised to find how easy it is to
train the eye to detect and classify minute things
by a little systematic practice.

There is decided economy in this egg-breaking
business, for it will save eggs and chicks in the end.

Do not blame the sitting hen or the incubator,
unless you know that your eggs refresh as well as
fertile. We would not have eggs for hatching
that are over eight days old at any price. We
would not use them if given to us. We prefer
them not over five days old, and would like them
still better at or under two days old.

It is not hard to remember thatfres/i eggs from
healthy hens, fertilized by vigorous cocks> MUST be
used if we are to hatch a large percentage of
strong, healthy chickens.

Fig. i shows a strong fertile egg as seen in the
tester on the fifth or sixth day. B, the dark spot,
is the live germ ; A A, are the blood vessels extend-

AN EGG TO BE DISCARDED

On the fifth or sixth day. Weak or imperfectly fertilized, as
shown ou the fifth or sixth day.

ing out from it. This germ B, is seen by placing the
egg against the aperture of the tester and revolv-
ing it between the thumb and ringer until the side
on which the germ has formed comes nearest the
eye. The spot B, will be seen plainly, often sur-
rounded by a small cloud, as shown ; the germ at
this time is quite lively, and can be seen to move
42

up and down. This is a strong, fertile egg, and
should hatch under a good hen or in a good incu-
bator. In a well fertilized egg the blood vessels
should show plainly, but the germ is not always
seen as plainly, varying with the color and thick-
ness of the shell and the power of the tester used.
C, shows about the average air bulb in an egg on

A STALE EGG.

As shown on fifth or sixth day : clouded, doubtful ; many such
should be broken.

the fifth or sixth day of incubation, though it may
vary according to the freshness of the egg, and
some eggs have larger air bulbs than others.

Fig. 2, shows a weak or imperfectly fertilized
egg as seen in the tester on the fifth or sixth day.
H, is an oblong or circular blood vessel which has
43

started, but nothing more, there is no heart, nor
any part of a chick started. This egg 1 will not
hatch, but will decay if left in the hatcher. G,
shows a small dark spot, a weak germ, without
blood vessels, only partially fertilized ; it has died,
after a start, and, of course, will not hatch. Both
H and G, may sometimes be seen in the same egg.
It will not hatch. F, the air bulb, may be seen in
the same egg. The egg may be comparatively
fresh, and yet show both G and H. See the follow-
ing notes which explain why such eggs are found.

Fig. 3, shows a stale egg, a clouded egg, a
doubtful egg. A stale egg is generally distin-
guished by the air space E, being very large on the
fifth or sixth day, as shown in Fig. 3, though all
stale eggs do not show a very large air space ; but
when an egg does show it, it is very good proot
the egg is stale. When an egg shows a clouded,
muddled appearance as indicated by D (which gen-
erally moves about when the egg is turned before
the tester), it is certainly stale, and will not hatch.
Do not confound the fresh egg which is not fertile
with the stale egg ; in an unfertile fresh egg you
can see the yelk, which will look somewhat darker
than the rest of the egg, but does not look mud-
dled.

Fig. 4, shows a live egg on the sixteenth day.
K, is the space occupied by the chick ; the lines
I and J, show the air bulb, which may be on top
or at the side, as indicated by the respective lines.
This is about the average air space on the six-
teenth day, but it will vary according to the thick-
44

ness of the shell and age of the egg when set ;
then some eggs are not as full as others. At this
stage of incubation (sixteenth day) a live chick
darkens the egg, except the air bulb, when seen
with the tester, and by watching the line I or J,
the chick may often be seen to move.

Eggs should be tested in a warm room, one tray
at a time.

A LIVE EGG.
The air space on the sixteenth day.

The chick is harder to see after the seventh day,
because the egg becomes more clouded by the
growing chick.

NOTE. In regard to G, in Fig. 2, "a partially
fertilized germ" means one that from one of sev-
45

eral causes was not strong enough to live and
grow. Among those causes are cocks that are
too old, an insufficient proportion of male birds
for females ; old or debilitated hens, over-fat hens,
too close confinement of breeding stock, etc.

Again you may find G (Fig. 2), among eggs
which you believe or know are not over a week
old, and ordinarily the eggs were good and fertile.
It frequently happens that an egg will remain in
the nest, while several, or maybe a dozen hens lay
there, and the succession of layers keep the egg
warm enough to start incubation, or it may happen
that some eggs may have been subjected to a heat
of 100, in some warm place, unknown to or un-
noticed by you. In either case, these eggs are
taken from the nest or warm corner to a cooler
place, and kept a few days, or over night, until a
sufficient number has been accumulated to set, they
become cold, and the germ dies before they are
put under the hen or in an incubator.

In testing the first time, on the fifth or sixth day,
a dead germ may be mistaken for a live weak germ,
and if left in the incubator for three weeks would
decay ; so it is always best to test the eggs again
on the tenth day, and remove all that have been
marked doubtful and prove not good.

Some persons think it is just as well to leave all
of them in until hatching is finished, but this is not
right, the decaying eggs generate objectionable
gases, and if broken are very offensive. A dead
egg or an unfertile egg, does not contain the
animal heat that live ones do, and are apt to have
46

an undesirable effect upon the egg next to it, either
under the hen or in the incubator.

An unfertile egg one which has not been im-
pregnated, and in which life will never start or
develop is clear when shown at the tester. This
egg under the powerful lens of a first-class tester,
will show the yelk, which must not be mistaken
for a doubtful or fertile egg.

Use only the very best egg- tester.

HOW THE CHICKS DEVELOP.

Fig. 7 shows the heart and minute arteries and
veins in a circle on the yelk which is enclosed in a
thin sac. They are plainly seen by the naked eye
when a strong fertile egg is carefully broken into a

saucer or plate, after thirty-six hours' incubation. It
should be done in a warm room, and in a strong
light, when the pulsations of the heart will continue
from five to ten minutes, and may be counted.
Blood can be seen in the veins, but very faintly.
The veins gradually surround the yelk. The chick
derives nourishment from the yelk during incuba-

tion, and what is left of it is drawn into the
abdomen just before hatching.

Fig. 8 represents the interior of the incubating
egg on the fifth or sixth day, when the live -germ
can be seen with a tester moving up and down and
around, and will float to the top when the egg is
laid on its side. In testing, the large end of the
egg is held up, as in Fig. i, which shows exactly
how the egg looks in the tester, through the shell.
48

Fig. 8 is seen with shell partly removed, or with
the egg broken into a saucer.

Fig. 9 shows appearance on ^seventh to eighth
day.

Fig. 10 represents the tenth day, when eggs
should be tested the second time.

Fig. 1 1 shows the development on the fourteenth

day. Notice the increased air space at the different
stages.

Fig. 12, the sixteenth day.

Fig. 13, the eighteenth day, the yelk being
nearly absorbed.

Fig. 5 shows the egg from the nineteenth to the
twentieth day, when the chick is breaking the
shell. At this stage the yelk should be entirely
absorbed. The chick turns around in the shell,
breaking as it goes.

Fig. 6 shows the shell parted and the chick
ready to come forth.

As the yelk is the principal nourishment of the
chick during incubation, it is desirable that the egg
be perfectly fresh as well as well fertilized. The
last part of the yelk absorbed is food for the chick
for from twenty-four to thirty-six hours after
hatching.

Stale eggs, though fertile, will not make hardy
chicks ; if they do hatch, the percentage will be
small.

Break a few eggs that are not fresh, on a plate,
and you will notice that in most of them the sac
which confines the yelk will break and allow the
yelk to mix with the white. A few which, being
very carefully broken, retain the sac unbroken,
50

present a mottled appearance and spread out flat,
unlike the yelk of a fresh egg, which stands up and
looks firm.

If the yelk is not in first class condition it will
not make a first-class chick. When eggs are stale
many chicks will die in the shell on the seventeenth
and eighteenth days of incubation, even when
strongly fertilized.

Deformed chicks are due to stale eggs, eggs
irom ill-conditioned stock, and overheat. Over-
heat will sometimes cause the chicks to break the
shell before the yelk is entirely absorbed, and if
you help them out in that case they will die.

Insufficient air space will prevent a chick from
turning in the shell and from getting out.

When eggs have been crowded and some of the

shells are broken almost around yet the chicks do
not break out with the majority in due time, you
may then pull the shell gently apart, but leave the
chick to free itself ; for a chick which cannot free
itself is not worth keeping.

'fe ja tfcq;. tfc tp ife cfr <fe tfe sfe cfc <fe

ANIMAL HEAT.

Animal heat during incubation is not noticeable
until about the tenth day, though a fresh, strongly
fertilized egg, having been subjected to a tempera-
ture of 103 for thirty-six hours, and then broken
in a saucer, will reveal a live, pulsating heart, the
beats of which may be counted, and it will make
about sixty before it stops or dies.

As the animal heat increases less artificial heat
is required to keep up the proper temperature in
the egg chamber. On this account it is generally
necessary to occasionally adjust the regulator a
little the last week of incubation ; but the lamp
flame or flames should be gradually (a little at a
time) lowered if it appears that you are using more
flame than is necessary to supply just a little sur-
plus heat.

Although it does not require as much artificial
heat during the latter part of the hatch to keep up
the right temperature, it should be distinctly under-
stood, that the temperature must be kept up just
the same as at the first part until every hatchable
egg is hatched. [See When Hatching.]

WHEN HATCHING.

When the chicks are breaking and coming out
of the shells, remember that the doors of the incu-
bator should not be opened but twice in a day, to
take out chicks that have hatched and are dry.

Also remember that when you take out a lot of
chicks you take with them a lot of animal heat,
and you should raise the lamp flame a little, for
the temperature must be kept up to the same point
until the hatch is finished, if you want the best
results.

DEAD IN THE SHELL.

Why do chicks die in the shell ; what is the
cause of it ?

This question is asked again and again in all the
poultry papers. It is asked not only in regard to
those that die in the mechanical or artificial incu-
bator, but those also that die in the shell while
under the sitting hens, ducks, turkeys, geese, etc.
But the person who has just commenced running
an artificial incubator, loses sight of this fact, and
thinks that if some eggs hatch, every in egg the
machine should hatch, or that certainly all eggs
which start to incubate should bring out chicks.

While in a great many instances the majority of
cases of " dead in the shell ' ' may be justly charged
to the incubator or the sitting hen, it is not always so.

Again, though there are first-class incubators
which do hatch well, it must not be taken for
granted that all incubators are good. There are
good and bad incubators as there are good and
bad hens and good and bad eggs.

The fact that some hens steal their nest and bring
out a chick from every egg, or do nearly that well,
55

XAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAX

is no proof that it was on account of having had
their own way. Other hens steal their nest and
only hatch one or two chicks ; sometimes they fail
to hatch any. A hen that steals her nest generally
sits on the eggs laid by herself. If her eggs are
strongly fertilized, and she is a good sitter and has
a good place to sit, she will bring off a good hatch.
If the eggs are not well fertilized she does not
make a good hatch, but brings out perhaps six,
two, or no chicks. The unhatched eggs may
prove all unfertile, or most of the chicks may be
dead in the shell.

What is the cause ?

On the first event no impregnation ; in the sec-
ond, imperfect or weak fertilization. A bad sitter
or poor incubator might cause the same result with
good eggs.

When a good, quiet hen sits steadily on fifteen
fertile eggs and hatches seven of them, is it not
reasonable to suppose that the other eight must
have differed somehow, in quality, at the begin-
ning, or they, too, would have hatched? All
having been subjected to the same conditions and
treatment, why did not all hatch, or else all fail to
hatch all being fertile or containing the germ
of life?

The answers to this question are legion ; but
most writers agree that it was lack of vigor in the
germ, traceable to the parent stock, or to a mal-
condition of the laying stock, which produced the
eggs. Had all the eggs failed to hatch we might
reasonably suspect that the sitting hen had neglected
56

her nest ; but as seven of them hatched, the sit-
ting hen is clear of blame, for the seven chicks
could not have been produced without the favor-
able conditions for incubation to which they were
subjected together with those which failed to hatch.
Is it not plain that something was wrong with the
eggs which contained chicks, in all stages of
development, but failed to hatch ? If the incu-
bator (hen) was wrong, none would have hatched ;
if all of the eggs were right, all would have hatched.
Now, the causes of unfertile and imperfectly fer-
tilized or weak eggs are numerous, but easily
removed or guarded against, provided we know
what they are.

Too close inbreeding will make weak offspring.
Inbreeding is excellent to a limited degree, but
must not be carried beyond a few generations, it
stamina and vigor are to be retained.

Over-fat hens do not produce eggs that will
hatch well ; no matter how good the male may
be, the germs do not seem to receive the proper
nourishment to develop strength to break out of
prison, even if they grow to full size.

Stale eggs, however vigorous they may have
been, do not hatch well.

Eggs may be both fertile and fresh, yet lack the
vigor required to develop a chick.

Hens over two years old take on fat too easily,
besides losing qualities requisite to good breeders.
This is the rule. Of course there are exceptions ;
but you had better go by the rule than by the
exception.

Some cocks retain a fair amount of vigor and
procreative power after the second year, but nine
out of ten do not.

If you want eggs to hatch well and to get the
maximum profit from your poultry business, kill
all the males and females at two years of age.
Don't keep a fowl simply because it is fine look-
ing. You cannot afford to keep simply orna-
mental birds in your flocks.

Fowls in too close confinement lose their vigor,
and that, together with the practice of keeping
fowls that are too old, is what causes nine-
tenths of the "dead in the shell" cases which
owe their origin to the breeding stock. Some
people think a yard ten by twelve feet is large
enough for the accommodation of a dozen fowls.
They must have a reasonable amount of exercise.

As there are two classes of poultry raisers, there
are two ways to effect a remedy.

The man who must raise his poultry on a limited
area of ground, should keep fewer fowls. Is it not
better to keep one hundred fowls from which you
can produce eggs that will hatch from seventy-five
to ninety-five per cent, of the fertile ones (seventy-
five per cent, of all being fertile), than to house,
feed and care for two hundred fowls to produce
eggs of which fifty per cent, are unfertile, and only
from thirty to forty-five per cent, of the fertile eggs
hatch? Wriggle around it as you please, you
cannot disregard this advice and succeed.

Those who have large tracts of land, but, because
of keeping several breeds or varieties of fowls, are
58

obliged to keep them in yards, should either
enlarge their yards beyond (apparently) all reason,
or at least beyond any size you ever saw before,
and allow plenty of range for exercise and cleanli-
ness, or reduce the number of varieties, and give
each yard of fowls an extra grassy yard to pasture
in for two hours each day; or, better still, keep
but one variety and make kindling wood of your
fences. Colonize your flocks on the Stoddard
"no fence" plan, and you will have eggs that,
with proper assignment and division of males and
females (fowls), will show up ninety per cent, of
fertility, and, in good incubators, produce from
eighty to ninety- eight per cent, of strong, healthy
chicks.

How do we know ?

We have done it. The proof of the pudding is
in eating it.

Now let us look at a few other causes of chickens
dying in the shell ; for you know it is quite possible
to kill a vigorous germ or even a full grown chick
by improper treatment. A poorly contrived incu-
bator or a bad hen can easily destroy the life in the
shell at any stage of incubation ; or a careless or
headstrong operator of a good incubator can spoil
the hatch by what may seem to him a very insig-
nificant deviation from the instructions of the
maker of the machine.

