The Washington herald., 1909-02-21

lowed LfliS system OF drtIlClaa Eafcflg
10 become 50 very successful At ne
same time. il must be remembered tat
there is No other. as the native hen neer
sits on her eggs
Another important point IS that ,Ie
hateheries 90 not attempt 10 rear tn
young broods. Forty-eight hours afte
the chicks emerge from the shell the5
are scattered over the country. This dis
tribCtion is effected IN a very simple
manner As the incubator Is near mar
ket plsce. word Is sent there that OF such
a day there viii be so many young
chicks This news Is quickly dissenin-
ated among the villages. and on the ap-
pointed day the women arrive with cages
70 purchase the young chicks. which are
generally sold for about $50 per hun
dred- There are also q number OF brok-
ers or dealers VINO take the young chicks
10 the more distant villages. For this
they have cages made from palm branch
es. Two such cages win transport each
1.o90 young birds. so that a man with a
donkey easily manages 2,e00 Il them, and
BY nightfall has probably sold the entire
lot AZ distance Of FIVE or six miles
from the establishment
Once IN the village. the chicks becoms
the property OF the women. who take
great care of them during the first week.
For two or three days they are kept IN
cages IN lots Of twenty OF thirty and fed
on broken grain slightly moistened- At
night the cages are taken in-O the houses
and sometimes covered win a bit o.
cloth After these first few days the
young birds are strong enough TO forage
for a living. and are then allowed 20
roam about freely. When the young
chicks are fairly fsathered they are
pluczed perfectly clean and slightly
creased This adds greatly 70 their
health. but detracts much frsm their
beauty. Il strikes q stranger Is some
thing extremely novel 10 see hundreds OF
perfectly naked chickens bssk!ng IN the
sun or running about.
The largest incubator built q the
Egyptian plan in this country. or n ths
world. for that matter. IS OF a duck
ranch on Long Island. which section
produces more ducks each season than
any other area OF equal extent IN the
world This one plant annually prodsces
about 1000 ducklings. the most OF which
are sold in New York City Some tine
ago the proprietor lost his incubaor
plant by fire which broke out IN hs
night from an unknown cause He Tot
only suffered the loss OF his building Jlt
eighty-three lamp heated machines. eadl
with a capacity FOR holding 90 duck eggs
Many % these machines were full q
( eggs az the time. and several contained
newly hatChed dUCklings ready for Te
movaL As a safeguard against future
/ loss Of this kind the proprietor decide
70 build a mammoth incubator
{ This big machine has rinety-six con-
4 parJments and has total capacity Of
/ $500 duck eggs. or nearly 5a019 hen eggs.
/ Il is heated by hot water pipes that ex-
( tend throughout each tier Of COmpart-
ments- The consumption Of fuel in the
/ EcoaI-heated. hot-water boilers Is regu-
/ lated autonad dcaIly BY thermOstatic ac-
[ ton: the temperature Of the water az
+ the point where it enters each tier Il
/ compartments * controlled in a similar
manner, and the heat o. each hatcbirg
! chamber IS governed by a standard tle--
mOstat. thus taking care Of the a1imjl
/ heat generated IN the eggs after they
I have been incU5ated two or three weeks
| Thirty 70 fifty cents worth Of hard coal
viii operate this big machine during the
period Of tventy-four hours. the amount
/ consumed Per day depending on the
/ weather or season Of the year. The Ia
( Dor Of caring for It IS reduced 70 mini
mum. Il Is said that not more than .
/ per cent as much labor Is required u
/ care for this giant hatcher as would be
+ necessary to handle an equal capacity
OF small machines The eggs are turned
and cooled without removing them from
the Matching chambers. There are TO
I lamps 70 Ill., no wicks 70 trim. and no
] odOrs Of kerosene 10 vitiste the air OF the
/ incubator cellar. Any woman who can
lift a shcvelful Of coal waist high can
I attend 10 Il rs easily as she could put
+ a room in order. and with no more phys
! icaI effort. Undoubtedly the successful
] introduction OF these big machines repre-
/ sents the beginning Of a great revclU-
( ton IN the poultry industry in the United
States
As regards Matching qualities an incu-
{ bator OF this class should hatch from 3
Z to 50 per cent Of fertile hen eggs OF duck
eggs. Rawlings ancient history tells $
there was an Egyptian law. s1tedat lg
/ the Christian era. which provided that
/ the proprietor OF a public incubator II s-=t
+ deliver TO persons who furnished hatcl-
/ able eggs az least sixty-siX chicks f1r
each one hundred eggs Al the present
time standard types Of incubators can 3
relied on 10 hatch % 10 50 per cent Of Ter
/ tile eggs Very much depends or t1s
health and vigor OF the breeding stoclS
I II the kick is II the egg" as the savi~s
! goes. there IS no question but that tie
new style CT incubator viii make g0od.
( In all probability every trading center
OF county seat located IN agTicUltursl
sections where poultry and eggs are i'm
I pOTtant products wiii n good time. have
its public hatchery. because Of the great
J saving this ancient plan wiz effect n
time. labor. fuel. &c. This IS not merely
a prediction Conditions have been in
dicating this result for several years A
large amount Of public Matching has been
done on numerous pcultry plants By the
! use Of small portable incubators- Now
that we have the mammoth hOt-water
compartment machine TO reduce the-laboT
item fully 50 per cent. and the expense
OF fuel fully % per cent, we may expect
/ this branch OF the business 20 develop
rapidly II for no other reason than Il
VIII take care OF the question Of using
lamp-heated or oil-heated incGbators IN
dwellings or other buildings covered BY
fire insurance policies
This question Of fire hazard from lamp
or Oil-heated machines is at present the
most important issue concerning the In
CUbatOr industry in this country There
are probably 4 million inCubs1Ors OF one
kind or another IN use in the United
States each season, and so many OF these
are Of faulty construction that enormous
i property losses have resulted from fires
originating in their use. The average
poultry house IS infammable, and IS
usually beyond the reach Of fire pTotec-
tion facilities. consequently the Ma
tional Board OF Fire Underwriters. rep
u resenting practically all the standard
Ere insurance companies now doing bust
ness in the United States and Canada. in