Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1898-08-12
The Hen or the Incubator.

Whether a farmer shall use a hen
or an incubator for Matching his chicks
Will depend largely on the volume of
his operations. If he keeps only a
dozen or 80 hens it certainly will not
pay him to depend on an incubator,
but II he expects to raise several hum
dreds hens year, as we believe every
farmer should, 1t will be advisable for
him to secure an incubator as soon as
he can. Incubators can now be pur-
chased very cheaply, and the invest
ment will be a permanent one, for 1t
is probably true that so far as one
mans life Is concerned incubators new
er wear out. An incubator will pay for
itself many times in the course of ten
years. Not only so, but it will save
much labor. And, while buying, 1t is
better to get a large machine. A big
flock OF chicks is not so hard to look
out for as a number of smaller focks,
as one can readily imagine who has had
much to do with sitting hens.
The comparison of the hen and the
incubator shows that much of the pre-
ponderance Of testimony is on the side
of the incubator. Who that has had to
look after dozen sitting hens has not
wished that all of the hens could be
combined into one big hen and that all
OF the chicks could be put into one
flock? This is one of the most valuable
things about the incubator. One can
raise from one to two hundred chicks
at time and have the work all in
bunch. Another advantage is that the
lice can be finally exterminated. In
fact II a man begins right and takes
care Of his poultry as he should there
is no reason in the world for ever hav-
Ing a louise among the poultry, If all of
the chicks are raised in incubators.
This alone is a consideration Of vast
moment. When we use hens for sit
ting 1t is generally impossible to ex-
terminate the lice. At least, even II
they can be exterminated by extraordi-
nary methods, they seldom are. Some
time age the Farmers Review sent out
inquiries to it's readers as to the cause
Of losses in the poultry yard. The re-
plies showed that more chicks were
lost from lice than from all other
causes combined. Thus the incubator
removes at one stroke the greatest
cause for mortality among chicks.
Probably the second greatest loss
among newly born chicks is being trod-
den to death by the old hen. We some
times hear people say that no one can
care for chick as an old hen, but the
fact remains that the hen is so stupid
that she will stand on a chick till the
life Is gone, even though the little one
keeps up constant peeping as long as
1t can. Instinct does not take the place
of intellect. The writer has frequently
lost the larger part Of a brood through
the stupidity of the old hen. This is
especially true of heavy hens for
mothers. With some of the heavy
birds 1t is no unusual thing to go out
to their nest every morning and find
another dead chick" So we believe
that it will pay the farmer to substi-
tute his own intellect for the instinct
of the hen. This he can do in the DUR
chase of an incubator.
OF course, like all other things. the
running Of an incubator must be
but this Is not difficult thing
to do. provided one will listen to the
advice Of those who have run them for
many years. 1t is not at all necessary
for one to learn entirely in the dear
school of experience. The main point
in an incubator is to keep the tempera-
ture right, and to see that when the
chicks come into the brooder they have
enough heat to enable them to make a
growth.