The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1910-07-29

them to confne the hen. The hens ar,
act IN groups. so that those sitting or
eggs which are to hatch the sam,
time may be given their liberty a
once. The attendant has only to re
move the board from the nest. lift of
the hens and return In hour to see
that here is a hen on each nest.
Another scheme for the easy han
ding of sitting hens. the plans for
whlch have been largely sold, consists
in constructing series of outdoor
nests and runways made by setting
foot wide boards on edge about one
foot apart. The runways are covered
with laths or netting except the one in
. which the nest is constructed this
being protected from the weather by
another wide board to form a roof.
Each hen thus has her individual nest
and runway, in which the hen may
exercise and dust herself to get rid of
lice. Old fruit cans are used to pro-
vide food and water.
Such an arrangement for sitting
hens reduces the work Of caring for
them to a minimum, and If the nests
are well protected from the weather
and the ground where the nests are
located thrown up so that the water
will not run in the results are usually
better than with hens set indoors. The
nests should be arrangq1 so that hens
may be shut on them when the eggs
harm 70 tnh
frequently leave the nest with the
first few chicks and allow the others to
die in the she'll.
Essentials of a Good Incubator.
In the case Of artificial incubation
we have number of. points to look
after that do not concern us when
Matching hens. The first to be observ-
ed is uniform temperature-103 for all
eggs In the, machine at all times. The
second consideration and one that
causes much more trouble in practice
is to provide just sufficient circulation
of air of just sufficient dryness to
cause the eggs to lose water by evap-
Grafton at the normal rate; otherwise
the body of the chick will contain too
much water or not enough and die in
the shell or shortly after Matching.
The novice can do no better as far as
this and other points of incubation are
concerned, than to follow the direc-
tons of the maker of his machine.
The following discussion Of the
points of a good incubation are given
to help the poultryman' in selecting a
machine or in deciding whether he Is
capable of handling the problem of
artificial incubation successfully rath-
err than for the purpose of teaching
him to run any particular incubator:
The case of the incubator should be
built double or triple wall to with
stand variation in the outside tempera-
ture. The door should fit neatly and
should be made of double glass. The
lamp, both bowl and chimney, should
be made of heavy metal material and
should have wick sufficiently wide
to maintain the temperature of the
incubator with low blaze. The lamp |
is generally placed at the end Of the |
machine, though there are some good |
now made with the lamp |
placed underneath the machine. The |
heat is got from the lamp to the eggs |
by means of a circulation of hot air or |
a tank of hot water. The hot air ma
chimes seem to have proved most sue
cessful in practice. and the majority |
Of well known makes are now Of that |
type. 1t is easier, however, to make |
a cheap hot water machine that will |
retain the heat than 1t is to make a
hot air machine. This is because the |
tank of hot water holds the heat |
against sudden changes in outside tenn
)erature.
Regulators composed of two metals,
Is aluminium and steel, are best. Wa
'ers filed with ether are more sensi-
i've, but weaker in action. Hard rub
Der bars are frequently used. The In
,ubator needs no arrangement for
urning eggs, as this is not as impor-
ant part of the operation as is fire.
luently stated, and the eggs can be
oiled around readily with the hand