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Poultry, Pet and Live Stock
-Section of- =~=
The Atlanta Georgian
ANT) NEWS
DEVOTED TO POULTRY. PET AND LIVE STOCK. PIGEONS AND KENNEL
ATLANTA, GA., SATU RDAY, JULY 15, 1911,
HATCHING WITH INCUBATORS
There are doubtless mysteries about
hatching eggs that will exercise and
baffle the student of biology for ages
to come. But what the practical poul
try man wants to know is how to hatch
chickens. This article is an attempt to
clear away the mists and to picture
in bold relief the few essential factors
that always result in first-class hatch
ing. j
To the business man. one fact is
better than a thousand theories and
outweighs a ton of argument. So facts
and not theories are given below.
My Experience.
Twenty-five years ago I bought my
600-egg Monarch incubator from its
inventor. James Rankin, of South East
on. Mass. It was brought to my home
in Virginia and following Mr. Rankin's
instructions, my first hatch and those
that followed gave me uniformly 70
chicks from each 100 eggs set, from 82
tp 86 per c4nt of the fertile eggs. When
1 moved to Georgia in 1891 this in
cubator was left in Virginia. About
two years ago it was brought to Geor
gia. Last year from 600 eggs in the
old machine my hatches were as before
70 per cent of all the eggs. Only on-3
hatch gave 75 per cent of all the eggs,
which were of the White Leghorn
breed.
This year my first hatch in the
Monarch gave 88 per cent of 400 White
Leghorn eggs. My first hatch in a
Standard Reliable incubator with 250
eggs gave 226 chicks, or. 90 per cent
of all the eggs. During four months
this year I put into eight incubators
of five different makes over 9,000 White
Leghorn eggs (all laid by my own
hens) and took out over 7.200 good
chicks, or 80 per cent of all the eggs
incubated. This increased percentage
over my best hatching in previous
years was certainly due to the splen
did conditibn of my present flock of
White Leghorns. It was not due to
any change of methods or theories, for
I still follow Mr. Rankin's teachings,
applying his principles to all machines
alike, regardless of any conflicting in
structions from others.
In behalf of Mr. Rankin, I must add
that, after reading every article on in
cubation I could lay my hands on, 1
find that no writer during the last 25
years has added a single vital truth to
what Mr. Rankin wrote and practiced
a generation ago, and that where any
writer differed with him on any impor
tant point tha-other writer was wrong.
The Monarch this season was in a
cellar reeking with moisture from a
floor of earth continually oozing water,
whfle the seven other incubators were
in an outhouse drier * than a prohibi
tion town and exposed to every change
of outside temperature. In spite of this
difference, all the eight incubators
wqre treated alike as to moisture—that
is. moisture was supplied during the
tbt$d week, except on one or two
casions when It was not supplied until
the nineteenth or twentieth day. These
incubators were of various kinds and
sizes. There were moisture and non
moisture machines, but i used moisture
alike in , all. There was top ventila
tion,- bottom ventilation; top. bottom
and side ventilation; and one had no
ventilation. (I used the smallest
amount of ventilation in each.) There
were hot water machines and hot air
machines. There were large machines
holding 600, 390 and 360 eggs each.
Four held 250 eggs each, and the small
est held 140 eggs. All these incuba
tors—one Monarch, one Cornell, one
Cyphers, four Reliables and one Belle
City—did good hatching.
The above record of hatching 80 per
cent of 9,000 eggs is far above the usual
experience with so large a number of
eggs and proves several things.
1. That my White Leghorns are far
above the average In vigor.
2. That any well built incubator,
properly handled, will give good results.
3. That (I quote Mr. Rankin) “mois
ture has very little to do with It so
long as it is not excessive; neither has
ventilation, so long as it does not in
terfere with the uniformity of the heat
In the egg chamber.**
4. That my way with the incubators
was a success. Let us consider this last
statement.