Too much or too little moisture, heat or ventila-
tion may ruin a hatch. Lack of moisture at the
time it is needed, or excess of moisture when none
is needed will injure or destroy life in the hatcher.
59

If the machine is deficient in any of these particu-
lars, do not use it, but get one that you can depend
upon.

You will also remember- that eggs of various
breeds vary considerably in shell, some shells
being thin and porous, some thick, yet porous,
while others are thick and dense or hard, and still
others are hard and thin.

The treatment of these various shells is of
importance, but will be discussed under the head
of " moisture."

Chilling the eggs, especially during the last
part of the hatch or while chicks are breaking the
shell, causes many to die in the shell. See article
on testing eggs.

Right here a little plain talk may be of some
value.

In almost every poultry paper you will find com-
plaints and queries about chicks dying in the shell.
The correspondents, as a rule, wish, to know the
cause and the remedy. If the editor knows the
cause he does not hesitate to prescribe a remedy ;
but there is where the trouble comes in. If we call
in a physician to treat a case of illness,we give him
an exact history of the case and all the symptoms
and particulars ; otherwise he could not prescribe
to our advantage.

Are all poultrymen careful to do likewise when
they ask advice from a poultry editor or expert, qr
incubator manufacturer ?

We say no ! Many of them do not know, or fail
to mention the fact that a visitor " monkeyed ' ' with
60

the regulator, or that on one certain day they for-
got to fill the incubator lamps and the lights were
out for fourteen hours ; or that they forgot about
turning the eggs, or left them out to air while attend-
ing something else, and they got chilled ; or that
they forgot to put in moisture at the proper time ;
that one of the children slipped into the incubator
room and turned the lamp up or down, or put it
out ; or that a neighbor, who was looking at the
machine, forgot to close the doors of the incubator ;
or that the attendant accidentally set a tray, stick
or some other trifle on the top of the machine in
such a manner as to cover or rest on the closed
valve of the heat escape, and the temperature got
up to 1 10 before it was discovered. It is folly to
omit or conceal these facts when they are known
to the party who asks advice, because it cheats him-
self out of the chance of obtaining the remedy he
seeks.

As we have intimated above, many poultrymen
fail to give exact details, either because they have
failed to see or notice some of them, or because
they think they are not important ; and while we
cannot advise them with as good effect as if we
knew the real state of affairs, they cannot be said
to deliberately deceive.

But what about that class of individuals who are
so foolish as to deliberately lie when presenting
their case of failure to the maker of the incubator,
which they happen to be using ? What help can a
man hope to get, who, having bought a lot of
store eggs which produce forty per cent, of weak
61

chicks and sixty per cent, dead in the shell, in his
incubator, into which he placed all the eggs he
bought, when he writes to the maker of the
machine as follows: "My hatch was forty per
cent, of sickly looking chicks, and the balance of
the eggs had dead chicks in them some seeming
to have died on the tenth day and others at various
stages of development, many being full grown and
just ready to hatch. I cannot understand it, as the
same eggs placed under hens hatched ninety- eight
per cent. I followed your directions to the
letter."

Now if the manufacturer knows from years of
severe test that his machine will always hatch a
good per cent, of halchable eggs, every time, when
operated by his directions, he also knows to a cer-
tainty that his correspondent either failed to oper-
ate the machine as directed, or that his statement
about hatching some of the same lot of eggs under
hens is false. He knows it as certainly as the
painter would know that we were speaking falsely
if we told him that by mixing equal proportions of
red and blue we produced green. Suppose we
did write such a statement to a painter, and asked
his advice, assuring him that our neighbor had
used the same colors and produced purple. Would
he not know beyond a possibility of a doubt that
either we were color blind, or liars, or fools, or that
we thought him a fool when we presumed that he
would not know any better than to believe the
statement.

All the advice he could give us would be to dis-
62

card the yellow (which we called red) and replace
it with red if we wished to produce purple by mix-
ing with blue. And so would the maker of the
good incubator have to tell his correspondent to
hunt up a lot of fresh eggs from a place where the
breeding stock is healthy, vigorous and mated with
good proportion of males.

Other parties who have really first-class hatch-
able eggs, imagine that they can improve on the
directions which are sent with the incubator (not
having given those directions one fair trial) and
will run the machine to suit themselves, and when
they kill a lot of chicks in the shell, condemn
either the eggs or the incubator. If they write for
advise, they tell the truth about the eggs, but omit
to mention the fact that they paid no attention to
directions. Some of them, we regret to say, will
even assert that they did follow the directions.

These persons are as foolish as the man who,
suffering with cholera morbus, would tell the
physician that he had toothache.

PERIODS OF INCUBATION.

Chickens, twenty-one days ; ducks, twenty-eight
days ; geese, thirty days ; turkeys, twenty- eight
days ; Guinea fowls, twenty-five days ; pea fowls,
twenty-eight days ; pheasants, twenty- five days ;
partridges, twenty-four days ; ostriches, forty to
forty- two days.

In connection with the above table we should
remember that a strictly fresh laid egg will hatch

several hours earlier than a stale one, and that the
fresh eggs of some breeds of the same species of
fowls will also hatch from twelve to forty-eight
hours earlier than those of other breeds, under the
same conditions.

Some hens sit closer on the eggs and keep the
temperature more regular than others do. These
hens generally bring off their chicks in due time.
Other hens are poor sitters, do not settle down on
the eggs nicely, and frequently vacate the nest.
Such hens are sometimes one or two days later
than schedule time in completing their hatch.

The same principle applies to incubators. Those
which maintain an even condition of requisite heat,
moisture and ventilation, will, if the eggs are all
right, complete the hatch on time ; while the irreg-
ular machine, now hot and then cold, now dry
and then moist, will of course be behind time.

MOISTURE IN HATCHING.

How much moisture should be used in an incu-
bator ?

Why not ask, " How much lumber will it take
to build a house?" The question is as compre-
hensive.

The question of how much moisture should be
used in an incubator, never has been fully and cor-
rectly answered.

"Oh, yes, it has!" exclaims somebody, "Mr.
A. says he uses no moisture at all ; B., none until
the fourth day ; C., none until the seventh ; D.,
64

none until the tenth ; E., until the sixteenth ; F.,
until the nineteenth. G. uses water surface equal
to three-fourths the area of the egg chamber ; H.,
five-eighths; I., one-half; J., three-eighths; K.,
one- fourth ; L., one-fifth ; M., one- twelfth. N. will
evaporate twelve quarts of water in the egg cham-
ber during one hatch ; O. will evaporate one pint.

Any one of the above may be exactly right for
some incubator, at some particular time, in some
certain place, climate or season, and with certain
kind of eggs, and it may never, in the experience
of the operator, be right again.

How then are we to know the amount of moisture
to use ? If it is right at one time, why not always ?

It might be right always . with one particular
incubator and the same kind of eggs, if the tem-
perature and humidity of the outside atmosphere
were always the same ; but you know that is not
the case. You cannot find two periods of three
weeks each in which the twenty-one days of one
will even average the same as the twenty- one days
of the other, in any location, in a lifetime. There-
fore there must be a vast difference in hatching,
both with incubators and with hens.

For instance, we take a hot water incubator
which has an opening valve for the escape of hot air
from the egg chamber when the heat rises above a
given point. No matter what size the opening
may be, how large or small the moisture pans, or
when the moisture pans are filled, on a hot day or
when the lamp flame has been a little too high,
this valve or escape will open, and from ten to
65

twenty times as much air will be circulated through
the egg chamber as there was the day previous or
on a cooler day, and the next day it may be more
or it may be less.

If there is no water in the moisture pans on the
very warm day, then there is from ten to twenty
times the amount of evaporation from the eggs ; if
the pans are filled, you will not have the same
amount of moisture when the valve is open as you
have when it is closed.

Let us suppose, for argument sake, that we
have more moisture in the egg chamber with the
valve closed than with it open ; then, when the
valve opens to cool off the egg chamber, the
moisture escapes with the heat, and we have from
ten-fold to twenty-fold reduction of moisture on the
hot day, or when the machine is overheated.

But suppose we say that when the valve is open
there is from ten to twenty times as much water
evaporated as there would be with it closed, and
that this water or moisture passes over the eggs ;
then we have practically from ten to twenty times
as much moisture with the valve open as we have
with it closed.

Clearly we cannot have the same amount of
moisture with an open valve as with it closed no
matter which condition of valve gives the most,
and, as this valve may open and close once a day
or fifty times a day, how is it possible to maintain
an even condition or degree of moisture in an egg
chamber which is thus " regulated ?"

Then why use a moisture gauge ?
66

A moisture gauge of the best make will show
that the humidity of the egg chamber fluctuates as
we have stated, under the said conditions.

Wherever there is a circulation of air in the egg
chamber and there must be a circulation of fresh
air to hatch successfully there will be some varia-
tion of humidity, because the humidity of the out-
side atmosphere changes, and it is this outside air
which furnishes the fresh air for the egg chamber ;
but with the valve closed the variation is reduced
to a minimum degree.

The modern hot air incubator has no use for the
big trap-door valve opening from the egg chamber
of most hot water machines, because the heat is
controlled in the heater or hot air reservoir before
it reaches the egg chamber ; but it has a circula-
tion of fresh air in the egg chamber by means of
bottom ventilators and small outlet at top. These
inlets and outlet are always open and always the
same, so that the variation is reduced to a mini-
mum, being about equal to the variation in the best
hot-water machines with its valve closed.

The variation of humidity in the best hot- water
machine with closed valve and in the best hot-air
machine just as it always is, is from ten to twenty
times less than when a large valve is being opened
and closed from the egg chamber every now and
then, as described, and the causes for the minimum
variation which cannot be entirely overcome are
two, the variation in humidity of outside atmos-
phere and the variation of temperature of outside
air.

We all know that heat ascends. As long as the
air in the egg chamber is warmer than that outside,
the heat of the egg chamber will seek an outlet,
and the colder the outside temperature the faster
the current of air will circulate through the incu-
bator (the greater the volume of air that will pass
through in a given time), but the moment the out-
side temperature gets as warm as that of the egg
chamber the current ceases. Then it follows that
more air passes through the egg chamber on a cold
day than on a warm one, consequently there is
more moisture supplied from the outside on a cool,
damp day than on a warm, dry one.

When you look at all these facts and think ot
the difference in incubators, the wonderful variety
of climates and altitudes on this vast continent, the
different kinds of shells which envelop the eggs
thick, hard shell, thin, hard shell, thick porous,
and thin porous each requiring different treat-
ment (the hard shell requiring more moisture than
the porous shell), you will appreciate the difficulty
of giving a direct answer to the question of
" How much moisture should be used in an incu-
bator? " It is impossible, in the ordinary instruc-
tions which accompany an incubator, to give
directions which will fit every case in every
locality, therefore the incubator manufacturer who
would conscientiously perform his duty to each of
his patrons must have an actual knowledge,
which can only be acquired by actual experience,
of the action and requirements of his own incubator
in the various altitudes and climates of this country
68

under the various conditions of the seasons.
Having gained this experience he can then give
directions with each incubator to suit the locality
to which it is sent. These directions would (or
should) be such as will give the best average
results with that particular machine in that
locality.

For the benefit of new acquaintances who may
wish to inquire if we practice what we preach, we
will state that during the years of our experiment-
ing we paid our compliments personally to the
chief points of interest lying between the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans, the great Northern lakes and
the Gulf of Mexico not making a flying trip, but
spending months and sometimes years in climates
and altitudes of peculiar interest to poultrymen
who practice artificial incubation and brooding.

As we have said, follow the printed directions
sent with the incubator, and then at your leisure
study and experiment for yourself. If you find
that the manufacturer's directions give satisfactory
results, the knowledge you have acquired from
study and experiment will enable you to see why
they do ; and if, on the contrary, they do not
satisfy you, you may then be able to improve upon
them.

Someone will say, "What a lot of fuss about
moisture ! Let me give you the whole thing in a
nutshell. Find out just what degree of humidity
is needed in the egg chamber for each week or
day, make slide covers for your moisture pans,
place a hygrometer or moisture gauge in the egg
69

chamber and hang up your moisture schedule beside
the machine. When you want more moisture slide
open the- covers, and when you want less, close
them. Isn't that simple ? "

Yes, dear friend, wiser heads than yours or ours
thought of that years ago, but it would not work
then, and it will not work now.

Why?

For various reasons ; among them : the Great
Ruler of the Universe will not permit us to slide
the covers of His moisture pans ; and while we are
obliged to circulate fresh air in the egg chambers
of our machines, we are obliged to have it more or
less humid or dry, just as it comes from the breath
of nature.

The hygrometer is useful to experiment with, pro-
vided it is a good one, but few of those which are
sold to poultrymen are reliable.

Still someone says, "Well, I know that the
humidity of the atmosphere varies some, but I still
believe I can work it with the moisture gauge and
the sliding covers on moisture pans."

Very well, we will ask you for one demonstration,
and if you make that satisfactory, we will ask for
one or two more but one will probably be all you
want at a time.

Let us suppose that you conclude that you want
thirty degrees of moisture in the egg chamber the
first week, thirty- five the second and part of the
third, with ninety degrees from the pipping of the
first egg ? All right. We will take for granted
that your gauge is correct. Well, here we are at
70

the beginning of the first week. You have not
yet put any water in your pans but your moisture
gauge indicates sixty-five degrees of humidity, and
your thermometer one hundred and three degrees
of temperature. What is the matter ; why don't
you reduce the humidity? You place another
moisture gauge in the room where you operate
your incubator, and you find that the humidity
there is ninety degrees. You hang a gauge in the
open air out of doors and it registers ninety-five
degrees. You only want thirty degrees in the egg
chamber ; how are you going to reduce it to thirty ?

There are some places in which, at certain times,
some kinds of eggs an be hatched without addi-
tional moisture, in certain incubators, but the
attempt would result in failure at other seasons.

It is surprising how little some manufacturers of
incubators know about moisture. When you
attend a show where incubators are on exhibition
question the several exhibitors on moisture. The
machines are generally managed by the manufact-
urers or inventors or the purchasers of some
almost defunct patents.

While exhibiting at the World's Fair, Chicago,
'93, we were astonished at the replies of some
of the manufacturers and exhibitors when asked
"why do you use moisture? What is it for?"
One said, "Oh, the hen sweats and moistens the
eggs, that is the reason." Another said, "We
imitate the hen ; she goes off in the grass and gets
the dew on her feathers and dampens the eggs ; we
must supply it.' ' Another said, * ' We use moisture

to rot the shell of the eggs." Another, "The
evaporation of the water purifies the air. ' '

We supposed that everybody knew that moisture
is used in an incubator to prevent undue evapora-
tion of the egg, and to keep the skin which lines
the shell from becoming dry and tough while the
chicks are breaking the shells.

HATCHING DUCKS.

Duck eggs require about the same treatment,
during incubation, as hen eggs, except that the
addition of moisture is deferred one week. Duck-
lings are longer getting out of the shell after
it is broken than chicks are from twenty-four to
forty-eight hours is the time they require to work
their way out. If, after waiting forty-eight hours
after the eggs are pipped and ducklings are not free,
you may help them out gently. There is not as
much danger in thus helping them as there is in
assisting chicks out. A chick which cannot free
itself from the shell is not worth saving, but a duck-
ling is. Ducks and ducklings should have water
when eating and water to drink at all times. Keep
ducklings from bathing or getting wet until feath-
ered. Celery fed to ducks one week before fattening
is supposed to improve their flavor. In killing ducks
hang them up by the legs and extend the head or
bill to prevent soiling the feathers. With a sharp
knife cut across the back part of the throat and up
into the brain. Ducks are easier picked when
72

scalded. After picking, put them in ice water until
thoroughly cooled. N. B. Make the drinking ves-
sel deep enough for the duckling to wet his nostrils,
or they will become clogged with dirt or soft food
and make him sick.

