Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 144, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 June 1912 — POULTRY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POULTRY

CHICKS DYING IN THE SHELL Common Trouble In Hatching and Ono Causing Many Failures Unnoticed for Many Years. Chicks dying in the shell is a very common trouble in hatching and one which causes many failures each peer. There was no attempt to discover why chicks die in the shell until the hatching of them with Incubators became popular, although this trouble predominated when old biddy sat on the eggs long before the incubator was even thought of. There were only a few under each hen at the most, and nothing was thought of It, but when the incubator came into the field aqd made it possible to hatch them by the hundreds the cause of chicks dying in the shell came up for discussion. Remember that the secret of securing high per cent hatches depends as much upon strongly fertilized eggs laid by healthy, vigorous birds as upon proper incubation. The more frequent causes of chicks dying in the shell where the incubator or operator is at fault are irregular temperature, neglect in turning the eggs, improper ventilation or more frequently caused by operating the incubator in a poorly ventilated room. The directions accompanying an incubator are generally to be relied upon, and if these are followed carefully no greater trouble should be experienced with the chicks dying in the shell where eggs are incubated - by" artificial than by" natural means, due allowance being made for the experience of the operator. Why chicks die in the shell is somewhat of a difficult question to answer, for the causes are not always the same. Perhaps not in two cases in twenty will the conditions under which the egsg are incubated or the

conditions surrounding the eggs before they were placed in the incubator be the same, hence the cause must necessarily differ greatly. It la, therefore, difficult to give any definite instructions that will apply in all cases. A few chicks failing to come out of the shell is no indication of faulty Incubation, nor does it necessarily mean a weakness in the breeding stock. However, when a large number, die in the shell you should look about for the trouble, and this is not always easy to find.

Strong and Vigorous Chick.