Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1884-07-31
AHEAD OF THE HENS.
Bringing Chickens Into the World
Via the Incubator.
Automatic and Aritficial Arrange
nents for the Fuzzy Little
Orphans-Incubafor NOs
New Invention.


nents for the Fuzzy Little
Orphans-Incuba,or MOI
New Invention.
New York Sun.
| In q broad, wire-coverod box, with n bot
tom of fine earth, in a basement window III
| Liberty street is a brood of little chickens,
apparently or 3 days Old. Their bodies are
covered with yellow and black feathers as
| fine as fur. They run .about in the most
lively manner, leeping and chnping con
SANITY. Some pick at the earth, ald Others
drink water at a narrow little trough hold
ing up their heads TO allow the water to filter
down their necks, blinking meantime conf
cally. Three snail boys shouted with delight
when two of the chicks faced each other, with
beaks extended and wings out. They picked
viciously twice ut each other, and then both
ran away with prolonged peGoing
They are orphans said e pleasant cd
gentleman in the basement They were
Matched in an incubator yesterday
On one side of the room were number of
incubatois. They looked little ike an ice
chest, with glass panels in doors that swung
down by hinges on the lower side The frame
feea large and four feet high over all At
one end was black tin vertical cylinder four
inches in diameter and foot high. Pipes
ran from the top of the cylinder through the
top Of the frame and back again under the
bottom Of the cylinder. In the frame be
tween the two series of pipes weie,a number
OF shallow trays, with wire cloth bottoms,
filed with eggs placed on end. A kerosene
lamp sent lis heated air into the cylinder. A
bit of clockwoTk could be seen in small
glass case ON top Of the frame.
1.-THE lamp heats the water that fills the
tubes you see there, the old man explained
and the water circulates asauad over the
eggs and back underneath to the cylinder MS
il cools. That keeps the eggs warm
''But If the lamp is turned on too higbr'
just then a large valve revolved in the top
Of the incubator
''Ihe machine is self-regulating When the
temperature rises an electrical connection
is formed that starts the clocliwork and opens
that valve When the temperature falls
Here the Old man opened the side doors and
III a minute the valve closed
Nv hen il falls you see it closes itself: hut
that Is not all, for you see the lamp is turned
up when the valve closes, and down when it
opens
'What is The temperature that matches the
chickens
From IL degrees during the first ten
days to los or l0i degrees for the remaining
ten. That automatic arrangement. keeps the
variation within one degree"
Then all you have 10 do is To put la the
eggs and light the lamp
mo. After three day, the eggs must be
turned over twice day. The little shallow
pans underneath the trays must he kept full
Of water, 50 that the air viii be moist. On
the fourth day the eggs must I've examined in
a tester, and all that remain clear must be
removed, because they will not produce
chickens and can yet be used for cooking.
Then they must all be examined later on TO
rcmbVe any that have died Still half AN
hour daily viii keep everything in order until
the Hineieenthday, when the chicks viii be
gin 10 picl, and peep in their efforts to get
out =
''Then you have to help them break the
sIiells.7
I'VE don't have TO do anything of the kind.
Its IA widespread notion that the mother hen
has u help her chicks oat of the shells.
but She doesn't. After several hours of inter
mittent picking the chick makes small hole
through the she'll. Then he rests IKE "a man
ON the water after a long dive Then he
breaks line around to the right and then TO
the left, resting AZ intervals Finally. a
vigorous plunge liberates him He is wet and
homely then"
The artificial mother is "A shallow box with
a perforated metal bottom partly covered
with earth, and two warm water pipes that
keep the temperature at - degrees at first
and lower later on. Pieces of flannel hang
over the pipes and down near 10 The bottom
Of the boz The chicks gather under the fam
mel as they would under hens wings. A
long row of little wooliy yellow and blacl,
heads, with bright, round eyes, projecting
from under strip of red flannel is an inter
esting spectacle.
care chickens Matched by machine as
vigorous as those hatched naturally
More 50. incubators are unseutimenfal. |
but they are business. They will hatch y |
per cent. more eggs than hens. The chicks |
are never afflicted with vermin. They get |
the right care after they are Matched. They |
grow more rapidly, and become healthier |
fowls in every way At a cock fight, back |
the bird from the orphan asylum against the |
fowl every time. Another adj |
of the incubator is that the spring |
can he produced at the season when |
prices are highest To n man adapted to the |
business, chicken raising is Il profitable en- |
requiring only a small capital A |
medium sized incubator, holding from 1O1 10 |
| 900 eggs, costs from $50 to SlSj. One |
holding 1000 eggs costs $500
How long have hatchcrs been in use!n
From 5000 to 5000 years. Herodotus tells |
about cellars in Egypt where eggs were |
placed beneath furnaces 50 as to apply the |
heat from above. There were Railways |
through which the attendants passed 10 turn |
the eggs. They had noticed that a hen |
would turn the eggs several times in day |
when sitting ON her nest. The Egyptians |
follow the old system now They get Il .OoO,-
100 chicks q year out Of 5000 600 eggs
placed in their incuhatorS. The best Amer
lean machines hatch out more than 81 per
,ent. of the eggs. There are forty-one chicks
N the window there. | got them from forty
four eggs. The new ostrich farm in Califor-
MA uses incuhators, because, as YOU know
he ostrich does not set.
"Do other foreigners than the Egyptians
Use incubators;"
YES. Chinese have used them Thousands
Of years The French and English were
among the first Ia make them, but GA south
African ostrich farms the American machine
5 preferred One American manufacturer
las sent moro than ninety machines there in
h., last few Wears. Wherever Yankee ia
rjuuity il placed untrammelled in can,nti. |
lon With tide ingenuity Of other nations wa
iaTc reason 10 rerresS the eagles scream