Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1908 — HATCHING AND BROODING. [ARTICLE]

HATCHING AND BROODING.

Timely Hints Concerning This Feature of Poultry Raising. Overheating is injurious.' Turning thei’ eggs prevents blood vessels growing fast to the shell. It also prevents the contents of the egg from settling. When chicks -form near the small end of the shell they are apt to die in the shell. In starting the Incubator, fill it to its capacity with eggs, as there will be poor results when only partially filled. In holding eggs for hatching do not allow them in a temperature higher than 60 degrees. Eggs should be as near a size as possible. Large and small ones placed in the machine at the same time, will not give good results. When eggs are kept in a very warm place, the germ is apt to start, and they will quickly spoil when placed in the Incubator. In placing eggs in the Incubator see that the large end is slightly higher than the small one. Especially for better regulation of the temperature the bad eggs in the Incubator should be tested out An authority says that the embryo chick may not be killed by overheating, but the vitality Of the blood is so impaired that the chicks recover very slowly, if at all. Overheating destroys the red corpuscles of the blood. The higher the heat the whiter the blood becomes. When an egg containing a live germ is surrounded by a lot of eggs containing dead ones, it is in no condition to get the proper heat, and will have to be a very vigorous germ if it hatches out at all. In proportion te contents, there is more shell surface in a small egg than a large one, so that to run an incubator to suit the small egg will be too damp for the larger ones, where- mois-

ture is used, and vice versa. For a healthy growth of chicks, a warm, dry and sunny room will compensate for a lack of sunshine. Don’t forget in starting the incubator to clean out the heat or flue pipe into which the lamp chimney extends, to put in a bran new wick, to clean all the parts of the lamp thoroughly, having the burners as near as possible as bright as when they are new. Use good sewing machine oil on all the bearing parts of the machine after first carefully removing the dust and dirt.