HATCHING GEESE.

Geese develop as well in the incubator as under
geese or hens, but goslings are not very dexterous
in breaking the shell, hence many are lost, because
few persons know how to help the process. When
the hatch is due hold the egg in a strong light
and try to see where the gosling is tapping the shell,
which you can often do. Make a small hole with
the point of a penknife, and if no blood oozes out
make another hole in the large end of the egg, and
chip away the shell between the two points first, and
then gradually break away enough to free the bird.
If you cannot see where the bill lies, put the egg in
warm water, mark the spot which lies uppermost,
and make the first incision there. With gentle care
nearly all may be saved. Feed goslings the same
as ducklings, adding green food early, and keep out
of the water until feathered.

HATCHING TURKEYS.

There is no difficulty in hatching good turkey
eggs in a good incubator. Treat the eggs precisely
as you would hen eggs, except that the moisture

must not be added until a week later than directed
for hens' eggs. There is a general opinion that
young turks are hard to raise, but the great diffi-
culty is that few persons know how to treat them,
and others do not have a large range for them from
the time they " shoot the red " (the head begins to
turn red) until they get their growth. Young tur-
keys must be kept dry until they show the red.
Running in wet grass, or exposure to rain, will re-
tard their growth and prove fatal to many. Brood
them as you would chickens. Their food for the
first week should be stale bread crumbs (not sour)
soaked in milk. Broken water crackers soaked in
milk for a variety. Give them all the sweet milk
they will drink (by "sweet" we mean new milk).
After the first week give them all the clabber they
will eat, but do not scald it. In addition give once
a day a small feed of well cooked corn meal, some-
times in the shape of mush, and again as baked corn
bread. By draining the clabber through a cheese-
cloth strainer it becomes nice and crumbly, and is
easily picked up. Keep them in brooding yards
until about eight weeks old, then give as much
range as possible. After eight weeks give no sloppy
food, but good grain corn or buckwheat at night,
and a variety of food in the morning. They will
gather at least half of their living in the insect sea-
son if they have good place to forage. A turkey is
unhappy in close confinement and will not fatten in
a pen like other fowls. Liberty and good feeding
will give the weight to a well bred bird.

>444 44 4444 4444 4444444444444 444 4444 44 44 4444**

HATCHING OSTRICHES.

HE introduction ol
artificial hatch-
ing has added
materially to the
profits of the
ostrich parks
and farms of
Africa, Asia and
America. S i t -
ting is injurious
to the valuable

plumage of the parent birds ; and then the eggs
may be used for hatching without consulting the
convenience of the layers. The period of incuba-
tion is from 40 to 42 days, and little more care
than is required in hatching chickens is necessary
in hatching ostriches. The young birds are as
tender as young turkeys, and should be kept in the
brooding house until the sun has dried the grass.
They must also be returned before the dew falls.
They need shade in the heat of the day, but the
more sunshine they get, that is not too hot, the
better they will thrive. The eggs weigh from 3^
to 3^ pounds, and one before us measures 15^6
inches by 17^ inches around each way. They are
palatable and wholesome when boiled, but are too
precious for ordinary table use.

The African ostrich is superior in size, weight
78

and quality of plumage to the Cassoway of New
Zealand, the Rhea of South America, or the Emu
of Australia, and is the kind bred on the Southern
California ostrich farms at Anaheim and Fall
Brook.

The first successful ostrich farms were those of
the Cape in Africa, which started about 30 years
ago. Later Madam Carriere established a series of
ostrich parks at Kouba, Algiers, views of which
were drawn by M. L,ouis Say, and which, through
the courtesy of Messrs. Munn & Co. of the Scien-
tific American, we reproduce here. Some idea of
the development of ostrich culture may be drawn
from the fact that the number of adult birds on the
Cape farms in 1865 was 85; in 1875, 32,000; in
1879, 160,000.

E;. & c. VON CUUN,

Publishers of

" The Art of Incubating and Brooding"
Price $1.00.

DELAWARE CITY, , 1894.

Dear Sir: We wish to illustrate the different kinds of
incubators, brooders and poultry appliances. Will you
please send us cut or cuts of your machine or machines,
together with directions for operating and your catalogue.
No cut to be larger than 3 by 3 inches.
Please be prompt, as we are ready and waiting.
Yours respectfully,

B. & C. VON CUUN.

The above letter was mailed to forty manufacturers

of incubators. We presume they all received it,

as none were returned, though our printed address

was on each envelope. We waited a month. Five

responded ; some of them sent cuts, but only one
sent directions for operating. We give these facts
as an answer to those who may wish to know why
we have not described all incubators, as well as a
few. Without directions for operating, the simple
picture of the exterior of a machine, is no more
than you can see in the advertisements in poultry
papers and in the catalogues of the manufacturers.

cp j^cp sg cp gp ^ i g P ^ fifc gp cp eg cp sp*!^

FIG. i.

THE THERMOSTATIC INCUBATOR.

The Thermostatic Incubator was patented July
31, 1877, by E. S. Renwick. It was one of the
finest hot water incubators made in its day. It is

no longer manufactured. The prominent and best
feature was its valve engine with a chain weight
(similar to a clock weight) for its motive power.
The paddles of the valve engine worked in water
and glycerine, with a few drops of carbolic acid to
keep it from spoiling. N, N, were water foun-
tains supplying water to the moisture pans. From
i to 2 quarts was evaporated in 24 hours.

FIG. 2.

Fig. 2 shows the thermostat and its connections
with the valve engine. The weak points of this
machine were its thin walls and imperfect ther-
mostat, but it was superior to nine-tenths of the
incubators on the market to-day. In fact, with
four exceptions, the incubators of ten years ago
were ahead of the ones now offered for sale. In
1885 a 216 egg capacity Thermostalic incubator
sold for $100. We think it could not have cost
82

less than $25 to make it, as built then, and prob-
ably it did cost between $35 and $50.

Now what do you think of the same machine
being "improved," and one of 150 egg capacity
with a brooder attached for the sum of $12.50?
Eight of the latter for the price of one of the
former ! If you can swallow the "improvement,"
don't kick if it gives you a pain.

The Thermostatic has been sold twice since Mr.
Renwick invented it. Show him one of the "im-
proved" Thermostatics (with a new name) and
ask him what he thinks of it. Ask him to point
out one of the good features of the old Thermo-
static in it. He is a mechanical engineer and ex-
pert, and if he were to put an incubator in the
field to-day, it would be a leader among high class
machines.

The following picture represents the oldest hot-
water incubator now manufactured. The egg
chamber is heated by a hot- water tank. It has
double trays, one above the other. The ther-
mostat works a lamp trip to draw a sleeve over the
wick to reduce the flame and back again to
increase it. It also opens a valve from the egg
chamber to let off surplus heat. The clock is used
to turn the eggs. This machine is made of good
material and with good workmanship. It has a
nursery below. One holding 144 eggs, steel tank,
sells at $62.50; with copper tank, $68.50. Mr.
Campbell owns his factory and makes machines in
large numbers, therefore can and does sell them
as low as consistent with good material and work-
83

manship. Then why is it that other incubators
are offered at such low prices ? Simply because
the material in one of Mr. Campbell's incubators
costs more than many of the gaudy rattle-trap
machines are sold for. The craze to get something
for nothing creates a lively market for worthless
so-called incubators.

THE EUREKA INCUBATOR.
Manufactured By J. I,. CAMPBELL, West Elizabeth, Pa.

The Improved Simplicity Hatcher consists of
an egg chamber enclosed on four sides, top and
bottom by double walls, six inches thick, four inches
of which are packed with a light non-conductor of
heat. Above this egg chamber is a heater (hot-
84

air), also enclosed by the double walls, supplied
by lamps through fire-proof conductors. In the
centre of the egg chamber and on a level with the
eggs is a thermostat which controls the tempera-
ture in the egg chamber and at the egg level. It
is connected by a brass rod and lever with a valve
on top of the hatcher, operating in such a manner
that just as soon as the temperature in the egg
chamber reaches 102 (or such degree as it may
be set at) the valve begins to open, turning the

THE EUREKA BROODER.

heat currents away from and over the heater,
instead of into it, and drawing cold air into the
heater; and when the temperature in the egg
chamber starts to fall below 102 it cuts off
the cold air and turns the currents of hot
air into the heat reservoir again, thus making
a commutual or reciprocal action between the
mechanism of the egg chamber and that of the
heater, by means of which the temperature is kept
85

absolutely under control. The ventilation Is from
the bottom, fresh air being diffused and escaping
automatically through a minute tube in the top,
without perceptible draught, and unaltered by the
action of the regulator. Moisture is also supplied
from below, at the time and in quantity suitable to
the location.

Fig. i. The general exterior of hatcher, showing

FIG. i.

IMPROVED SIMPLICITY HATCHER.

the position of lamps, the glass door and the
double packed outside door. The rod on the right
shows the thermometer drawn out to observe the
temperature ; when replaced, the bulb is in the
centre of the egg chamber and level with the eggs.
Fig. 2. Is a view in perspective, showing the
body with top and outer walls removed.
86

Fig. 3. Is a longitudinal section on the line XX
of Fig. 4, showing the thermostat and its connec-
tions.

Fig. 4. Is a view in cross section on the line YY
of Fig. 5.

Fig. 5. Is omitted, as the four figures shown
are sufficient to explain fully.

FIG. 3.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout
the several views.

AA are inlets for conducting hot air into the
heater S through pipes BB. When E is opened,
it allows the hot air to pass up AA and CC,
through D, and out at E, making a draft which
draws hot air out of the heater S at BB, at the
same time drawing cold air into the heater S at

mi.

D is a discharge pipe of double the capacity of
C, and carries off hot air from CC out at E when
E is open.

E is the main outlet for hot air, S is the hot air
heater five inches deep.

FIG. 4.

H is the egg chamber.

Ill I are tubes running through the top of heater
S, through which cold air is drawn into heater S,
when E is open.

K is a thermostat in the egg chamber and is on a
level with the eggs.

L is a metal rod connecting the thermostat with
the lever M.

J is a ball or cover suspended at the outer end of
the lever M, and is made to open or close the out-
let E by action of the thermostat K.
88

P is a tube running from the egg chamber H
through the heater S, and through which the rod
L passes. A constant discharge of air flows
through this tube, from the egg chamber. It is
never closed.

X is one of the lamps, two being used at diag-
onally opposite corners of the incubator.

YYY is a five-inch space between the inner and
outer wall of the improved incubator and is
packed with mineral wool and granulated cork.
All of the hot-air pipes are incased in asbestos or
mineral wool.

DIRECTIONS FOR OPERATING

THE VON CULIN IMPROVED SIMPLICITY HATCHER.

HHBO

THERMOSTAT

Light the lamp or lamps, turn the flame to ordin-
ary height, with regulator as shown above, except
that the perpendicular rod which connects the lever
with the thermostat in the egg chamber by means
89

of two brass pins must be left out (not connected)
until the temperature in the egg chamber rises to
102. Then insert the rod, and connect as shown
in the illustration. When heating up the machine
let the cover J rest on the escape E. To raise the
temperature of the egg chamber, raise the two nuts
on the perpendicular rod ; to lower the tempera-
ture, lower the same nuts. Run the machine
between 102 and 103. The cover should be raised
from the escape about one-sixteenth of an inch at
102. This will give a surplus heat which will not
rise above 103, but if the temperature of the room
should fall 40 degrees, and the temperature of the
egg chamber should fall one-half a degree, ttte
closing of the escape valve will change the current
of the escaping heat at once, making it impossible
to cool down ; at the same time the cutting off of
the excessive outward draft increases the flame of
the lamp, without turning the wick or using any
device upon the burner or wick. It is done by the
change of draft alone.

The thermostat in the egg chamber opens and
closes the escape valve to decrease or increase the
heat in the heat reservoir, but does not open or
close any valve in the egg chamber. The brass
" guide" straddles the lever. The "support"
holds the lever by a brass pin on which it works.
The nuts on the perpendicular rod are to adjust
the regulator. The nuts on the end of lever are to
balance it to the makers' adjustment, and must not
be moved. Run the machine between 102 and 103
let 102 be your low point, and 103 your high
90

point. Run it empty for 24 hours to get well
regulated, then put in the eggs. Always fill the
lamps in the morning, if possible. After the eggs
have been in 24 hours, turn thenTtwice a day with
the extra tray. Fill the moisture pans on the tenth
day, unless otherwise directed for special location
or altitude. Test eggs on fifth or sixth day (see
(< Testing Eggs"); test again on tenth day. If
you wish to gain knowledge, test again on sixteenth
day. Test one tray at a time. If the room is very
cold take them into a warmer room to test them.
Do not have a fire in the room where you keep the
incubator, but have the room well ventilated at all
times. Never turn up the lamp flame when the
cover is raised from the escape. If the cover is
raised high, say ^ inch or more, and the tem-
perature is right, you are wasting oil, and should
lower the flame. If the cover is down and the
temperature is too low, raise the flame. Always
close the doors of machine when you take eggs or
chicks out. You will not need to look at the
hatcher more than twice a day, night and morning.
After the first day cool down the eggs to about 80
or 85 once a day (when turning), until the chicks
begin to break the shell, then do not turn or cool
them anymore, but place the "chicken guards"
on the trays. Take out the chicks morning and
night (only those that are strong enough) and place
in a brooder. Do not open the machine often
when the chicks are hatching. Remember that
when you lake out a lot of live chicks you also
take out animal heat, and turn the flame up a little

more. After filling the water pans see x that they
do not get dry. Trim the lamps once a day and
keep the burners clean.

THE SIMPLICITY COMPARTMENT HATCHER.

This machine is like the Improved Simplicity in
every respect except the position of the lamps, and
is divided into from two to ten compartments, each
compartment having a separate heater and regu-
lator, and may be run independent of the other
compartments. One, two or all the compartments
may be used at a time. Persons who cannot fur-
nish a large number of fresh eggs at one time can
fill one or more compartments and start them to
hatching, and fill up each of the remaining com-
partments at their convenience, thus setting fresh
eggs every time. They may also be used to
advantage by persons who wish to hatch several
different breeds or varieties of chickens, or for
chickens, ducks, geese, guineas, turkeys, pheas-
ants, quails, etc.

WATER EXPANSION REGULATORS.

In erder that you may get a fair understanding
of the water expansion system of regulating an in-
cubator, we will give the claim made by one of the
manufacturers of that class of machines, and insert
our opinion in Italics said opinion being based on
92

93.

experience of one season with one of these ma-
chines (in California), and a season with three of
them (in Pennsylvania).

" REGULATION."

