Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-10-17
THE HEN SUPERIOR.

demonstration OF the superiority
OF the old fashioned method of hatch
ing eggs under the setting hen over
that Of the most recent forms or 1ncu-
4 bators=-comes;. to hand from the ore
gon experiment station incidentally
the advantages of following. - ma
tural methods Whenever possible re-
ceives new emphasis; for the best
teacher A former resident of this
state, Mr.. James Dryden. now of the
Oregon Agricultural College at Cor
wallis is continuing in that institution
the work he was formerly engaged III
ut the Utah station. His bulletin en-
titled ..Incubation Experiments" Will
be read with interest by many VINO
are already familiar with some OF his
experiments In poultry keeping here.
Mr. Dryden has come to the conclu-
sion that the frequent renewal of the
flock is one OF the first essentials of
profitable poultry-keeping; then In
order to get d good egg yield, the
stock OF laying hens should be re-
newed at least once every two years,
and that to keep the flock longer than
two years will usually mean an egg
yield at prices of eggs and poultry
food that will be profitable. In re-
newing the flock. however, the object
will be defeated unless the health and
| vigor of the old flock be transmitted to
the new Failure in this respect Will
| very soon manifest itself because OF
! the rapidity with which one generation
| OF fowls follow another. Susceptibility
| crease in size of fowl lessened fertility
and hatchibility of the eggs, he names
| as the usual symptoms of deteriora-
! ton.
| The experiments aimed to show the
relative efficiency of artificial and nat
! ural incubation. or the Matching of
| eggs Approved makes Of incubators
| were used. The eggs for Matching were
| purchased from farmers near Corvallis,
| the eg.gs We're divided between the
| hens and the incubators in such a
way that one machine would not have
| an advantage over another, and that
| 1.-the incubatorsy would not have an ad-
vantage over the hens, nor the reverse.
| The same kind of eggs, or eggs from
the same flock, We're put into the in
| cubators and under the hens. In divid-
! ing the eggs, n basket WAS carried on
| the arm. aud two eggs at time We're
dropped into each lot to be set.
The results of the experiments arc
very interesting:
"The five ineubators set on May %
! Matched from sos eggs set 260 chicks.
! In the case of the hens set on same
/ date, As eggs produced 50 chicks. The
Two iucubators set on June 6 produced
| 80 chicks from 70 eggs. Five hens set
| on the same date Matched from 81 eggs
| 81 chicks. Another set of two incu-
/ bators set on June 5 Matched from 149
1 same kind under two hens gave rs
/ chicks One incubator set on July IA
/ Matched from $50 eggs 40 chicks. Hens
/ sci on the same date on same kind of
! eggs patched from 1877 eggs l04 chicks,
"A OF the eggs being broken in the
4 nests.
! Other tests yielded similar results. the
average of all the tests being that the
incubators Matched sos per cent OF the
eggs placed in them, While the hens
4 brought forth ISIS per cent of chicks
| from the eggs, Moreover. the chicks
Matched in the incubators We're not so
strong as those Matched under the hens.
/ That the incubator is the cause of
the mortality in the chicks, was dem
onstrated in two ways. When hem
Matched chicks and incubator Matched
/ chicks We're put together in the same
broOder the former lived we'll and ,lic