Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-05-06
UGGE lion FOR
OPERATION OF AN INCUBATOR
We Cannot Improve on the
Hens Ability, but We Can
Do the Work More Econo-
mically
No Special Skill Is Required,
Rather an Observance of
COmmon-Sense Laws
BY ROBERT ARMSTRONG
Experienced Poultryman

The season has been backward In
many sections of the country, and due
to this prolonged cold the hens have
heen reluctant to sit and hatch. Many
farmers complain that they have not
a single broOdy hen. This condition
means iate brOods; too late, perhaps
10 have the pulletS mature early
enough for Fall layers. You, perhaps.
are i'm the same plight; yet there Is n
remedy. Purchase an incubator at
once: that Is the solution; you can
then defy weather, time and the per-
versity of the hen.
VXTE cannot improve on Mistress
Wv Biddy's virtues as a means OF
Matching a brood of chicks, for
she has been making a speciality or
the art for hundreds of years; but we
can almost equal her efforts, and GER
tain it is that we can do 1t more eco
nomically than she can. We have
found out her secrets, and to these
we have added our mechanical genius,
with the result that instead of hatch
ing / . eggs at one operation, we can
now hatch 5000 eggs at one time,
and even greater umbers-there is
practically no limit to the process.
There are hatcheries in the country
that have u capacity of from $4,000
to 10000 eggs at every Matching.
not? Such a thing would have been
considered a preposterous falsehood
in our fathers boyhood days.
The whole principle of artificial in
cubation is based upon the very SIM
pie fact that If 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, pro-
portionately. as the hen Will develop,
but this Is not due to any defect in
the machine necessarily, rather be-
cause 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 il. Ponder for
a moment however and think of the
time saved on the part of the attend
ant who would have to feed enough
sitting hens to hatch-say, 1900
eggs. which is not great number on
farms devoted to poultry raising; and
then consider what an enormous loss
in egg production there would be
while these hens are idling their time
on the nest. instead Of being ION the
job" in the layinghouses.
Eight hundred hens would be re-
CURED to hatch 1900 eggs, and from
the time they become broody until
their broods. and then reinvigorated
themselves for further egg production,
from eight to twelve weeks must
elapse. During this time they would
probably lay four dozen eggs each,
which, at an average price Of twenty
five cents a dozen. would mean a loss
of $500 to their owner.
Possibilities of the Incubator
Briefly. it is poor economy to hatch
with hens, except in rare cases as
the above figures will prove. The
exceptions to the rule are when farm
ers raise but very few chickens each
season, as a sort of by-product, and
feel that they cannot devote a part
of each day to the care OF an incu-
bator. But, as a matter Of fact, the
care of an incubator 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 a state of perfeC-
tion these days that they are almost
automatic and foolproof in their OPP
Grafton.