The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-07

many sections of the country, and due to this prolonged cold the hens have been reluctant to sit and hatch. Many farmers complain that they have not a single broody hen. This condition to have the bullets mature early enough for fall layers. You, perhaps, are in the same plight; yet there is a remedy. Purchase an incubator at once; that is the solution; you can then defy weather, time and the per versity of the hen.
 We cannot improve on Mistress Bid- dys virtues as a means of matching brood of chicks, for she has been mak- ing a speciality of the art for hun dreds of years; but we can almost equal her efforts, and certain it is that we can do it more economically than she can. We have found out her secrets, and to these we have added our mechanical genius, with the result that instead of matching 15 eggs at one operation we can now hatch 15,00O eggs at one time, and even greater numbers-there is practically no limit to the process. There are hatcheries In the country that have a capacity of from 5O,0OO to 120,000 eggs at every matching. The figures are astounding, are they not? Such thing would have been considered a preposterous false hood in our fathers boyhood days. The whole principle of artificial in- cubation is based upon the very sim pie fact that if 8 strong fertile egg is maintained under certain uniform conditions of heat, moisture and fresh air for a sufficient period of time, it will be transformed into strong, healthy young bird. The process may not hatch quite as many eggs, propor- tionately, as the hen will develop, but this is not due to any defect in the machine necessarily. rather because in handling such large numbers of eggs it is impossible to give each one the same attention that the hen would be free to give it. Ponder for a moment however, and think of the time saved on the part of the attendant who would have to feed enough sitting hens to hatch-say, 12,ooo eggs, which is not a great number on farms devoted to poultry raising; and then consider what an enormous loss in egg produc- tion there would be while these hens
 
 stead of being "on the job" in the lay ing houses.
 Eight hundred hens would be re- quired to hatch 12,000 eggs and from the time they become broody until they have matched, reared and weaned their broods, and then reinvigorated themselves for further egg production. from eight to twelve weeks must elapse. During this time they would hq 1aU which, at an average price of 25 cents a dozen, would mean a loss of $500 to their owner.
 POSSIBILITIES OF INCUBATOR Briefly, it is poor economy to hatch with hens, except in rare cases, as the above figures will prove The excep- tons to the rule are when farmers raise but very few chickens each sea- son as sort of by-product, and feel that they cannot devote a part of each day to the care of an incubator. But as matter of fact. the care of an in- cubator of small capacity is almost negligible, and could easily be done by the farmers wife in half hours work each day Incubators have reached such state of perfection these days that they are almost automatic and foolproof in their operation.
 It Is a fallacy to believe, as some think, that hen matched chicks are stronger than incubator chicks. and VIII therefore be more productive. There is no difference, providing the
 eggs used in the incubator are fresh I and Of known reliability, and the ma
 chine is operated in accordance with
 the manufacturers directions. which are usually based on natural common- sense laws
 Poultrymen who raise chickens on a
 iarse scale must use incubators, be-
 cause in the first place they canno+ 1 rely on the hens desire to sit earlv
 enough to hatch bullets that will ma :
 ture as Tall layers. And it is the au-
 tumn egg that is the "golden egg of
 which the poultry raiser must rean .
 iair harvest. if he would have his I iedger balance properly with his feed | account. ooo
 Here is another point worthy of con-
 do sven Dy those who prefer to
 do their matching in the natural ua
 frequently sitting hen will become sict ana die, or without any apparent excusa
 sne VIII forsake her nest: perbans sho never really had any serious intention of
 matching brood, and was merely an Joying her rest period between clutcbes
 or eggs in spell of quiet contempla- on' uiiosS another hen can be found immediatey 10 take her place. and this
 is often a difficult task the eggs n,;Il chill and spoil. Had there been smaT l incubator on the premises this conti,- gency could have been met: the apps
 could have been removed from the aban- doned nest and placed in the warm in. cuDator and matched or kept thera unti,
 another hen was found to take over tha contract.
 Many valuable matching eggs may he 1 saved in this way, the comfort of which alone IS well worth the price of a small l incubator to any farmer or his wife There need be no feeling of grave appre. hension or helpless dependence upon an irresponsible biddy, who for some her. verse reason violates the confidence re.
 posed in her maternal inclinations
 SIMPLICITY OF OPERATION
 To the novice or inexperienced there sometimes exists a belief that the inc,1.
 bator is an intricate apparatus, reouir. Ing special and considerable practice be fore one dare hope for successful results These fears are well founded in a sense when we consider how really marvelo,,, it is that such perfectly formed. highly developed organism can be brught into
 being in such a short space of time We have nature to thank for this, however
 and can rely upon her to perform the work; all we have to do is to provide tht
 ecessary conditions, the laboratory, SC to speak, in which she is to work.
 There are so many different makes o1 incubators on the market from the smaI
 50 egg size to the huge mammoths o1
 many thousand egg capacity, involving various principles for radiating heat supplying or retaining moisture, ventila ton and so on. that it is difficult to se | f1rfh daf mi at nf =.