The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-06-10
Artificial Incubation.

|
For many centuries, various methods
have been in use for Matching eggs by arti-
fetal heat. The Chinese and Egyptians
used large ovens. Tho Arabs made use of
fermenting horse manure, and upon this
latter method patent was given In Eng
land hundred years ago, and in this
country few years since. Commodore
Perry, IN his report of his voyage to Japan,
gives carefully detailed account of the
plan he saw practiced there, which, in brief,
consisted i'll having large rooms with shelves
covered with thick, spongy paper, upon
which the eggs were placed, and then COW
cred with the same kind of paper, the whole
kept at high temperature, this room beng
only used during the last days of incubation,
the earlier stages being conducted in sepa-
rate room, the eggs being but into barrels
protected from changes Of temperature by
layers of heavy paper, the heat given by
charcoal furnaces. But TO American inven-
ton within the past ten years has been due
the perfection of tho incubator. There arc
now half dozen or more Matching ma.
chimes, which, with care and proper use,
| give as good results as we can obtain from
hens. These will be more clearly under
stood, by remembering that we arc making
a machine which is to take the place of III.
turc in the Matching of eggs. A hen that
steals away to some quiet fence corner and
makes her nest Oh the ground, as a general
rule comes OFT with larger and healthier
brood OF chickens than under any other
| conditions. Fourteen or fifteen days will
be required by her to lay the nine or ten
eggs she proposes to set upon. Every day
when she adds an egg to her nest she turns
those that she has already laid, and by the
warmth Of the body revivcs the germ oil the
eggs. Now, with our artificial hen, where
we follow nature the closest, we obtain the
best results. 10 begin at the beginning, the
hen that stole her nest probably had her lib
erty and unlimited range, therefore was in
good condition of body, and her eggs were
well formed and healthy. So with our eggs
to be used in the incubator, they must be
| obtained from strong, healthy stock, which
have been properly mated. Where three
or four hundred eggs are to be set, it would
be necessary perhaps to keep thom for some
| time III order to obtain the number wanted.
! Fifteen days after an egg is laid is as long
as it should be kept. This is the time given
| by our hen. These eggs should be turned
| every day, thus preventing the yolk from
settling to the shell, for If it does, when heat
Is applied, and the chicken begins to form,
| the yolk remains on one side of the egg, and
when turned, receives one day too much,
the next too little heat, and the result is a
| failure The eggs, before setting, should
be stored III some place where the tcmpera-
| ture is even and not too dry. So much for
tho eggs that we arc to set now to return
to the incubator itself. TO furnish close
| imitation of nature Is the secret of the
| machine. The heat given by the hen is 0n
| top of the eggs; so the heat, by whatever
| means furnished, must be applied TO the top
| OF the eggs, and not, as in some of the
earlier machines, to the bottom and Sides
This heat must be regulated SO as to remain
| at uniform temperature of lO4 degrees
and during the last days of the incubation,
when the chicks begin to breathe through
the lungs, may be reduced two degrees or
| three degrees. Our hen, by making her
nest on the ground, shows us that q certain
amount of moisture is necessary, 80 this
must be provided for in the incubator,
which is usually done by having shallow
trays OF water under the eggs. The last re.
quisite is pure air, for upon the third day
| OF incubation the blood Of the chicken be-
gins to be aerated by passing through res
| piratory membrane, which is attached to
| the shell of the egg, ahd pure air becomes
| the life Of the chicken. Thus heat on top
| OF the eggs, pure air, and a ccrtaia amount
| In our best American incubators the heat is
supplied by n lamp On the outside, which
keeps system OF pipes or n tiat-covcrcd
pan OF water placed a few inches above the
eggs, at the required temperature. The
| heat is controlled by self-acting machinery,
! which opens u vcntilator when the thcr-
| momctcr, lying at the top of the eggs,
marks 104 degrees. The moisture is sup
piled, as we have stated, by trays OF water
| under the eggs. Sometimes water is sprnk-
| led over the eggs, especially during the last
days of Incubation, the effect being to add
TO the supply Of air for The chicks. The
egg during incubation should be turned
once or twice each day; otherwise, the UNI
| bilical veins are ovcr-stimulatcd OH one side,
and the chicken grows to the shell and dies,
or If it succeeds in getting out it will proba-
bly, be dcformed, generally being uuablc to
use its legs. The hen gives no assistance
in picking the shell when the chicken is
born, and none is required, as Il healthy
chick will DO all that Is rcquifcd to cxtri-
| cate itself from the shell !; and assistance is
often attended with loss Of blood, and more
damage than good is done. A chicken that
ia not able to get out Of the shell without
assistance Is not worth saving. After the
seventh or eighth day OF incubation the UNI
bilical veins have SO spread out and at
tached themselves to the shell that the egg,
when enclosed in tho hand and held to a
strong light is Opaque, and the clear or in
fertile eggs are easily picked out, as they
are still translucant--the light passing
through them the same as fresh laid egg.
These are boiled and used as food for tic
young chickens, An expert can distin-
guish on the fourth or fifth clay the eggs
that will hatch and those that are dead.
No means rs yet have been discovered to
determine the sex of the eggs, although
good many rules have been given, such as
selecting the eggs by their shape aud pcc.-
liar appearance of the shell.