" This machine is regulated by the expansion ol
water. At one end of the tank, which contains thirty
gallons of water, is attached a regulating tube
some three or four inches in diameter. In this
tube is inserted a float made of thin brass foil,
weighing perhaps one ounce, but displacing water
to the amount of one and one-half pounds.
This float, with the expansive and contractile
force of thirty gallons of water behind it,
works with the regularity and precision of a
steam engine. [Regardless of what the heat
may be in the egg chamber, which must vary
according to the outside changes of temperature.'}
When the water expands it raises this float, which
forces up a small level bar to which is attached the
extinguishers on the lamps. When this float rises,
as it must do with the least expansion of water, the
heat is cut off on the lamps. [ The flame is lowered,
provided the lamp trip does not stick ; but if the
temperature of the room rises, you must be there to
add more water to make it lower the flame more
than usual, or to put out the light entirely. ] Should
the water cool and contract, the blaze is turned on
in full force. [If the room should become cold, the
operator must draw off some water , much or little,
according to circumstance s.~\ Now, as the tank is
the source of heat for the egg chamber, one can
readily see that it is impossible to injure the eggs by
94

too much heat. [ The tank being the source of heat
and there being no regulator in the egg chamber to
control that heater, even though you should be able
to keep the water in the tank at a stationary tempera-
ture forjthree weeks, the temperature of the egg
chamber will vary every time the temperature of the
room changes if it gets much warmer it will over-
heat the eggs ; if much colder, they will not have
enough heat. Overheating is the most dangerous]
Indeed, so delicate is the action, that this incuba-
tor has been known to run a week without varying
one degree of heat. [ When the temperature of the
room has not varied. ~\ There are no sleepless nights
connected with the use of this machine. [ We have
lost lots of sleep with them (and so have many
others).] This makes the most perfect regulator
ever invented, \water must be added to or drawn
from the tank according to changes of outside tem-
perature'} giving the operator absolute control not
only of the heat in the egg chamber, [as ' absolute"
as with no regulator at all\ but of any given egg
tray as well. As we depend upon the expansive
and contractile force of the water in the tank to
regulate the heat, [when we did, and the outside
temperature changed, we got left.] of course it
makes the principle which generates the superfluous
heat provide for its own escape. \_If the outside
temperature does not change] For instance, the
machine running at a given point, the water being
the source of heat, you cannot get any more heat
in the egg chamber unless you heat the water hot-
ter, and that is impossible unless you expand it,
95

[Let the outside temperature rise 20, 40 or 50
jj/<? wz// yfodf w0re heat than you want in the egg
chamber, and you will not wait for the water to ex-
pand if you wish to save the eggs, but will draw off
some hot and add some cold water to the tank. ] and as
the expansive force of one- fourth of a degree will cut
the lights entirely off, it makes it simply impossible
to overheat the machine or eggs. [It is possible at
times to blow out the lamps entirely and still over-
heat a hot water incubator , especially during the
last week, when the animal heat in the eggs is in-
creasing rapidly. ~\ Manipulating the lamps does
not affect the heat in the egg chamber at all.
[Rats !] All the operator has to do is to see that
he has enough of flame, and the regulator will
take care that he does not get too much. [Some
operators depend entirely upon manipulating the
lamps, and dispense with the regulator. If the tem-
perature of the room would not change, the regula-
tor might control the temperature of egg chamber ;
but if the temperature of the room is kept stationary,
why not hatch in the room instead of buying an in-
cubator f\ We use two lamps on our largest ma-
chines, though usually one is all sufficient to furnish
all the heat required. We call one our safety
lamp ; for instance, should the operator forget to
fill one lamp, and the light should go out, the
water cools contracts the float is lowered, the
heat is turned on in full force on the other lamp
and the heat is not changed at all in the egg cham-
ber. Suppose he forgets to attach the extinguisher
to one lamp, and double heat is turned on ; the
96

water heats expands the other extinguisher rises
and promptly puts out the other light, and still the
heat remains unchanged in the egg chamber.
Suppose both lights go out, for want of oil ; the
thirty gallons of water, packed with an inch of
hair felting all around and over it, as it is, in a
double cased machine, packed with the same in-
sulating material, does not lose more than one or
two degrees of heat during the whole night. [/$ a
person likely to Jill one lamp and forget the other, if
both are together? If you forgot to attach one ex
tinguisher on a very warm day, you would risk
spoiling the eggs, as the turning down of one flame
would not compensate for the one at full blast at the
latter part of a hatch. A person who has not time
and memory to fill the lamp or lamps once in 24.
hours should not use an incubator .] Now an incu-
bator has got to be run three weeks, night and day.
All of the above mistakes often occur through the
carelessness, forgetfulness or inexperience of the at-
tendant ; so that the superiority and safety of our
regulation above all others is manifest. The
superiority of this principle of regulation over
that on hot air machines is manifest. [ We fail to
see it.~\ Their only means of reducing heat is by
ventilating when the heat is excessive ; [ This, if
applied to the heat in the egg chamber (and thai is
the vital place}, is a mistake or a misstatement, as
the best hot air incubators do not regulate the tem-
perature of the egg chamber by opening and closing
ventilators therein or therefrom it is the Hot
Water machines that do that. The hot-air machine
97

takes away the SUPPLY of heat from the heater
and PRE VENTS the heater from overheating the
egg chamber at any time. See Hot-air Incubator J\
Again, other makers decry our lamp trips, saying,
'They are unreliable' [Not only unreliable, but
dangerous, from their inclination to clog and stick,
causing smoke, overheat, etc^\ when this is the
safest and surest part of the whole thing, \_At par
with the other details. ~\ as it is nothing more or less
than an adjustable wick tube to reduce the flame.
Instead of turning down the flame, the tube is
drawn up over it the action different, but the
result the same."

TWO REGULATORS.

Some incubators have two regulators. Why ?
Because one is not sufficient. The regulator which
raises and lowers the flame of the lamp does not
entirely control the heat, especially when the tem-
perature of the room rises. To remedy this diffi-
culty a second regulator is added, one to open and
close a valve in the egg chamber. As we have
used such machines, we will tell you how they
worked for us, and you can decide whether or not
two regulators are an advantage.

For instance we set the lamp trip regulator to
lower the flame at 103^ and the egg chamber
ventilator to open at 104^ both thermostats
being in ^the egg chamber. The temperature of
the room in which the incubator is operated is 55
at 7 o'clock A. M. We have filled and trimmed
98

the lamps and turned the eggs, so we leave the
incubator and go about our other business, not
expecting to have to attend to the incubator again
until 6 or 7 P. M. If the temperature of the room,
remains at 55 and the lamp trip does not clog or
stick all may go well ; but by n A. M. the tem-
perature of the room has risen to 70, the tempera-
ture of the egg chamber rises to 103^ and the
lamp flame is lowered. The temperature of the
room keeps rising until it reaches 80, and not-
withstanding the fact that the flame is lowered, the
heat in the egg chamber rises to 104^ and the
second regulator opens a damper valve in the egg
chamber. Now the cooler air of the room (at 80)
rushes in the egg chamber, acts on the thermostat
and closes the valve. It also acts on the other
thermostat and causes the flame to be turned up,
while the water in the tank has not cooled a
degree. The higher flame now makes the water
still hotter, and the air in the egg chamber is
reheated, down goes the lamp, open flies the
damper, the cooler air rushes in, the damper closes,
up goes the flame, and hotter still gets the water
in the tank. The up and down and opening and
closing process goes on at an increased rate
(shorter intervals) while the egg chamber goes
through a course of chills and fevers with fluctu-
ating ventilation and moisture the latter being
affected by every change of ventilation, until the
temperature of the room declines towards evening
to 55 or 60 or to the point at which it stood
when the regulators were set or adjusted. If you
99

can keep an even temperature in the room, you
may be able to control a hot water incubator with
two regulators ; but in that case why not hatch in
the room without an incubator ?

HOCUS POCUS REGULATORS.

The old game of "hocus pocus," or, "now ycu
see it, and now you don't," may serve very nicely
as an innocent amusement for children, but when
applied to the regulator of an incubator, is not
particularly amusing to the operator of such incu-
bator. The following review of a regulator farce
in four acts running through four editions of an
incubator catalogue (our observations being
inserted in italics}, is to the point.

HOCUS POCUS;

OR THE MAGIC REGULATOR.

FIRST ACT (from Catalogue No. 5).
"OUR REGULATOR." To control the heat
through a course of hatching at a temperature of
103 within the egg chamber, has been the perplex-
ing question with all incubator manufacturers.
Methods consisting of electricity, mercury, water
expansion, thermostat, lamp trips and other devices
we have personally and practically tested, which
enables us to know from experience the great
advantage of an incubator with a large water capa-
city, to produce the amount of heat necessary with-

100

out bringing it to a boil, {Notice how they slide off
of the regulator question into a large tank of water}
which is the case where small and shallow tanks are
used. {A large tank of water will not cool off as
easily as a smaller one, and the possibility of over-
heating is greater and more dangerous. To produce
a temperature of 103 in the egg chamber the body
of water must be so hot ; if the temperature of Ihe
room rises or falls, the water in the large tank must
be made hotter or cooler, as the occasion demands,
and if a large body of water gets too hot, it stays
too hot longer than a smaller body of water. If it
gets too cold, it takes longer to reheat it. What has
that to do with the regulator f)

The is supplied with FOUR exhaust

ventilators, one at each corner of the machine, and
so arranged that during incubation a continuous
and evenly distributed current of warm air passes
through the egg chamber, carrying with it all gas
and poisonous vapor which accumulates during the
process of hatching, and exhausts the heat as it
reaches the point of 103. ( With no motive power
to open or close these four ventilators, will any sane
person imagine that they will control the temperature
of the egg chamber any more than four windows
will control the temperature of a room, unless an
attendant watches and opens and closes them partly
or entirely as the O2itside temperature changes ? On
the contrary, the ventilation will be greater on a
cold than on a warm day, the amount of air passing
through being governed by the changes of tempera-
ture of the room). By this method we have a
101

T*- -T- -T, .> JE ^^s^

regulator which is simple, perfect and absolutely
reliable, ( The machine as described has no more
regulator than an ordinary tea kettle has, and on
the following page of same catalogue they not only
admit that they have no automatic regulator, but
you will see them say that there is no absolutely self-
regulating incubator. Nothing slow about this
farce /), and one that produces a gradual and even
ventilation, and avoids all chilly drafts which occur
in incubators ventilated by the constant opening
and closing of large swinging dampers, claimed to
regulate the heat, and placed immediately over the
egg drawer. We have fully demonstrated the
good qualities of our hatcher, and the reliability
of our regulator to the people in this whole section
by completing two hatches in succession, in one of
the largest and most extensively decorated show

windows in the city of , with good success.

Would respectfully ask : Could we, in any way

better explain what the will do? or the

accuracy of our regulator. {Have you, thus far,
found any explanation as to HO W this ' regulator*
regulates ? How it manages the big body of water
when it gets too hot and sends the temperature of the
egg chamber up to IIO Q , as we have seen it ; or
how it warms it up again when it gets too cool f
No f Well neither have we ; but we can tell you
how its manufacturers did it at the World 's Fair :
They turned the light up or down and waited
several hours, or got others to do it for them. Had
the four ventilators at the corners exhausted the
heat at 103, there would have been no danger of
102

overheating in the night, and had it been self -regu-
lating, there would have been no occasion to have
persons on the lookout to turn the lamp up or down .)
Many will say, after reading the description

given herein : The Incubator is undoubtedly

a good machine, but would prefer one with a self-
regulator connected with it. {Here is an admission
that it is not automatic and has NO REGULA-
TOR, and you must regulate it entirely by hand,
raising or lowering the lamp flame with each
change of temperature, if you happen to get there in
time. ) RIGHT HERE permit us to call your attention
to the fact that there is not an incubator in existence
that is absolutely self- regulating (No, there is no
perpetual motion that will fill the lamps and attend
to the requirements without human aid, but there are
incubators that regulate as perfectly as one could
wish, and need no attention, except for a few min-
utes twice a day.}, it makes no difference what
superior claims the proprietors set forth, or the
device or arrangement used for adjusting or gov-
erning the heat in the egg chamber. (7s not this
a contradiction of their claim just made, of the
accuracy of their regulator. The farce abounds
with funny situations.} Experienced incubator
operators will bear us out in this statement. (Not
if they have used the best makes of modern incuba-
tors ; hundreds prove to the contrary.} From one
of the many books of directions for operating Self-
regulating Incubators, which we have in our
possession, we quote the following paragraph.
" No matter how much of a self- regulating machine
103

4444 4444 4444 4444 4444 44 44 4 444 44 4 4 44 44 #

it is, the SUPPLY of heat must be regulated by
hand more or less, as the temperature of the room
changes. You must understand the working of
the regulator and see that it is set at the proper
degree before you put ANY EGGS in the ma-
chine." (No person would start to fire up a new
boiler without properly adjusting the safety valve,
nor would an engineer attempt to start his locomo-
tive before getting up steam to the required pressure.
A baker would not put his bread in an oven before
it was thoroughly heated. Certainly an incubator
manufacturer with common sense would not direct
you to put eggs into an incubator before you have
the heat up to lof and the regulator set to control
it. Such argument (?} is ridiculous}. The fore-
going leaves you to judge the real value of self-
regulators, which is materially the *same advice
given to all purchasers, after sending their cash for a
self- regulating incubator. (All so-called self -regu-
lating incubators are not self -regulating, but there
are some which are.)

We most emphatically state that the

is as near perfect in this respect as a machine for
hatching eggs can be made, unassisted by motive
power, thermostat, clock-work, electricity or any
secondary appliance whatever. (No motive power,
no automatic regulation; and where there is no
automatic regulation you must depend upon regu-
lating by hand, that is by turning the flame up or
down; if you are not at hand at the proper time,
which may be at midday or at midnight, you get left
on the hatch, your eggs get cooked or chilled?) Our
104

machine is in every sense practical and reliable,
readily understood and easily managed. After a
short experience with one of our hatchers, we will
guarantee that you may be absent from the machine
from seven in the morning till seven in the evening
and it will take care of itself, unless (Jia /) an un-
usual and extreme change of temperature takes
place. A change of from seven to ten degrees will
have no material effect on our incubator." {If no
extreme change of temperature takes place / Well,
extreme changes do take place in twelve hours, even
in daytime, but what about leaving it alone all
night, when changes of from ten to forty degrees
frequently occur f In some parts of this country
a change of fifty degrees within 24. hours is not
unusual?)

SECOND ACT (from Catalogue No. 6, early edi-
tion.)

