Morgan County republican. (Versailles, Mo.) 1906-1914, 1907-03-21

to do. There are. Don is for the incubat-
or" and "Success with incubators." also
"Failure with incubators," and a great
many Of these articles are pretty theories
from people who want to write and have
scarcely seen a hen. | AM convinced.
from the principle upon which they are
made, nearly all incubators are nianufact.
ured by men who know positively
nothing Of the principles that ought TO
be used in order to do as Biddy does. and
artificial Matching can never be a real
success until we can furnish the same
heat, moisture, and ventilation as the
hen does.
I want to give here a few hints Of what
we have learned from close study and ex.
perience, and not what W have read.
There are two kinds Of incubators, hot
air and hot water. We have one of each.
We bought our first machine in the
spring of 1905. 1t was hot water. We
We Matched five times, with varying
success. always losing a great many
chicks. which would pip the shell and
then die. What caused IL VIC could
not imagine. The maker of the machine
said it was positively non-moisture and
self ventilating, but I want to say right
here I believe all machines require APP
piled moisture. Eggs get it always
from the hen, when hens are used.
More moisture is required in dry seasons
than when there is a great deal Of moist
ure in the air.
In the hot hot water machines there
is mo as much required as in hot air.
A good way to give it is to wet a sponge
and place it il the trays, renewing as
often as it evaporatcs. No rule can be
laid down as TO how much moistuac to
apply. About 10 or u per rent of the
egg should evaporate. One must watch
the eggs and apply moisture as needed.
Some sprinkle the eggs with warm water
once each day, after the l4th day, whicl,
is also good. However, the greatest
cause of loss of chicks in hot water
machines is due to the fact that there is
no way in which the warm air is forced
downward, hence the eggs are always
several degrees colder on the tray THAI
upon the top of the egg.
Mrs. Hen would be shocked indeed to
have her eggs from 3 or 4 degrees to Is
or 20 degrees cooler on the bottom than
on the top of the eggs. Such is always
true of a hot water incubator. The diff
ference varies with the outside temporal.
ure Of the room.
Hot air machines have a forced down
ward circulation, hence the eggs are of
uniform temperature, but that circulation
Of air will dry the eggs out until they
rattle like bones One must supply
moisture, and much more of it than in
hotwater machines, or the eggs will evap-
crate one-third or ever one-half in this
climate. Possibly they do not every
where.
One must use the greatest caution not
to provide too much moisture, or the
chicks will be unable tn turn in the
shell and get out On the other hand if
too little is supplied they will dry up and
not hatch.
A good plan is to set a hen and watch
her and try to have the eggs in the
machine as near like those under the
hen as possible.
We are trying that now
Heat mnst a1so IL. kent eveu neithe,
too high or too low, and a little lower for
Leghorn eggs than for the larger breeds,
We have a L.eghorn hen and
Plymouth Rock sitting. The Leghorn'.
body tests lG2 begrees while the Rock
tests lob degrees, and 1 quote NJ
NJ. Johnson, OF Clay Center, Nebr., it
saying a Plymouth X. will test as higt
as 100 degrees as early as the Sth day o
incubation. For this reason eggs O
both the large and small breeds SHOULD
never be set together. The Leghori
. eggs arc also thinner shelled and evapor
ate too much il put with the thicker
shelled. The above will apply to ken
as well as i%ncubators. II not only msasA
a poor hatch, bat should the chicks sue
coed in Matching we'll, it means that 4
cemetery must be. provided aud ready fo'
. Use by the. close Of the first week.
know whereof / speak, for we have
, had occasion to provide said cemetery.
, Ventilation is also an important matte,
and one must use Judgment in regard Il