Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1917-04-29
M0NEY|NCH|CKENS.... F HANDLED RIGHT Proper Incubation Makes niq Flock, But 1t Takes Much
 Care.
By H. E. Dvorachek, College of
 Agriculture, Fayetteville.


 ! Successful incubation commences with proper storage of the eggs prior to the time that they are put in tho machine. Eggs should be kept in al cool temperature of approximately 70 degrees and if this temperature is not maintained 1t will de and cause the egg to be culled out as infertiie at the first candling. It is recommend led that the eggs be turned daily and for twelve hours before the hatch Is begun they should rest on end with the large end up so that the air cell may adjust itself. A good cellar is a prerequisite of good hatch. It should be one that Is we'll ventilated al all times, and the windows should be SC arranged that no direct sunlight fall= on the machine.
 Very often we are asked the type of Incubator one should buy. During in- cubation there is probably very little difference in the regularity of heat maintenance of hot water and 5 hot air machine. However, the latter fe more quickly heated up at any time. The hot water machine has the advaTl- tage in the fact that if the lamp should unexpectedly be extinguished the heat will be retained longer. On ac. count of the tank arrangement on this kind of machine 1t is doubtful if it Is as durable over a period of years as the hot air machine due to natural rusting out.
 Always run an incubator for at least a day before putting in the eggs. This enables the machine to thorough ly dry out. It permits of correct tenn perature adjustment and at the same time gives the operator knowledge of the workings of his machine.
 On the egg tray the eggs should not be piled one upon the other. The ma chine should not be so crowded that efficient turning can not take place. In imitation of nature the eggs should be turned regularly twice day, morning and night, commencing on the even- ing of the third day.
 Temperature may be recorded on the eggs or by the thermometer in sus- pension immediately above the egg tray. This latter method is unques- tionably the better because 1t obviates the danger of the thermometer bulb resting upon an infertile egg or upon one in which the embryo has died. It is recommended that the machine be regulated at temperature of 102 de- grees during the first week and 1O3 degrees thereafter.
 Candling should be done twice dur ing the hatch, on the seventh and fourteenth days. On the seventh day under the candle the live germ will have the appearance of spider due to the network of veins that are develop ing. Infertile eggs will appear clear and germs that have died will show up with a semf-circular red line. The purpose of candling on the fourteenth day is to determine the size of the air cell so that the operator may know whether he is supplying sufficient moisture. Dead chicks at this time will have an immobile appearance and the air cell will be hay as com pared with the clear air cell of the egg containing live chick. Infertile eggs may be saved and boiled for the chicks; but they should not be mar keted.
 The greatest problem in artificial incubation is the proper supplying of moisture to the egg. It is fact that from nine to eleven per cent of the total contents of the egg may evapo- rate during the hatch and moisture must be supplied to compensate for this loss. A big advance in the manu- fracture of incubators recently has been the introduction of sand trays which are kept puddled with water during the hatch. These trays set i'm. mediately below the egg tray in the machine. Some people have dishes of water in the bottom of the incubator. Others sprinkle the eggs with warm water, using whisk broom or an atomizer, all of which methods are good, but it would seem that the sand tray arrangement is the best, both from the standpoint of labor and efl- ciency.
 Regular care of the lamp during the hatch is necessary. The charred DOT tion of the wick may be scraped oil with a match. When the lamp is re- placed in the machine after filling it should not be turned up too high be. cause smoking may take place. A, accumulation of soot may result and consequently the flame may go out and ruin the possibilities of good hatch.
 On the evening of the eighteenth day the machine should be closed and not opened again until matching is well over. The idea is that the chick must not be disturbed immediately before matching. The hatch should be en- tirely over on the evening of the twenty-hrst day. If 1t takes longer it signifies that the machine has been running at a too low temperature and the operator should correct this fault in his next hatch. The chicks may ho 1Aft in thn machine for AR hoyr q