Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1914-03-18
POULTRY
CONSULTING DEPARTMENT
Conducted by M. w. HICKS
Are Incubator Chicks

Are Incubator Chicks
Weaker Than Hen Hatched?
My experience would indicate they
are not, yet | will give il in detail and
you can Judge for yourselves.
The first test, though no. intended
as such, was when | got one hundred
chicks from my incubator out of one
hundred and twenty-six eggs, and one
hundred and fifteen chicks from one
hundred and forty eggs set under
hens, both lots coming off at the same
time. | mention the percentage Of
hatch to show they were both normal
and so began life as nearly equal as
the two methods of Matching would
permit. Both lots received the same
care receiving no feed for forty eight
hours, and then being fed on oat meal
and rolled oats mainly for the first
week or two, with bran always before
them Later l fed chick feed and
boiled wheat, and a mash made up of
bran, shorts, corn meal ground kaffir,
meat meal, oil meal, and alfalfa meal.
Absolutely no difference could be not
iced in their growth or health. All
were kept in fireless breeders.
In the second case l got seventy
chicks from the incubator, having
tested out twenty eggs, and the same
number from seven hens. Those from
the incubator were farm reared Bar
red Rocks, while those from the hens
were my own Buff Orpingtons. As
the main trouble l have had with
this bunch has been the large head
lice, il is evident the hen-hatched were
responsible for the condition, though
both lots, being kept together, seemed
to suffer equally.
Now, in both OF these cases the in
cubator matches were normal, and the
chicks seemed strong and healthy.
Three times | had set the incubator
before this and had kept the tempera-
ture too high, and a poor hatch Of in
ferior chicks had resulted each time,
their vitality being very low. l have
learned that plenty of air in the incu-
bator room is necessary, and that the
temperature should not vary from 1902
the first week. with extreme care to
keep conditions as nearly ideal as pos
sible. After the first week little
neglect or variation in temperature
will not be so apt to do injury.
AS ! stated in the beginning my ex-
perience convinces me that normal
matches, whether from incubators or
from hens, are practically equal in vi
tally, but il is so easy in the incubat-
or TO weaken them by overheating or
chilling that these things must be TAX
en- into consideration when attempting
to decide the relative value Of the two
methods. The relative cost of the two
methods with equal matches is greatly
in, fau Of hn hat he
will lay a setting Of eggs in the same
time ii takes them to hatch, thus
rnaking the egg expense double that
Of the incubator, and think we will
be about right in considering a sixty
per cent hatch from an incubator car
ried past the tenth day equal to a nine
.ty per cent hatch from hens at ten
days Then the vermin question is all
i'm favor of the incubator. With this
thirty per cent handicap i'm it's favor
the incubator can hardly fail to make
good.
Hang a cabbage or beet where the
fowls can jump and peck at it. They
need fresh vegetable food, and the eA
ell else is good for them
Leg weakness in ducks is often pro-
duced by damp quarters at night. They
can stand all the water and rain dur
ing the day time that they may be ex-
posed to, but at night they must have
dry quarters. The floors of the duck
pens should be heavily bedded with
straw. Leg weakness from this cause
is often case of cramps and rheuma-
tism. II the trouble does not right it
self in few days, and the bird other
wise is in a good healthy condition, il
is best to kill and eat il. There is
however, another form of leg weak
ness which is more common. 1t is the
result of too heavy feeding, especially
| If the feed is too concentrated. A pop
ular feed with duck raisers is bran
corn meal, meat scraps and greer
! feed or stepped clover or alfalfa. If the
birds are weak in the legs, and upor
/ lifting them up IL is found that they
are very heavy, reduce the quantity o.
corn meal and meat scraps, and in
crease the supply OF bran. Also add
powdered charcoal to the mash. This
in few days generally ends the trou
ble Never feed whole grain, especial
ly corn. James Rankin once elaine,
that leg weakness was more or les
common among ducks fed whole corn
profitable to keep a hen for breeding
after the second year, in fact, IL seem
to be the prevailing custom among tn