" OUR REGULATOR." For ten years the

Incubator has been manufactured. Each year it
has rapidly advanced in popularity and to-day
stands in the front rank with the best. This has
been accomplished by adding new features but
only when such features are proven practical and
consistent with other important appliances which
must be used to constitute a first- class hatcher, as
an imperfect regulator will derange and seriously
affect both moisture and ventilation. In equipping

our with regulator, we have been very

careful to avoid all puzzling contrivances. (After
105

a constant war against regulators they conclude
that they need one. That they did put their foot
into a puzzling contrivance will be evident when
you observe that in a later edition of catalogue No.
6 their regulator is discarded has disappeared in
twenty gallons of water.) Methods consisting of
electricity, mercury, water-expansion, lamp-trips,
and numerous other devices, we have practically
tested. {Can we believe that they had tested the
regulator which they now claim to have adopted,
when they did not have one on their incubator at
World' s Fair, during the latter part of which they
announced that they had a regulator, after examin-
ing the regulators of other machines on exhibition,
and asking where and by whom they were made.
Did they have it on the two incubators outside the
fair grounds, hatching chicks for their brooders?),
but find nothing so complete in every particular as
the late improved combined thermostat, which is
as sensitive to the heat's action as the thermometer
itself. {How does that sound after what they said in
the first act about self-regulating incubators? A
month or so previous they were no good ; now there
is nothing so complete and bear in mind they claim
to add only such features as are proven practical.
Here the farce borrows a feature of the pantomime,
and the clown turns a somersault)

A thermostat bar twelve inches long, (too short)
composed of steel, brass and rubber, all especially
prepared for our hatchers. {The combination is
something new, indeed. We do not say that they
did not attempt to use such a thermostat, but we
106

were told by a lady that she bought one of these
incubators shortly after the World 's Fair, under-
standing from the catalogue that it had such a
regulator, but found that there was no thermostat
in the machine. That she wrote to the makers
about it, and they told her that the party who made
them for them had failed, and they could not get
any more ; but thai she should remember that it was
not the regulator that hatched the chicks, but the
incubator. She said that she returned the machine
to its makers and asked for her money. We pre-
sume that she got it.} The bar is securely fastened
to the under side of frame which supports the tank
and on a level with the upper surface of the eggs.
At the unfastened end of the bar it connects with
lever and a brass rod, which opens and closes a
small ventilating tube. This ventilating cap is
easily adjusted by means of two little set- screws,
one above and one below the cap, on outside and
on top of tube, and can be set to open or close at
any desired degree of temperature in the egg-
chamber. With our regulator no rods or bearings
are attached to the outside of the machine. ( We
have not found any person who has yet seen them on
the inside.} We have known of serious accidents
occurring where the regulating attachments are
exposed to the meddling of children, and one
instance especially, where 600 nice eggs were
ruined two days before they were due to hatch by
a rat running over the top of the incubator and
dislocating the regulator. {Rats ! It is a case of
sour grapes. Notice later, in the fourth act, cata-
107

logue No. 10, where they claim to have another
regulator this time on the outside, they forget to
mention the mischievous rat, or the meddling chil-
dren ; but such an important character as Mr. Rat
should be made to play his part to the end of the
farce)

THIRD ACT (from Catalogue No. 6, later edition.)

"As TO THE MATTER OF REGULATION." The

Incubator has been on the market NINE

consecutive years. (Glance back to beginning of
second act.) Its growth in public favor has been
rapid. It is to-day the most popular incubator in
existence. It has won this high rank strictly on its
merits. Its wide-spread popularity is, we claim,
absolute proof of its merits of its real value as a
hatcher. The proof of the pudding is in the eat-
ing ! In reply to all envious assertions made by
competitors, we have this to say : Mere assertion is
one thing ; actual results, as described and sworn
to by men and women who have bought and are

now using hatchers, are very different

things. The one is the boasting of men who have
something to sell ; the others are the disinterested
statements of persons who have paid out their
good money for artificial hatchers and have put
them to the test. ****** The real
safety of the heat governor on a successful incu-
bator depends upon the amount of water used.

That is the secret of success. The holds

twenty gallons of water, 200 egg capacity. (Here
108

they fall back again into the twenty gallons of water.

Where, oh, where is that 12 -inch thermostat?

Where is the new feature which they had proven ;
the thermostat that was as sensitive to the heafs
action as the thermometer itself? Did a rat carry

FOURTH ACT (from tenth annual catalogue, first

edition).

"* AUTOMATIC HEAT REGULATORS." The
, as originally patented, was not
equipped with an automatic regulator. The value
of a trustworthy regulator was appreciated, how-
ever, ( What about the twenty gallons of water and
the four ventilating holes, which in First Act, cata-
logue No. 5, was a regulator simple, perfect and
absolutely reliable ?) and during a number of years
extensive experiments were made by us along this
line. ( We should say so, when within one year four
different catalogues were used to convince pro-
spective customers that the machine had a simple,
perfect and reliable regulator, while they were
ringing the changes on the twenty gallons of water
and four ventilators, the 12 inch rubber, brass and
steel thermostat, the twenty gallons of water and
four ventilators again, and then the severed band cf
brass and soldered steel wires.) So-called lamp
trips were tried and found to be untrustworthy.
The rubber thermostat, or rubber bar was faithfully
tried, but was found to lose its power after three or
four hatches and thus become worthless. (Less
than a year before they said they had a complete
109

regulator the expansive power of which was,
we believe, rubber. Now they say it is worthless.
Then they declared that they added only such
features as had ' ' proven practical? ') A regulating
device which depends on a rubber bar for its power
will not last, as the rubber, when continually
exposed to a temperature of 103, dies, as the
scientists say, or loses its power of regular expan-
sion and contraction. It is like the rubber in a
pair of ordinary suspenders, in the heat of summer
the rubber gives out. A steel strip is used with a
view to correcting this loss of power in the rubber
thermostat, but with only temporary results.
( Was this true when they claimed it "proven"
" complete in every particular and as sensitive to
the heat' s action as the thermometer itself" ; or do
the laws of nature change within a year to suit the
convenience of these punsters ? Verily, the farce is
a merry one!) We know exactly what we are
talking about in this respect, for the simple reason
that we once adopted this same device and had to
discard it as being worse than no regulator at all.
{But say, while we are proud to see them own up
for once, we cant exactly see how they are going to
explain the fairy tale in one of the catalogues No.
6, where they declare that they added only such new
features as have PRO V EN practical and consist-
ent, and give the public to understand that the said
device had been thoroughly tested and proven, and
found practical and accurate.

There are no secrets connected with the

incubators, none whatever. In this book we aim
no

to explain and describe every part and feature of
our machines so that there need be no misunder-
standings. We want our patrons to know before-
hand precisely what they are to get. ( The bass-
drum and trombone put in a staccato note here.}
We are willing to leave it to their judgment
whether or not our machines are honest goods
built on correct principles. {Soft cadences of
harmony from second violin, flute, clarionet in E
flat, French horn and violoncello. Ladies in the
parquet and dress circle weep in an undertone.
Lights low?)

The regulator we now use {For how long f) on
all our machines, depends for its power on the
expansion and contraction of metals, brass and
steel, under a change of temperature a natural
law that is as certain as that a stone when thrown
into the air will fall back to earth. ( The old steel
and brass combination was discarded years ago by
parties who now manufacture good incubators, and
a third tumble into the same old twenty gallons of
ivater will probably be a feature in the next cata-
logue. Unfortunately the new customers very rarely
see the old catalogues?)

Tableau Colored lights Lively music.

CURTAIN.

There are numerous ' ' hocus pocus " regulators (?)
placed on so-called incubators. While nobody
objects to would-be inventors experimenting with
every new contrivance offered them as regulators,
provided they do the experimenting at their own
in

expense, before placing the machine or contrivance
on the market, most persons do object to having
an experimental regulator palmed off on them for
a thoroughly tested and proven one. A mariner
is just as safe with a deficient compass as a poultry-
man is with a faulty regulator on his incubator.
If it occurs to you that we seem to be finding a
great deal of fault, we would call your attention to
the fact that when a surveyor makes a chart of a
river or bay, he does not stop at lining out the safe
courses and deep channels, but is equally particular
to designate the dangerous rocks, treacherous
shoals and sunken wrecks. Did we fail to do the
same in this line you would censure us.

OTHER METHODS OF REGULATION.

Take a machine with a thermostatic bar close to
the heater, not level with the eggs, and the bottom
of the incubator being nothing but one thickness
of galvanized iron, with water pans made in the
iron ; a change of temperature in the room will,
through this thin iron, affect the temperature of
the egg chamber below the thermostatic bar,' and
as high as the level of the egg centre, before affect-
ing the bar, and under some circumstances the
variations do not reach the bar at all. The chilling
of the water through this thin bottom is also fatal
to good results. The flame of the lamp must be
raised or lowered as the temperature of the room
changes to any extent.

Another incubator, partly double wall, one-inch
112

wood with galvanized iron inside ; a thermostatic
bar as in the former, or nearly so, only made in
different shape and applied differently to open a
damper in the top and to raise the lamp trips to
lower the flames. This damper opens, and out
rushes the heat and the moisture. The eggs and
the water are thus cooled.

This damper is supposed to open at 103^ or
104 and to close at 102, and under certain cir-
cumstances it will do it, but you cannot depend
upon it. It may open at 103^ and close at 101
for a week, and it may open at 103 and not close
until the temperature falls to 95, and again it will
close at 101 and. will not open until 1 10 is reached
we have seen them go up to 115 before opening.
Can this be called " self- regulating ?" Can the
right amount of moisture be applied by this
arrangement ?

Another class have a water tank over the eggs,
with thermometer immersed in the water, and the
operator is directed to keep the water at a certain
temperature. We have seen eggs cooked in this
kind-of a machine with water kept as directed.

Another lined with paper, and having a regulator
four inches above the eggs, and water on top of
the heater, with a damper over the water, which
damper is supposed to open and close at the desired
temperature. It does not do so with any regularity,
and when it does open, it is liable to stay open all
day and, of course, the moisture goes out. We
have run three of this kind with bad results, after
which they were stored away.

Another has a very pretty appearance, glass
doors, etc., with thermostatic bar, single wall,
clock-work and battery ; dampers in the top to
open and close (often six or eight times in an hour),
lamp trips to lower the flame ; it is quite a piece of
machinery and quite likely to get out of order,
both the clock-work and the thermostatic bar, as
well as the battery. When these all work right it
gives very good results ; but it requires skill,
experience and a mechanical turn to operate this
class of machines successfully.

Another has splendid arrangements for moisture
and ventilation ; but the thermostatic bar is affected
by the swelling and shrinking of the machine and
change of outside temperature ; in some climatesj
we find it almost impossible to control it in an
ordinary house.

We have found where lamp trips are used the
wick becomes charred much quicker.

Another kind has a tank to pour hot water into
above the eggs, which are placed in a drawer.
The water must be drawn out and heated every
day, sometimes several times in a day, and is not
reliable for profitable work .

There are others which we might mention, but*
space forbids, nor is it necessary.

Most of the so-called "self-regulating" incu-
bators that we have seen have to be governed ;
principally by the lamp and some judgment of the
operator.

Example : We have a large room made of one-
inch boards, with a stove in it, which, in moderate
114

*A.A.&A.AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.AAAAAAAAAl*AA/y

weather with a moderate fire, will heat it comfort-
ably. In cold weather it takes a larger fire to heat
it, and in extremely cold weather the hottest fire
we can make in this stove will not heat it properly.
Why ? Because the outside temperature penetrates
the thin wall. If this same room was to be heated
for chicks, the chicks to run on the floor, and you
wanted the temperature on the floor at 70, would
you for a moment think of putting the regulator at
the ceiling and calculating the temperature below ?

THERMOSTATS.

Air, water, alcohol, ether, iodine, kerosene,
mercury, gold, silver, iron, steel, brass, rubber and
many other substances have been used in making
thermostats, with varying success. A thermostat
combining the right quality of vulcanized rubber
with a grade of brass made suitable for this purpose,
is the best one yet made. It took years of experi-
ment to determine the exact quality and grade,
and it requires an expert to put them together so
they will work true and correctly, and neither lose
power nor take a back or reverse action.

A thermostat may work near enough to control
the heat of a furnace or to ventilate a house, and
yet fail to give satisfaction on an incubator ; for a
very small variation of the thermostat may ruin
the entire hatch.

Each year some manufacturer of metal goods,
agricultural implements, show cases, washing

machines or novelties, announces to the incubator
people that he has just perfected a regulator that
he will put on his incubator this season, and that
he would like to furnish it at a low cost to the
manufacturers of incubators. The mushroom
concerns that have a regulator which does not
work, and some of those that have none at all
(which is far better, because you know you have to
watch them) jump at it, and then whoop that they
have something that they have tested for years.
They seldom know a good thing when they see it,
but the bitter complaints of customers cause them
to cast about for something else, and they are
ready for the next fake that comes along.

Manufacturers of thermostats for fire alarms
have failed to produce one for incubators.

Air, water, alcohol, and most liquids are affected
by atmospheric pressure, etc., and are not reliable.
Alcohol is rarely used in thermometers now, except
where extremely low temperatures are to be taken,
when mercury fails to act. Zinc expands well, but
fails to contract ; it gradually grows longer and is
useless. Mercury, if not confined, will evaporate ;
even when confined it is affected by moisture, and
is not a perfect material for a thermostat. You
may say, "If moisture affects a mercury thermo-
stat, why will it not affect a mercury thermometer? "
It does ; but a comparatively small amount of
mercury is used in a thermometer. As a proof of
this assertion, look at the very best hygrometers,
which are made by using a wet and a dry bulb
thermometer. Notice the difference between the
116

temperatures of the wet thermometer and the dry
one. If moisture affects a small amount of mer-
cury that much, what will it do with from twenty
to forty times the bulk? Iron and steel are too
slow to contract, or return. Gold and silver are
too expensive, and are not equal to brass as a
metal part. Remember that there are many kinds
of brass, and all kinds will not answer. Liquids
are not safe ; besides the danger of a leak, the
expansion and contraction of the metal in which
they are confined must be overcome or compen-
sated for.

MOISTURE GAUGES AND HYGROMETERS.

We have experimented with many moisture
gauges and hygrometers both inside and outside
of incubators, and have not found them of any
practical use inside of an incubator. The majority
of those offered to poultrymen are not at all
117

reliable, and many of them should be classed with
toys. For instance, we have two of the same make
and kind, and placed them side by side, and found
them indicating different degrees of humidity.
We have then placed a high-priced hygrometer
between them and corrected both to correspond
with the high-grade instrument. In a few hours
No. i would mark 70 while No. 2 would point to
90 while the standard instrument indicated 55.
Again, when No. i was at 90 No. 2 was pushing
past 100, and later when No.. 2. was at 40 No. i
was at 55. There was no regularity or .method
in their variations, as one would be higher than
the other one day and lower than the same the
next day. Of what use would either of those
instruments be in an incubator even if you could
control the moisture ? The old-fashioned way of
putting a cigar in the incubator would be just as
serviceable. You tell by the feel of the cigar about
how moist or dry the air is.

There are, of course, hygrometers that are cor-
rect, but few of them are adapted for use in an
incubator. Some are too long or high for the
space between the egg tray and the heat radiator,
while others have a scale so small that it cannot be
read without removing it from the egg chamber to
a stronger light.

It is well to have a good hygrometer in the incu-
bator room and to keep a record of its readings,
daily, for it will be a valuable guide, taken in con-
nection with the record of kinds and condition of
eggs in the incubator, in determining when to fill
118

the moisture pans and the amount of evaporating
surface required. The time and quantity are
figured out for your location and incorporated in
the general directions sent by the manufacturer of
a good incubator, but as he cannot know the
exact kind, quality and condition of the eggs you
may use, his directions are given for the best
results from an average lot of mixed eggs and an
average condition of outside temperature and
humidity.

Here is the record of a little experiment, using
the wet and dry bulb hygrometer and a spiral
moisture gauge in the incubator room, and two
spiral moisture gauges inside the incubator, the
temperature of the egg chamber being 103 the
spiral instruments all being compared and set by
the wet and dry bulb hygrometer, to within one-
fifth of a degree, or as near as possible with such
instruments : First day, in room, dry bulb 79
wet 71 spiral 30 ; inside of incubator, No. i, 60
No. 2, 90. Second day, room, dry 70 wet
76 spiral 100 ; in incubator, No. i, 95 No. 2,
65 ; Afternoon of same day, room, dry 70 wet
76 spiral 85 ; in incubator, No. i, 60 No. 2,
95. Third day, room, dry, 75 wet 72 spiral,
95 ; in incubator, No. I, 100 No. 2 index
against 100, and did not start back until No. i
reached 75. The same degree of heat, same ven-
tilation and same exposure of water surface were
kept in the incubator all three days. We have
kept these and other tests going for years, but
have given enough to illustrate the point without
119

tiring the reader. Try them yourself. The ordi-
nary moisture gauges are not reliable, and if they
were, you could not control the outside humidity.

