The Florida agriculturist., 1906-03-21

first-class machine thorough trial the
coming Matching season. 1t is well to
make preparation early and be ready
for the spring work.
The greatest advantage of incuba
tors, to the man who is earning his
living from poultry, is the saving of
time and money. An incubator of
3OO-egg capacity will do the work of
twenty sitting hens. 1t will require
but short time each day to attend to
it, but the labor necessary to care for
twenty hens would amount to consid-
cradle. 1t would cost about one dol
lar to feed the hens for three weeks.
While they are incubating the eggs
they are losing time which should be
spent i'm laying. After they have
hatched the eggs it takes two or three
weeks to get back in laying condition.
This time also is wasted. The time
when the hens are setting is during
the spring months which is the very
time that they should be producing
eggs that would hatch fine chicks. A
poultry fancier who has a small num-
Der of fowls will lose the best portion
of the Matching season for producing
eggs if the hens are permitted to sit.
The great convenience of incubatOrs
should appeal to all. With the incuba-
tor in suitable room it is very con-
venient to attend to. 1t is not neces-
sary to go out in all kinds of weather
to attend to it every day when it is sit
uated in the house. The great annoy
ance which comes from caring for sit
ting hens is done away with. Ii a
number of hens are sitting in one
place it is often difficult to have each
hen return to her proper nest. Sup
pose that there were a dozen or two
sitting hens in some one poultry house.
Think of the trouble in caring for
them, seeing that each returned to its
own nest and watching that they did
not remain off the eggs too long. In
this particular the incubator has the
great advantage.
When an incubator is used to hatch
the eggs the chicks are brought forth
free from lice. 1t is very difficult to
keep the lice from annoying the sit
ting hen. In some cases the pests will
drive the hen from the nest, and in
some instances may multiply in such
great numbers as to kill her. These
are extreme cases, but even with the
use of good insect powder it is not
possible to kill all the lice on the hen.
When the chicks are hatched the lice
begin at once to tax their vitality and
thus render them liable to disease.
The incubator matches the strong
germs and when the chicks are
brought forth they are in a strong
condition and are not weakened by
the attacks of lice but are ready 10 be-
gin the battle of life
When a hen is given a sitting of
eggs there is always an uncertainty as
to the outcome; the hen may break
them all. If only one egg is broken
the rest are smeared up and the
chances for Matching are greatly re-
duced. The incubator will break no
eggs intrusted to it's care. Whenever
an incubator is filled the operator has
the assurance that none of the eggs
will be broken and the chances for
favorable hatch from the remaining
ones thus greatly diminished.
The incubator is ever ready; the
hen is not to be depended upon. If
the pOultryman desires to hatch eggs
at any appointed time he should take
no chances with brOody hens. They
may sit when desired but more often
they will not. If the poultryman
raises broilers he should get his
chicks hatched early. Very few hens
set in February when many eggs
should be incubated. The incubator
NAV ha fiIIad at apu timo apd th,,c