The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1911-03-23
NORR|DGEWOCK WOMAN
MAKES SUCCESS
Eva Storer is Setting A
Pace in Hen Business
She Has Coed System Matching
Chickens With the Incubator.


health. Her folks were getting along
In years and she hesitated for some
time as to what she would do. She
thought first that she would teach
but the pay offered her seemed too
small. She realized that she must
sooner or later earn enough money
not only to care for herself but her
parents also. Another thing that con-
fronted her was that she was in poor
health and she must do something to
keep out in the open air. After ly-
ing awake one night thinking upon
a plan for her future the idea came
to her that she might go into the hen
business.
Rising early from her bed the next
she started out to buy six
hens taking all the money that she
had earned. 1t was then in June. She
bought three birds of the Rose Comb
Rhode Island Reds and three OF the
White Indian Games. The hens under
her care began to lay at once. She
found that in order to make them lay
we'll she must give them a good deal
Of care and she did care for them to
such an extent that at the State fair
she won first prizes on nearly all that
she exhibited She got money enough
in prizes with what she had saved
from her eggs to buy about fifty more
hers. She has found in the eight
years experience that it isn't so
much the kind of houses the poultry
are kept in as it is the way they are
cared for. Her idea as to the kind
of hens people should keep is that
they should have the kind they like
the best.
After the first year of natural
Matching she decided that these hens
she was using to hatch her chicks
could be made to lay through all this
time and therefore the next spring
she adopted the incubator. The sec
ond year she lost a very few chicks
and now she has such wonderful sue
cess that poultrymen from all over
the country seek out her methods.
Miss Storer has found that poultry
men can not make it pay to hatch
their chicks the old way with hens.
AS to kind of incubator she prefers
the sure-hatch or old trusty as she
calls it and she finds hot water in
cubator much better than a hot air
one as the eggs needs some moisture.
She has learned that it is wise to
take the eggs of a very vigorous hen
md to leave out all eggs that have
ridges or thin spots on the she'll as
these places do not allow an equal
passage of air. She believes in test
ing the eggs by a lamp or egg tester
to find these spots. Then, too the
egg should not be too small or the
chick will not be vigorous. Then if
the eggs are fertile with proper care
the results are sure to be good. She
has found she can hatch more chicks
from the same number of eggs in her
incubator than under setting hens.
Her incubator chicks are as strong
or stronger than those Matched by
the natural method and are not trou-
bled by lice or in danger of being
trampled upon. She does not have to
wait for her hens to get ready to
set nor Is there any danger like that
Of hen leaving her nest.
Miss Storer lays considerable stress
on the care of the eggs while in the
incubator. She places the incubator
in a we'll ventilated room but not in
a strong draught; for the chicks in
the eggs need lot of oxygen. Also
the poisonous gases from the lamps
must be removed and what carbonic
gas is not needed inside the shell to
make IL decay. AS tne egg Is ABOUT
so per cent water 1t has to dry out
some Is per cent before Matching. I'm
less there is a circulation of air the
moisture cannot dry out. If there is
too much moisture in the egg. Miss
Storer says, the chicken does not
grow well and looks larger in the
she'll than it is and will also hatch
cut weak. She never uses any mois-
ture except during the second or the
very first part of the third week. She
fnds that If moisture is allowed in
the incubator when it Is time for the
eggs to hatch the temperature of the
incubator may be suddenly lowered
too much. 1t must be kept up to 103
degrees to have a profitable hatch
She makes a practice of turning
her eggs at least four times day,