From one-sixth to eighteen-twenty-firsts of the
incubation there is no water in the egg chamber of
a majority of incubators, to create moisture.
Suppose then the gauge indicates more moisture
than is called for, what will you do ? What use is
the gauge there? If the gauge is not correct you
will know no more than without one. If the water
pans were full and the gauge indicated too much
moisture, and you reduced it, you would probably
do exactly wrong ; for the gauge would fool you .
There is no rule by which a given amount of
moisture can be used through an entire hatch, or
for a part of it, by any gauge. A correct gauge
will indicate the degree of humidity, but thus far,
it has never been perfectly controlled in an incu-
bator, nor is it likely to be as long as ventilation is
a necessity. We can regulate it to a great extent
so as to make very good hatches ; but the man
who expects to control the moisture in the egg
chamber must look beyond a moisture gauge.

There is more moisture when the chicks are
hatching than at any other time ; they also need
more then. The tray of wet chicks increases the
moisture.

Some eggs require more moisture than others.
Some eggs will stand more moisture than others.
Thick shell eggs require less than those with thin,
soft shells. You will often hear a person say that
their thin shell eggs hatched splendidly, but that

120

the chicks died in those with thick .shells. It is
generally the case that they had just the right
amount of moisture for the thin shell eggs, and too
much for the thick ones. Would the moisture
gauge help the thick shell eggs in that instance ?
As the majority of persons have a mixed lot of
eggs, general directions must be given that will
give the best results, as a rule. If directions with
incubators were made to fill a dozen or twenty
pages, a great many beginners would slight them
and omit some of the most vital points; or they
would reject them entirely as too complicated.
But those who wish to get all there is in the busi-
ness, should try to have eggs as nearly alike in
character of shell as possible, to fill an incubator.
This is impracticable to many, but comparatively
easy where one has two or more incubators.

Mason's Hygrometer consists cf two thermome-
ters, as nearly as possible alike, mounted parallel
upon a frame and marked respectively "wet"
and "dry." The bulb of the one marked wet is
covered with thin muslin or silk, and kept moist
from a fountain which is usually attached. The
principle of its action is, that unless the air is satu-
rated with moisture, evaporation is continually
going on. And as no evaporation can take place
without an expenditure of heat, the temperature
of the wet bulb thermometer, under the evapora-
tion from the moistened bulb, falls until a certain
point is reached, intermediate between the dew-
point and the temperature of the air, as shown by
the dry bulb thermometer. To find the dew-point,
121

the absolute dryness, and the
weight in grains of a cubic foot
of air, tables have been con-
structed empirically from experi-
ments at Greenwich, combined
with Regnault's tables of Vapor
Tension, for the use of which we
are indebted to the courtesy of
MESSRS. QUEEN & Co., Phila-
delphia.

If the air be very dry, the dif-
ference between the two. ther-
mometers will be great ; if moist,
less in proportion, and when fully
saturated, both will be alike. For
different purposes, different de-
grees of humidity are required,
and even in household use, that
hygrometrical condition of the
atmosphere most beneficial to one
person, may frequently be found altogether unsuit-
table for another. " Dry" bulb 70 and "wet"
bulb 62 to 64 indicate average healthful hygrom-
etrical conditions ; any other relative condition re-
quired may easily be found by experiment, and
then, dispensing with calculations, or reference to
tables, it is only necessary to see that the two ther-
mometers stand in the required relation to each
other.

The price of Mason's Hygrometer ranges from
$2.00 to $17.50.

MASON'S HYGROM-
ETER.

122

TABLES FOR THE USE OF MASON'S HYGROMETER.

TABLE OF DEGREES.

Degrees -f- e"x-
cess x 2 -= ab-

III

Degrees + ex-
cess x 2 = ab-

solute Dryness.

O*? 05

solute Dryness.

Sl& t/5

bc-a'a

^ w

Si'o'o

Degrees of
Dryness
Observed.

Excess of
Dryness to
be added.

Degrees of
Dryness
Observed.

Excess of
Dryness to
be added.

Absolute
Dryness
existing.

M ^ c/;

Si 5

o.o

1 1.5

1.9165

26.833

0.5

0.083

1.166

2.OOO

28.0

0.166

2.332

12.5

2 083

29. 166

1.5

0.2495

2.166

30332

0-333

4 666

13-5

2.2495

3' 499

2-5

04165
0.300

5833
7.0

15
18

14
J4-5

2-333
2.4165

32666
33.833

84
87

0.583

8.166

2.500

35 o

0.666

9332

15-5

3.583

36.166

4-5"

0-7495-

10 499

- 27

2.666 37.332

0.833

11.666

165

2-7495

38.499

5-5

09165

12.833

283^

39-666

102

I 000

14.0

175

2.9 65 1 40.833

105

1.083
1.166

15 166
16332

42 i

18
18.5

3.000
3083

420
431^6

108
III

1.2495

17 499

3.166

44332

114

1.333

18.666

195

32495

45499

117

8-5

1.4165

I9.833

3-333

46.666

1 2O

1.500

2I.O

205.

3-4165

47.833

123

9-5

1.583

22 166

3-500

490

126

1.666

23.332

21-5

3.583

50.166

12 9

10.5

1-7495

24499

3" 666

5L332

132

1833

25.666

225

37495

52.499

135

By the TABLE OF DEGREES is shown, without
calculation, the absolute dryness of the atmosphere,
in degrees of Fahrenheit's Thermometer.

Observe the NUMBER OF DEGREES THE TWO
THERMOMETERS DIFFER, which are here called
"degrees of dryness observed," and found IN THE
FIRST COLUMN, of .the table.

The second column merely contains the figures
which, have been added to the degrees of dryness
123

in the first, and multiplied by 2, to obtain THE

ANSWER PUT DOWN IN THE THIRD COLUMN.

EXAMPLE. Temperature of the air 57, wet bulb
54 = 3 degrees of dryness observed ; then add 0.5
excess of dryness = 3.5 and multiply by 2, which
will give 7 degrees of absolute dryness existing.

To find the dew-point Subtract the absolute
dryness from the temperature of the air. Example
57 7 50 dew-point.

To find the actual quantity of vapor by weight
in the atmosphere. Proceed as directed in the
TABLE OF QUALITY.

The comparison of Mason's with the *Dew-
point Hygrometer, and of Sir John Leslie's, will
be seen in the same line of the ist, 3d and 4th
columns of the Table.

TO FIND THE QUANTITY OF TAPOR BY WEIGHT
EXISTING IN THE ATMOSPHERE.

PROBLEM. The Temperature of the Atmos-
phere in the shade, and of the dew-point being
given, to find the quantity of vapor in a cubic foot
of air.

If the temperature of the air and the dew-point
correspond, which is the case when both ther-
mometers are alike, and the air consequently satu-
rated with moisture, then in the table of quantity
opposite to the temperature, will be found the cor-
responding weight of a cubic foot of vapor ex-
pressed in grains.

* Professor Daniel's Hygrometer is registered by the 3d column.
124

EXAMPLE. Let the temperature of the air be
70 F., and the dew point the same. Then op-
posite the temperature you have the weight of a
cubic foot of vapor 8. 392 grains.

But if the temperature of the air be different
from the dew-point, a correction is necessary to find
the exact weight.

EXAMPLE. Suppose the dew- point 'be 70 F., as
before, but the temperature of the air in the shade
be 80, then the vapor lias suffered an expansion due
to an excess of 10, which requires a correction.

We find in the table of corrections for 10 is
1.0208.

Then divide 8.392 grains at the dew-point, viz.,
70 by the correction, corresponding to the degrees
of absolute dryness, viz. , 10, and you have the
actual weight of vapor existing.

8.3920

EXAMPLE. 8.221 grains existing, which

1.0208

substracted from the weight of vapor, correspond-
ing to the temperature of 80 F., gives the number
of grains required for saturation at that tempera-
ture.

EXAMPLE. 11.333 gr. at the temp, of 80 F.
8.221 gr. contained in the air.

3.112 gr. required for saturation.
To find the relations of these conditions on the
natural scale of humidity [complete saturation
being i.ooo], divide the weight of vapor at the dew
point by the weight at the temperature of the air,
125

the quotient gives the parts of 1:000 the degrees of
saturation.

8.392 gr. at the dew-point 70

EXAMPLE. =

1 1.333 gr. at the temp, of the air 80
7.40 degrees of humidity, saturation being i.ooo.

The principles of these calculations will be found
in Professor Daniel's Meteorological Essays ; in
Mr. Anderson's Essays on Hygrometry ; in the
Edinburgh Encyclopedia, Vol. XI, and in the
Edinburgh Journal of Science, Vol. VII, page 43,
in an excellent article on the Dew-point Hygrom-
eter, by Mr. Foggo, from which the table of cor-
rections has been partly subtracted. The table of
quantity by weight has been taken from Professor
Daniel's Work on Meteorology, to which the
reader is referred for further particulars.

126

TABLE OF QUANTITY.

SHOWING THE WEIGHT, IN GRAINS, OF A CUBIC

FOOT OF VAPOR, AT DIFFERENT TEMPERA-

TURES, FROM TO 95 F.
I

1 .

< ^

*j ^

**d.2

w 2 .5

b/j 3 ^

^ fl

53 S g

'53->-i cs

C-2'rt

- S

* H
1

^ O

^ I

H 2

0856
0.892
0.928

1.961
2.028
2.096

49
50

4.279
4.407
4535

72
73
74

8924
9.199

9484

H 3

0.963

2 163

4084

9-780

H 4

0.999

2 229

4.832

10.107

5
< 6

1.034
.069

2.295
2 3 6I

53
54

5003

5-173

10.387
10.699

H 7

.104

2.451

5342

11.016

1 ' 8

139

2539

55H

Ji-333

< 9

173

2.630

5.679

11.665

-1 10

.208

2.717

5.868

12.005

i ii

254

2805

6.046

12.354

308

2 892

6 222

12.713

359
i 405

2-979
3.066

61
62

6-399
6-575

13.081

13-458

15
16

I-45I
M97

39
40

3-153
3239

63
64

6.794
7.013

87
88

13-877
14-230

I-54I

4 1

3371

7-.230

14.613

< 18
< 19

< 20

I.S&6
1.631

1.688

42
43
44

3502

i?4

7447
7.662
7899

90
92

15-005
15.432
15-786

< 21

i 757

3-893

8-135

16.186

1.825
1.893

46
47

4,022
4-151

70 8.392
71 8 658

94
95

16-593
17.009

-< ..-'-

H 127

TABLE OF CORRECTIONS.

TO BE USED WHEN THE TERM OF DEPOSITION, OR

DEW-POINT, DIFFERS FROM THE TEMPERATURE

OF THE AIR IN THE SHADE.

Correc-
tion.

o.oooo'

I.027I

I 0542

1.0813

.0020

1.0291

1.0562

1.0834

.0041

I.O3I2

0583

.0854

.0062

1-0333

0604

0875

.0083

1.0354

.0625

.0896

.0104

1-0375

0646

.0917

.0125

.0396

0667

0937

.0146

.0417

.0687

.0958

.0167

0437

.0708

.0979

.0187

.0458

0729

.1000

.0208

.0479

.0750

.1021

.0229

.0500

.0771

.1042

.0250

.0521

.0792

1062

.1083

5 1

RULE. To find the weight of moisture in a
cubic foot of air at any time. Divide the weight in
grains found opposite to the temperature, corres-
ponding to the dew-point at the time, in the table
of quantity, by the correction found opposite to
difference of temperature in the table of corrections,
corresponding to the absolute dryness existing at
the time.

128

MASON'S PATENT HYGRODIKE.

This instrument is on the principle of Mason's
Hygrometer, but arranged with dial and pointer
so that the absolute and relative dryness and the
dew-point may be read off without calculation.
The price is $15.00

129

REGNAULT'S HYGROMETER, WITH ASPIRATOR.

These instruments consist of a thin and highly-
polished tubular vessel of silver, having one end
somewhat longer than the other. A very delicate
thermometer is introduced into the tube at the
smaller end, to which end of the tubular vessel,
also, a flexible rubber tube with ivory mouth-
piece is attached. A sufficient quantity of ether
to cover the bulb of the thermometer, being
poured into the silver vessel, the ether is agitated
by breathing through the flexible tube. A rapid
evaporation ensues until at the moment the dew-
point is reached, the moisture is seen to condense
upon the exterior surface of the polished silver
tube. The reading of the thermometer at this
precise moment gives the dew-peint. Complete in
case, $75.00. Too high priced for ordinary use,
but a splendid addition to an experimental outfit.
130

BROODING.

For the first day after the chicks are taken from
the incubator they should be confined to a brooder,
to get them used to it, so they will go in and
out.

The brooder or nursery should be so constructed
that they can go in and out at will, and not be
compelled to stay under the hover when too warm
or outside when cold, as is the case with too many
brooders, the chicks in the middle being made
prisoners by those on the outer edges and injured
or suffocated, while at the same time those near
the outer edges are perhaps suffering with cold.

The illustration shows a very nice arrangement
for a nursery or indoor brooder, and is convenient
to have even when you have large brooding houses
heated by hot water pipes. This brooder can be
made by anyone who is handy with tools the
metal heater and chimney can be made by any
tinsmith.

A brooder is supposed to take the place of a
good hen. To do this successfully it must be made
as nearly like a hen as possible. Now how is a hen
built? Where does the heat come from ? Where
do the chicks hover? How do they get to and
from the heat, and receive fresh air? Look at the
illustration of a brooding hen, and see for yourself.
Is not the heat which the chicks get from her
principally side heat? By chance a chick may get
caught under the breast bone or under the foot of
a hen, but not often. The wings, feathers and
132

down of the hen retain the greater part of the
heat from the body. The brooding chicks can put
their heads out for fresh air, instead of being
crammed into a bunch and surrounded by from
fifty to a hundred other chicks. If they are too
warm they can get out, if not pinned down under
the breast bone or foot of the hen.

The heat from the hen certainly cannot te
termed "bottom heat," nor yet "top heat." It
is as she squats down and her body is surrounded
by the chicks principally "side heat," with some
top heat retained by her feathers. Nature pro-
vides a covering for the chicks to nestle under,
and a brooder should have something soft and
heat retaining for them to huddle under ; not
simply a top, compelling them to squat down on
the floor, but something to take the place of the
feathers of the hen.

For the first week the temperature of the brooder
should between 80 and 90 at about two inches
above the floor. After a few days' practice one
easily learns to test the heat under the hover of
brooder by the feel of the hand, and the ther-
mometer is then unnecessary. When we say that
the temperature should be between 80 and 90,
we mean that it should be that warm under the hover
without any chicks under it. As the chicks grow
older they require less artificial heat, because they
furnish more animal heat as they increase in size,
so you should gradually decrease the heat ; but
never have it lower than 70 with chicks under the
hover, as long as they require brooding. This

minimum degree of heat should be reached at
about the sixth week.

