Evening star., 1918-02-24
POULTRY YARD NOTES.

A start can be made In poultry raiD-
ing In many ways. but there Il none
better than Matching chicks with an
incubator. Artificial incubation has
been in practice for centurieA and Of
recent years it has become the key
stone to successful commercial poultry
plants.
Evidences are to be found that large
incubators were operated centuries ago
in Egypt and China The natives
brought their eggs to the hatcheries in
much the same manner as Is now in
vogue with our commercial hatcheries.
The eggs were either exchanged for
chicks. or tho farmers returned at q
Matched from their eggs, paying a small
fee for the use Of the incubator.
Tho large incubators in Egypt were
little more than huts. with heat 1ues
built in the walls, thereby heating the
rooms to the desired temperature. The
eggs were placed upon straw or dried
grass scattered over the floor, and as
the chicks hatched they were removed
and other eggs replaced for incubatng.
structed after the manner of largo jars,
which were placed in the sun for the
necessary heat. Their construction re-
sembled our fire1ess cookers or vacuum
bottles thereby keeping a uniform tenn
perature.
Today incubators have become indis-
pensable to poultry keepers. They are
perfected to such degree as to be
adapted to the requirements of the
Ipoultryman with a few hens on up to
the needs of the large commercial
plants where 10000 or 10000 eggs are
hatched in one machine. 1t is due to
the progress made in artificial incuba
tion that the enormous baby chick in
dustry has been developed.
Incubators are generally classed
mammoth machines or small machines,
according to their capacity. Mammoth
incubators range from 1900 eggs ca
pacity upwards to 10000 or $4,000 eggs
capacity. These mammoth machines
are usually divided into compartments,
large enough for 200 or 300 eggs, and
each compartment is distinct from the
other. One compartment may contain
eggs in the 81 venth day of incubation.
while the adjoining compartments are
Matching chicks. The machine is SO con-
structed that it will automatically take
care of heat, fresh air and the neces-
sary moisture It is SO arranged that
it is possible to have a hatch coming Off
every day, or at any interval desired
bye the operator.
Small incubators range from 80 eggs
capacity up to 500 eggs. The machines
holding over 400 eggs are often termed
| semi-mammoth or baby-mammoth ma
chimes on account of their construction,
which makes it possible to hatch small
er numbers In different parts, not
practicable in the smaller machines that
have all the eggs in a single chamber.
| SMALL machines are usually classed as
hot water" or "hot air. types, which
terms refer to the manner in which this
egg chamber is heated. The 'hot-water'
incubators depend upon a principle of
radiation which is somewhat similar to
the hot-water heating systems in dwell
| ings. A metal tank or pipe system.
usually made of copper, is filled with
water. which is heated by a lamp at
| tached to the machine.
| In the "hot-air'' type of incubator
| there are variations in the principle of
heating. In some makes the warm air
is conveyed to the egg chamber and diff
fused over the egg trays. In others
the heat is radiated and distributed
| over the eggs in the same manner as
| from the radiators of a hot-water ma
chine. There are several combinations
of the hot air. and 'hot water" ma
chimes. but they all depend upon radia-
! tors about the same as we depend upon
them for heat in our homes.
The source of heat for small incuba-
| tors is usually an oil-burning lamp at
tached to the machine. Some of the