The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1891-02-12
THE FARMERS HOUR.
0l6T OF THE INCUBATOR BUsl-
h. NESS.
Thoroughly Investigated by an Inquirlng Farm.
er-Points on Fruit Raising-valuab'A
Pointers Tersely GIven-Inter.
estins Dairy Notes.

esting Dairy Notes.
The Gist Of tho Incubator Business.
have at various times tried a num-
Der OF 1noubators, says practical
New York farmer, and have seen
many more in operation. There are
hundreds OF them in Hammonton, N.
j.. both in use and out OF use, and
there is th 70 place to learn something
about them and their uso and useful
ness. found the people there by no
means unanimous in their opinion
concerning the comparative merits of
the different styles and perhaps even
not in harmony about the merits of
the machine or idea as an incubatipg
device. There is one thing 1 have
learned to my satisfaction, namely,
that the hatch is an uncertain guam
tity at best There are a great
many more people who bWy incuba-
tors, than who use them or continue
to use them. The uncertainties and
vexations of the business disgust the
great majority of those who engage in
the chicken business as means of
earning living. This is fact that
can not be controverted. Usually the
enthusiasm soon gets cooled off. Few
of the many who go in, reach any kind
of success. have known beginners
at the very first start to have first
rate hatch-75 or 80 per cent with
crude machine, and when they thought
they had certain thing, and went in
heavier, all at once to make failure
after failure. I have known exper is
fall in getting even a satisfactory
hatch, without being able to assign a
reason for it.
1t should be understood that hatch
ing eggs per incubator; is something
that has to be learned. There are
many fine points about it, that even
tie expert is often puzzled about. Yet
with study and perseverance, success
Is within reach, and for people who
raise chickens and eggs by the thou
sand, incubators are ali absolute ne
cessity. Where operations are re-
stricted to hundreds of fowls only,
however, l think we might use safer
and simpler way of Matching. For
some time have had it in my mind,
to try the virtues of turkey hens as
incubators. We all know them to be
Steady settlers, and usually very tract
able ones besides. Less generally
known 1t is, however, that turkey hens
can easily be made to set at any de-
sired time. All that is needed, is to
arrange some nest boxes. say two feet
long, one foot wide and II
feet deep along the wall of
dark room, put some litter
in the nests, and here set the turkey
hens upon a few glass or wooden eggs.
Keep them confined by covering the
boxes with a cover of wire netting or
slats. Nests made in barrels laid up
On the ground and screen door fixed
before the opening will also answer.
81 course the bird does not take to
the nest at once. She will struggle
taahd try to get out for a day or two;
Soon, however, she will settle down to
business and become broody. Then
the eggs to the number of 20, if hens
eggs, or Is if duck eggs, may be
placed under her. She may lay right
along while setting on eggs, and if so,
the, nest should be examined every
day, and the fresh laid eggs removed.
THIS may be done while the bird is off
the nest feeding, for of course, a
chance should be given her to do so
once day.
u When the chicks hatch, they should
be taken out, and a new lot of eggs
put under the old hen, or she may be
allowed to take care of her brood. If
the business is carried on extensively
enough, regular brooder of any of
The styles now advertised, or home
made one, will come very handy. This
is my plan. I know it is practicable,
even if have never tried it, on an ex-
tensive scale. At any rate, for smaller
operations, it is safer, simpler, and
CAST but not least) cheaper than the
method Of Matching by means of the
,''self-regulating" incubator, costing
975 or 800 each. The turkey hen
needs next to no watching, but even
the best self-regulating, self-adjust-
able incubator, with patent egg turner,
and all sorts of "safety" alarms and
CONTINGENCIES electric or otherwise,
needs no end OF watching.
i Feeding More straw.
The old practice of using tons of
straw merely as bedding, often throw
ing it in the barnyard, to be trodden
under foot is not so common as it
opce was. Analysis Of straw shows
that it contains much valuable feed,