It is not necessary to use the thermometer after
once adjusting the heat supply of a brooder,
because (with a proper brooder) you can tell by
the action of the chicks if they are too warm or
too cold. If too warm they will put their heads
out from under the hover or come out entirely.
If too cold they will chirp in a tone which no one
can mistake for a signal of satisfaction. Learn
to tell the right temperature by placing your hand
under the hover it is very simple and easy, and
less trouble and more satisfactory than a ther-
mometer. Some persons will advise you to have
a brooder too hot rather than too cold. We say
have it just right. If the brooder feels comfort-
ably warm to the hand, and the chicks stay under
the hover (at hovering time), seem contented and
do not cry out, you may be sure they are all right.

Brooders with either "top heat" or "bottom
heat," and having a square or oblong hover, say,
eighteen to twenty-four inches square or wide,
either with or without flannel or woolen drapery,
are open to very serious objections. When the
chicks in the middle get too warm they try to
move to the outer edges or to get outside entirely,
but those on the outer edges, being comfortable or
just a trifle cool, refuse to stir, and the ones in the
centre must remain there and become overheated
and sick. Or, if the chicks on the outer edges
become cold they crowd toward the centre and
crush or smother .the chicks that are there. You

say, why not have the heat just right, so they will
have no occasion to push or crowd? How can
you, with that kind of a brooder ? Place a crowd
of people under a shed the floor of which is heated,
and will not those in the middle be uncomfortably
warm if those on the outside edges are just warm
enough? Or, if those in the middle are just warm
enough, will not the outer ones be cold, particu-
larly if the weather is extra warm or extremely
cold? It would be the same if the heat came
from the top. But let chicks surround either a
square or oblong heat reservoir or heater, so
arranged that the hover projects only far enough
to shelter two or three rows of chicks (only
two or three deep from the outer row of flannel
drapery to the wall of the heat reservoir), and
crowding is impossible ; the inner chicks can get
out or the outer ones can get closer in. If a chick
is pushed from under the hover, another takes its
place, and the ousted chick finds the vacant spot
and occupies it. The inner row of chicks are only
about six inches from the outside air and do not
suffer for want of pure ventilation.

You can place a hundred men in rows two or
four abreast and they will be comfortable, but place
them in a square or round room just large enough
to hold them, and, no matter whether it be winter
or summer, at least one-third of them will be un-
comfortable. Is not the argument conclusive?
Still we do not give this from theory, but from ex-
perience after burying bushels of chicks from
both " bottom heat" and ''top heat "brooders.

Since adopting "side heat" we have not lost over
five per cent.

The flannel or woolen drapery which hangs
down from the hover and helps retain the heat and
gives a feeling of cosy comfort to the chicks is
essential. Nature gives them side heat (from the
hen) and soft covering (the feathers of the hen),
and so must we. if we want them to be comfort-
able and thrifty. Heated floor or ceiling is not
enough. Would you like to heat a bedroom up
to 70 or 80 and lie on the bed or floor with no
covering ? We think you would prefer to have the
room at 30 or 40 and put on a few blankets. Use
your best judgment in the matter of brooding.
If your present system is not satisfactory, or if you
have not begun, try the side heat, which combines
partial top heat, as shown by the illustration of the
brooding hen, with narrow hover well draped with
something to take the place of feathers, and you
will solve the problem of brooding. This plan
takes from one-third to one-half less fuel than other
styles of brooders.

After the chicks have been in the brooder or
nursery one day and night they should be allowed
more run, and if the weather is fair they should
have out-doors runs. Keep them from the grass
until the sun or wind has dried it. If the weather
is cold, watch them the first day and see that they
do not stay out and get chilled ; but after they have
learned to go in and out of the brooder, they may
be let out in winter as well as in warmer seasons,
but you must use some judgment.
136

Keep the brooder clean by using sand or earth
on floor of brooder and house. Do not use the
very fine, dusty kind of sand if you can get any-
thing else.

As soon as the chicks show an inclination to
roost get them out of the brooding house and into
less expensive houses, if you have them, and make
room for others, besides giving them more range.

BROODING HOUSES.

A continuous brooding house, divided into
rooms, should have a passage way through it, and
if thirty feet long, or longer, should have a hot
water stove to furnish heat for the brooders, so as
to save attention to so many lamps.

If the house is furnished with single brooders,
each room should be five and one-half feet wide
and nine feet long the length being parallel with
the divisions or dividing fences of yards. If heated
by continuous hot water pipes, the rooms should
be nine feet wide at right angles with the dividing
fences, and five and one-half feet long parallel
with dividing fences. The reason for this arrange-
ment will be apparent on examining the different
brooding apparatus. These rooms will accommo-
date from fifty to one hundred chicks, each.

138

BROODING HOUSE

WITH HOT AIR BROODERS.

This brooding house is fitted with the Von Culin
Indoor Hot Air Brooders. The rooms may be
five feet wide and nine feet long, or may be made
wider, if desired. The position of each brooder is
shown (B). The floor is elevated one foot above
the ground, to allow brooder floor to be on a level
with the room floor. The top frame shown around
the hot air brooder is moveable, and may be taken
away after the chicks get used to the brooder.
Or, it may be covered with fine wire netting and
placed on at night where there is danger from rats
or other vermin.

BROODING HOUSE

WITH HOT WATER SYSTEM.

This brooding house is fitted with the Von Culin
system of hot water piping and brooders. The
drawing shows the arrangement of the pipes and
brooders, the division of rooms and yards, the
arrangement of base board and wire divisions, and
the passage way back of the rooms. The second
drawing gives details of the brooding system.

Each room should be nine feet wide ; this gives
a brooder nine feet long. The depth or width of
139

140

fooms, five feet, with yards as large as you can
make them. The base boards should be two feet
high, and on top of that four feet of wire netting,

VON CULIN S BROODING SYSTEM.
(For Hot Water Circulation.)

two inch mesh. If base board is only one foot
high, then use one inch mesh. Posts should be
ten feet apart. Passage, two and one- half feet

141

wide. It does not cost any more to build rooms
this size and shape than to build them long and
narrow. The wide room gives a better shaped
yard.

The preceding illustration represents the Von
Culin system of brooders, heated by circulation of
hot water for houses of all sizes. The illustration
on page 140, shows the application of the same.
Y, shows the passage of house; D, the floor; P,
the base board above the brooder ; S, wire netting
which divides the passage from rooms ; H, the
main hot water pipe ; K, return pipe ; L, the box-
ing of pipes, forming the heater ; M, wire netting
to keep chicks from 'pipes ; W, flannel covering
the wire, a"nd strips of flannel hanging from hover ;
N, hover, which is hinged, and can be raised for
cleaning ; V, divisions to separate each brooder
heater ; R, S, are two one and one-half-inch holes
opening from heater box into passage, and having
a round button, to regulate the heat for each
separate brooder, to suit chicks of any age. All
pipes are run on a dead level ; and all hovers the
same height, though the hover can be lowered to
any desired degree to accommodate chicks of any
size. It is not necessary to be continually shifting
chicks from one room to another ; the height and
temperature of each or any hover may be changed
at will.

142

HOT WATER STOYE

WITH CONTROLLING APPARATUS.

This Hot Water Stove, which has a water jacket
around it, supplies the heat to the hot water pipes
of brooding system, or for other purposes ; the

water flowing out
through the upper
pipe and returning
through the lower one
to be reheated, keep-
ing up a continual cir-
culation. The tank
above is to
supply any
escape of
water in the
form of steam
which may
occasionally be gener-
ated by overheating.
The safety valve pre-
vents a pressure of
over five pounds, as
pressure above that
point would stop the
circulation of water.
Each day the valve below the tank is opened to
supply any waste which may have occurred, and
then closed again, and kept closed while heating
the brooding house. If hot water is needed, to
mix feed, scald chickens, etc., the two valves from

the brooder pipes are closed and the valves to and
from the tank are opened, thus causing a circula-
tion through the tank and boiling the water. To
turn the circulation through the brooders again,
you simply close the valves nearest the tank and
open those leading to and from the brooders.
With the Von Culin system two pipes only are
used in the brooders ; other pipes may be run into
the rooms or passage. With the "top heat"
system four pipes are used. Either system is
simple, and may be laid by any handy mechanic
or plumber. Many poultrymen make and fit up all
their brooders and houses.

SINGLE OUT-DOOR BROODERS.

Where the climate will permit and you have
plenty of ground, the outdoor brooders can be
used without division fences, and in most places,
without any permanent fence at all, by simply hav-
ing one or two portable fences to place around the
brooder for two or three days, to colonize the
brood, then taken away and used for other brood-
ers. Scatter the brooders around the field or lawn,
and the chicks will have grass and larger range
than otherwise, which always reduces the expense
of raising them, gives them quicker growth and
better health. It is a profitable way to raise
broilers.

144

145

'fe. sjs^f? <!* <ri qg eg j*^gp

146

OUT-DOOR HOT WATER BROODER.

This illustration shows a brooder with six com-
partments, each of which holds one hundred chicks.
The brooders are made of various sizes, to hold
two hundred, four hundred or six hundred chicks,
and are heated by a lamp. The drop runs are
shown on one side, while those on the other
side are up. The runs are kept up the first-
day, until the chicks get used to the brooder, then
lowered.

Moveable runs are made to keep the broods
separated. They can be made wide at the farther
ends by placing the corner yards at an angle. If
these runs are made near a division fence some of
the larger chicks may be let out into a larger yard
or a free run at your convenience. These brooders
need no houses, but may be placed in a field,
orchard, or yard. In severe climates they may be
put under a shed in the winter, and moved out
later in the season. They are principally side heat
with moderate top heat. It is impossible to over-
heat, or for the chicks in them to crowd and
smother. It is the same principle as used in our
Hot-water System in Brooding Houses.

The brooder which has a number of compart-
ments should have a yard for each compartment,
or for each brood; but should be made movable,
so that the whole plot or group of runs can be
plowed or spaded, or the entire arrangement
moved to new ground.

147

BROODER YARDS.

All brooder houses should have yards or runs,
the larger the better. The fence should consist of
a base board one or two (two preferred) feet high,
nailed to posts, two by four inches, placed ten feet
apart and two feet in the ground and six feet above
ground, with wire netting above it. If the base
board is two feet high the mesh of the netting may
be one" and a half inch or two inches, but if the
base board is only one foot high, then you should
have one inch mesh netting at least one foot above
the board, and finish above with larger mesh. The
same kind of fence should divide the yards or
runs. If possible have an independent gate at the
outer end of each yard. You will soon recognize
its usefulness. Besides keeping the chicks separated
and at peace with neighbors, the base board breaks
the wind in winter.

FEEDING CHICKS.

Give them no food for the first twenty-four hours,
as the yelk of the egg is absorbed by the chick
just before it breaks from the shell, and supplies
nourishment for at least twenty-four hours after
hatching. Cramming other food into the stomach
before the yelk is digested is injurious.

Give them fresh, clean water from the start.
Have it in a fountain so they cannot get into it.
148

If water is given them in open vessels they will
stand in it, splash themselves and get chilled, which
is dangerous in cold weather and undesirable at all
times. They will also make the water filthy and
unfit to drink.

We have tried the plan of giving no water for
the first three weeks, with very good results ; but
the trouble which begins when water is first given
to them makes the method undesirable and very
risky, as they will often drink until they fall over
or froth at the mouth.

For the first week give millet seed, as much as
they will eat up clean, every two hours. If you
cannot get millet seed (which is sold by all seeds-
men), or will not use it because you think it is
too high, give finely cracked wheat, corn, or the
grain which is raised in your section. Sieve
out the coarser parts for larger chicks as it would
be wasted if fed to chicks under a week old.
Place granulated charcoal and grit where they
can get it at will. Grass is good for them at all
times.

Second week, give millet seed, fine cracked
wheat, cracked corn, and occasionally (about twice
a week) rolled oats. If millet seed is high in price,
discontinue it the second week and keep on with
the cracked grain. Let the cracked grain be fine
through the day and coarser at the last feeding in
the evening. Do not mix the grain, but give each
kind separately not two kinds at any meal. The
change gives them a relish. Once a day give them
a feed of finely ground green bone (fresh), about
149

the bulk of a grain of corn for each chick. If the
chicks are confined give finely chopped onion tops
or onions. Feed every two hours.

Third week, give the same food as second week,
but increase the quantity of green bone one-half.
Feed five times a day.

Fourth week, still feed five times a day, and to
the bill of fare add cooked fresh meat, finely
ground, once a day, the quantity for each chick
being the bulk of three grains of corn.

Fifth week, morning food, first day, two parts
ground corn, two parts ground oats, one part bran.
Mix with just enough water to make it stick
together (do not have it sloppy). Use hot water
in cold weather. Always allow it to stand fifteen
minutes after mixing, to swell. Have the corn and
oats ground together, they grind better that way,
and make a better mixture. Feed cracked grain
the balance of the day, that is at noon, in the
middle of the afternoon and about a half-hour
before they go to the hover for the night, making
four meals a day. Second day : soft feed as above
for first feed and at noon. Cracked grain balance
of the day. Third day : three meals of same soft
food, and cracked grain at last feeding. Same for
the balance of the week.

Sixth week : same soft food at each meal except
last one at night, increasing the allowance of
chopped, cooked meat. Meat should be given
between meals, but never give more than the bulk
of a chestnut to each, chick.

Seventh week and until marketed, same as sixth
150

week, and give all they will eat up clean at each
meal, except meat.

Grass is wholesome for chicks as soon as they
begin to eat. If they do not have access to grassy
runs or yards, it is well to cut a few fresh sods as
often as convenient, and place them in the runs.
If this cannot be done, fresh cut grass is good.
When grass is out of season, finely chopped
cabbage once a day or every other day to chicks
over three weeks old.

Do not forget the charcoal, grit, and a box of
crushed shell for each brood.

FATTENING BROILERS.

Fattening broilers by close confinement is a mis-
take. Try to put on all possible flesh by giving
them all the food they will eat up clean, and the
more exercise they have the better their appetite
will be, the faster they will grow, and the hardier
birds they will make.

If you undertake to force chicks under four
weeks old by soft food, you will impair their diges-
tion, cause them to be weak in the legs, and to
feather fast. You may gain a little flesh by the
soft food from the start, on those chicks which do
thrive; but that will be overbalanced by losses
from leg weakness, diarrhoea, forced feathers, etc.
By any method of feeding some chickens will be

fatter and plumper than others. It is ridiculous to
talk of fattening pen broilers.

Would any sane man undertake to fatten a
young pig if he wanted it to grow and put on flesh ?
Would you fatten or try to fatten any stock that
you wished to grow ?

You must make bone and muscle first, then put
on flesh. To do this you must keep your chicks
(or other stock) in good health. By overloading
man, beast or fowl with unnatural food you are
almost sure to disarrange the system ; and soft,
sloppy food is not the natural food of chicks or
fowls. If you are determined to give soft food to
chicks under four weeks old, bake corn cake in
the oven, and make it so that it will crumble.

Never fe^d boiled eggs to chicks.

OLD FOWLS AND YOUNG CHICKS.

Keep old fowls away from the brooders and
brooding houses and runs where incubator chicks
are kept, and do not mix the chicks which were
hatched under hens with those hatched in incuba-
tors, because the chances are nine to one that lice
or mites will be communicated to the latter.

Chicks hatched in incubators are (cleanliness hav-
ing been observed) free from vermin ; but we have
known a whole section of brooder houses to be
filled with lice by placing a single brood of eleven
chicks, whose mother died, in a brooder with other
chicks. The new comers were not suspected of
152

being lousy, and the lice multiplied and spread
through all the adjoining rooms and yards before
being discovered.

We have also known roup to be spread in the
same manner in one instance breaking up the
establishment. In the latter instance the proprie-
tor was warned, but he knew it all, and had it his
own way.

Things which seem small or trifling sometimes
make tremendous results. By watching and direct-
ing small matters we control greater ones.

SELECTING BREEDING STOCK.

Where a large number of fowls are to be bought
at one time it is not easy to get just what is most
desirable, but care should be used that no objec-
tionable fowls are bought or kept.

If you are starting a new plant, you want young
stock. Do not start with a lot of old hens, for they
will certainly give you a set back that will not only
dampen your ardor, but kill your profit the first sea-
son, and perhaps cause you to make a total fail-
ure.

The old notion that an old hen would produce
better and stronger chicks than a young hen, has
died a natural death, and is laughed at by the
majority of experienced poultrymen. If you want
hens to hatch with, the old ones are all right ; but
for ordinary use they have the following disquali-

153

fications : they lay fewer eggs than younger birds,
they are more liable to disease or return of previous
ailments, very liable to become overfat, have often
acquired bad habits, such as feather pulling, egg eat-
ing, laziness ; and when killed and dressed for mar-
ket do not please the customers or bring new trade.

By all means select young stock. You will be com-
pelled to keep over for the second season about one-
half of the stock you start with, if you intend to
establish a good system on a large scale, and you
will then find that you have plenty stock that is as
old as you want it.

Ordinarily you can tell the young stock by
examining their legs, heads, combs and plumage :
the legs being smooth and clean, the heads bright
and clear, the comb smooth and not too large ;
there will be an absence of the short spurs which
are found on some old hens. The plumage will
be fresh in color, without the brassy or dull appear-
ance shown in the plumage of old stock. In old
fowls of the white varieties the yellow tinge shows
plainly in the males, yet some of the young cocks
show it plainly. The novice will find no difficulty
in telling old from young males ; but with pullets
it is not always so easy. Some pullets have very
rough legs, and would be taken for hens two or
three years old ; but they are not desirable, so you
need not make that mistake. On the other hand
you will often find hens four or five years old with
as clean legs as pullets have. A young hen or
pullet does not generally have as rough a comb
or wattles, and is more active.
154

CULLING BREEDING STOCK.

Cull your stock as often as you can find any
culls. Culls of any kind are undesirable. If you
find a hen that is a poor layer, get rid of her and
replace her with a better one. She will generally
eat as much as a good layer, takes up as much
room, and requires as much care and attention,
except in gathering eggs.

An egg-eating or a feather-pulling hen, no matter
how fine a bird or how good a layer, should be killed
and marketed or eaten. In a very short time she
would teach the other fowls her bad habits. An
egg eater will sometimes eat three times as many
eggs as she lays.

The hen that wants to sit quite often may be
useful in that line, but no other, and should be got
rid of.

The lazy hen that lingers on the roost late in the
day is not the one that lays the eggs. Cull out all
of that kind, and either replace them or keep
fewer hens ; they ea the profit made by good
hens, and are a serious drawback.

WHEN TO CULL.

First cull before you buy, next as soon after as
you can determine what to cull. Then cull the
chicks at broiler age, keeping the best in form and
color for breeding or for eggs, then cull as often as
you find anything to cull.

155

THE BUSINESS HEN.

The business hen is the one that brings the pro-
fit. As a rule, you will find that the lively, quick
moving hen or pullet is a good layer. A large,
bright comb also indicates a good layer. Where a
limited number of fowls are kept, the best^and the
poorest layers may be discovered by the shape,
color and other peculiarities of the eggs, and in
such cases the culling and selecting can be carried
to much finer points than usual.

A SECRET.

We call the following a secret because few per-
sons outside the charmed circle of successful
poultry culture know it, and only the leaders of the
successful make full use of the knowledge of it.

It is the secret of success with poultry on a large
scale, and is practised by the most successful poul-
trymen throughout the world.

Kill and burn all diseased chickens and foivls as
soon as discovered.

Observe the flocks every day and visit their
houses every night. If you hear any wheezing or
sneezing, or see any shaking of heads, use the
vaporizer described elsewhere promptly.

Feed no carrion or tainted meat nor any spoiled,
musty or damaged food of any kind. See that
the meat you use is sweet and fresh, the grain good
and sound ; the water fresh and clean, cool in
summer and not frozen in winter. Supply plenty
of gravel or grit, lime in some shape crushed
156

shells or otherwise, and granulated or broken
charcoal all the time.

Give your birds clean and comfortable quarters.

Just as soon as a hen ceases to be profitable
market it. When you see a fowl that does not
look like a business fowl one that stays late on
the roost, stands around by itself, is inactive, over-
fat, broken down, walks unsteadily, is pale, or
shows signs of moulting, dress and market it
promptly, except where you wish to keep moult-
ing hens over for the next season, and they are
not the most profitable kind to keep.

Remember that this rule does not apply to dis-
eased fowls. The first part of the "secret" dis-
poses of them.

When these rules are strictly followed there will
be no danger of diseased fowls. You may say
that you do not wish to sell or reduce your stock.
Perhaps not, but the birds we have described, the
overfat, inactive and moulting fowls are fit subjects
for disease, which in every form is more easily
avoided than cured, and your risk of loss is far
greater with a few such fowls among your flocks
than from a reduction in numbers by marketing
the same.

A YILLAINOUS PRACTICE.

The preceding rules, if strictly carried out, pre-
vent and remove all temptation toward the vil-
lainous practice of marketing diseased fowls. It is
almost incredible, yet a fact, that many extensive

breeders and commission men kill, dress and
market diseased poultry. In a State which we
need not name, we have seen fowls in all stages of
roup, chicken-pox, canker, etc., offered for sale
by the poultry dealers and commission men, for
table use, in the same markets and stores with fish,
meat and game. Hens so badly diseased that they
could not eat, and those with heads swollen to
almost double their normal size, were dressed
heads off. Never sell a fowl that you cannot leave
the head on. Never buy one with the head off.

Of course you indignantly disclaim any idea of
selling diseased fowls, and we are inclined to be-
lieve that you would not do so intentionally ; but
unless diseased fowls are killed and burned as soon
as discovered and the utmost vigilance exercised
to discover them, you are very apt to be the unin-
tentional assistant in such business. For instance
you have a lot of fowls to sell, in order to make
room for growing stock. A buyer or huckster
comes along and makes you an offer for the entire
lot. You have not been diligent in examining them
of late, and a mild form of some disease has got
among them without your notice, or you have a
few quarantined, and you let them go just as they
are, because, in the latter event, he tells you that
he thinks he can cure them ; and they all go into
the coopi together. When he gets them to his
killing house he cures the worst ones first, with
knife or hatchet, whichever way looks best. Some
eggs look best scrambled ; some fowls look best
" heads off."

158

Men who deliberately do such things would
be more useful to the poultry fraternity with
heads off.

Poultrymen, as a rule, are first-rate people, but
there are poultry jockeys as well as horse jockeys.
The horse trader who doses and doctors a nag to
conceal a dozen imperfections from the innocent
purchaser, is a saint in comparison with the man
who knowingly sells a diseased fowl for food.

Of what interest is this to the honorable btgin-
ner? It shows him an existing, hidden danger
and the means by which to avoid it. If he is on
his guard against selling diseased fowls, he will
also be on his guard against buying them, and
that one point may decide his success or failure
in raising poultry. One diseased fowl may spread
ruin throughout the establishment.

THE VAPORIZER AND ITS USE.

One of the most useful implements on the poultry
farm is a vaporizer. If you have not got one,
you can easily make one. Take an ordinary hand
lamp which has a No. i burner, and make a tin
chimney for it, similar to an incubator or brooder
chimney, with mica piece in front to show flame.
Take a seamless tin box, about six inches in
diameter and any convenient depth, having a
cover to fit, and, with strips of tin and rivets,

fasten the box to the top of the chimney over the
top and about an inch above it, so as to leave a
good draft for lamp. If you cannot find a box of
convenient size, get a small cake pan or saucepan,
and fit a flat tin lid to it. Having your vaporizer
complete, keep on hand (in air-tight jar or box) a
supply of carbonate of ammonia and gum cam-
phor.

When you discover any colds, wheezing or sneez-
ing among your flocks, mark the house or the
houses, and after dark cover all the cracks and
close the doors and windows, and having put a
convenient quantity of carbonate of ammonia and
green camphor in the tin box (two ounces of car-
bonate of ammonia to one ounce of green cam-
phor), light the lamp, and burn it in the poultry
house. The two ingredients being volatile, will
vaporize and fill all parts of the house. Burn
until the fowls move about on the perches and
show signs of uneasiness, and the vapor gives
a strong, pungent odor. If the birds attempt
to leave the roosts, remove the vaporizer. For
an ordinary cold one fumigation will generally
effect a cure, and the fowls need not be removed
from their house ; it is also a good preventive
to be used occasionally when colds or roup are
prevalent in your neighborhood. Cases of roup,
diphtheria, canker, etc., should be removed to
a quarantine and treated there. Our advice is
to kill and burn them at once ; but as we
know that some will not do this, then we must
advise what is next best. Having placed these
160

cases in quarantine, close the roosting houses and
use the vaporizer each night for at least three
nights. If in the early stages, three treatments
will cure, but later on it requires more. We have
repeatedly cured bad cases of roup and diphtheria
with the vaporizer, and have never failed when
taken in time. When not in use always keep
the box containing the ammonia and camphor
closed. The success of this treatment depends
upon using it promptly > and in bad cases, persever-
ingly. Those who have had experience in treat-
ing roup by old methods will gladly drop the dis-
gusting, sickening processes, and substitute this
clean, wholesome, and convenient one. It is a
good plan to keep lantern and vaporizer close
together, and when you make your night round
with lantern, just carry the vaporizer along.

161

EGG AND BROILER FARM.

The above engraving shows a section of an egg
and broiler farm built by C. Von Culin in 1885,
reproduced from a photograph. In the foreground
are a group of sixteen brooding houses under four
roofs (four under each roof), with yards attached.
Beyond are laying and roosting houses scattered
at regular intervals. They are built on runners,
and may be moved to new ground as often as
required for cleanliness and new pasture. There
are no fences around these houses ; a small, port-
able fence is placed around a house for three days
to colonize a new flock, and then removed. Eggs
from fowls kept on this plan show a large per cent,
of fertility and yield vigorous chicks.
162

HE ARSON S AUTOMATIC NURSE.
For Nursing Weak or Premature Infants.

HATCHING DUCKS IN CHINA.

The artificial hatching of ducks is one of the
interesting industries of China, and has been
carried on extensively for hundreds of years. The
Chinese are very fond of ducks and duck eggs,
yet those in America are not far behind the Africo-
Americans in their appetite for chicken. Most of
the Chinese hatching houses are constructed of
bamboo, plastered with mud and thatched with
straw. The eggs are placed in baskets which have
a tile bottom and a close straw cover. They are
arranged around in rows and fire placed beneath.
They are tested on the fifth day, and on the
fifteenth day are placed on shelves and covered
163

with blankets, the animal heat then being depended
upon to finish the hatching. The natives along
the coast who live on house boats or rafts get the
eggs hatched at the hatching house and raise the
ducks literally on the water.

CROCODILE EGGS.

Even if he does commit fowl deeds on the Nile,
the crocodile cannot be classed with poultry. Still
it may interest many of our readers to know that it
lays an egg smaller than a goose egg, the average
size being three inches long and two inches in
diameter, equally large at both ends, and very
similar in shape to a snake egg. They are laid in
the sand and hatched by the sun. On breaking
the shell of an egg well advanced in incubation,
you will find the young " croc " doubled up with
his tail to his nose.

164

INDEX.

PAGE

Incubation in Egypt, 5

Egyptian Incubating House, 8

A Good Incubator, 14

How to Choose an Incubator 15

Don't Make a Failure, 17

The Best Size Incubator, 18

Hot Air or Hot Water ? 19

Marking Eggs, 28

Table for Records, 32

Cooling the Eggs, 33

Testing Eggs, 35

How the Chicks Develop, . 47

Animal Heat, 54

When Hatching 54

Dead in the Shell 55

Periods of Incubation 63

Moisture in Hatching, 64

Hatching Ducks, 72

Hatching Geese. 73

Hatching Turkeys 73

Hatching Ostriches, 78

A Letter, 79

The Thermostatic Incubator, 81

The Eureka Incubator, 84

The Eureka Brooder, 85

Improved Simplicity Hatcher, 86

Directions for Operating, 89

Simplicity Compartment Hatcher, 92

165

PAGE

Water Expansion Regulators, 92

Two Regulators, > . 98

Hocus Pocus Regulators, 100

Other Methods of Regulation, 112

Thermostats, 115

Moisture Gauges and Hygrometers, 130

Brooding, 132

Brooding Houses, 137

Hot Air Brooding House, 138

Hot Water Brooding House, 140

Hot Water Stove with Apparatus, 143

Single Out-door Brooder, 144

Out-door Hot Water Brooder, 147

Brooder Yards, 148

Feeding Chicks, 148

Fattening Broilers, 151

Old Fowls and Young Chicks, 152

Selecting Breeding Stock, 153

Culling Breeding Stock, 155

When to Cull, 155

The Business Hen, 156

A Secret, 156

A Villainous Practice, 157

The Vaporizer and Its Use, 159

Egg and Broiler Farm, 162

Automatic Baby Nurse, 163

Hatching Ducks in China, ... t ........ 163

Crocodile Eggs, 164

1 66

?4 & 4 ! 4- -i

I have bred Barred Ply-
mouth Rocks exclu-
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of years, and believe
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will please you. My
fowls have been care-
fully selected this
season, especially
for their Good Combs
andWell Barred Plu-
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and Beaks, Large
Compact Bodies and
Good Laying quali-
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and upward; Eggs,
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/ T. Drench,

83S "(drbzna fitreet,
Toledo, bio.

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167

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1 68

POULTRY BOOK
DAVIS BROS.,

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BOOK ISSUED
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22 VARIETIES OF PURE BRED

POULTRY, EGGS AND FOWLS.

GROUND BONE AND OYSTER SHELLS

FOR POULTRY.

Some of our farming friends appear to be deeply impressed with the notion
that hens need no food but corn in some of its forms. But we ought not to for-
get that food means the material for everything that comes out of the system r
and if any particular race takes up any special branch of manufacture they
must have the raw material. All animals consume more or less lime ; it is one
of the principal elemeots entering into the composition of the bones, but the
hen needs an extra supply. The domesticated hen also needs more than wild
stock of any sort, since she is stimulated to a greater production of eggs. In
consequence, we must give her more than is contained in the various grains.
The most useful forms in which to give lime are in the shape of coarsely ground
bone and oyster shells. Feed these articles most abundantly at the time when
the hens are laying most freely, and anticipate, if possible, "by feeding early in
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Raw bone has been proven by analysis to contain every part of an egg-
white, yolk and of course shell. It should be constantly kept in a special place
in the pea or apartment of laying hens, as they will consume large quantities

of it, and it goes chiefly to egg production. Granulated is the best form in
which to place it before adult fowls, and in this shape it keeps fresh longer than
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BKV CITY,

MEDAL AND
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UTTERS AT THE
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Our $12 Power Green Bone Cutter, over all $26 power cutters. Has
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170

\ti
7 DAY USE

RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED

mm.

pfio i&<i<*TE3icc i

This publication is due on the LAST DATE
stamped below.

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(B139s22)476

General Library

University of California

Berkeley

General Library

University of California

Berkeley