What Is a Good Hatohf
The only records X have been able to
find of hatches in which not less th*"
1.090 eggs were incubated are given
here. In the Corning Egg Book, the
Coinings report that they put into thetr
incubators 5,000 White Leghorn eggs
and hatched 3,313 good chicks; 66 per
cent of all the eggs. Mr. R. P. Ellis,
of Brooklyn, N. Y., reports in The Re
liable Poultry Journal that he put into
his incubators 36,414 White Leghorn
eggs and hatched 25,268 chick. 69 per
cent of all the eggs. Mr. Horace At
wood, director of the West Virginia ex
periment station, put 1,965 White Leg
horn eggs into their incubators. and
hatched 1.431 chicks, 73 per cent of hll
the eggs, and Mr. A. G. Lord, of Hig-
ganum. Conn., put 6.542 White Leghorn
and Rhode Island Red eggs In his in
cubators and hatched 5,523 chicks, 84
per cent of all the ggs. Comparing my
record of 80 per cent with the best rec
ords of these experts; I was satisfied
that the principles I followed and the
way I followed them were practically
correct.
I want to say, with all confidence,
that the incubator in competent hands
does better batching than hens. Could
any man or woman in Georgia put 9.000
eggs under 600 hens and get 7,200
chicks? All the experience of the past
disproves It.
1. The incubator, then, is a complete
success.
2. For all practical purposes, there is
no incubator problem to solve. I mean
that every factor of vital importance
to successful hatching is well known
and can be controlled.
There are certain preliminary factors
about which there is no dispute. They
are: Fresh, fertile eggs from vigorous
parent stock.
A good Incubator.
An accurate thermometer.
An operator who knows the princi
ples and has some common sense.
Before naming the factors of vital
importance, let us dispose of these fac
tors—good or bad—so often made
prominent that many are tricked into
believing them really important
Cooling.
Every adequate test has proved that
cooling, if it really Is cooling, is a
blunder that greatly reduces both the
number and the vitality of the chicks.
Speaking of the practice of cooling the
eggs dally down to 70 or 80 degrees,
Mr. Rankin says: *T do not believe
it is possible to obtain a first-class
hatch when cooling off the eggs as
above described/* I>r. Prince T. Woods,
foremost among present poultry writ
ers, and Professor Atwood, already
mentioned, and government experiment
stations hare proved the same thing.
Mr. Rankin gave the reason, as no
other writer has done so clearly, why
cooling incubator eggs differs In re
sult from the cooling of her eggs by
the hen. When the hen returns to
her nest the direct contact of her
body brings the eggs back to normal
heat In about fifteen minutes, but sev
eral hundred cool eggs put back Into
the incubator do not recover normal
heat under two to four hours. But
in warm weather eggs may be safely
aired, especially during the third week,
but airing in warm weather is not
cooling.
Ventilation.
Dr. Woods says: “Too much ven
tilation is worse than none.** Mr. Ran
kin says: “Ventilation has very little
to do with it.” Both add that after
most of the chicks are hatched they
need fresh air and then the machine
may be. ventilated as freely as possible
without reducing the temperature to
any injurious extent.
Moisture.
Now. I know I am on dangerous
ground. The hygrometer, the size of
the air cell, the dampness of the cellar,
the dryness of the room above ground,
and so on ad infinitum. Some say sup
ply moisture all thru the hatch, some
only a part of the time, and some not
at all. These are experts. Can we
reconcile them? It Is very’easy to
dispose of the non-moisture doctrine.
The Comings and R. P. Ellis, who use
the non-moisture machines, both used
in the large hatches mentioned above
an abundance of moisture. Mr. Ellis
begins to use water freely on the a
enteenth day. Mr. Rankin says: “Mois
ture has very little to do with It, so
long aa it Is not excessive.” and
vaporised egg chamber always gives
me a little better hatch than a dry
one.” Every experiment since has
proved that without supplied moisture,
during the last part of the period at
least, you can not get the best re
sults. I never saw a hygrometer,
do not worry about the air cell,
do not care whether I have a damp
cellar or a dry room. I Just put
ample moisture in my incubators dur
ing the third week and keep it in to
the end of the hatch, and I get out
a good per cent of strong, healthy
chicks. What more is desired?
At last we come to the two absolute
essentials to good hatching. Either
factor omitted will ruin a hatch:
1. Turning—For best results -eggs
must be*turned or moved about at least
twice a day from the third to the
nineteenth day. The best way Is to
take the eggs from the ends of the
tray and put them' in the middle of
t$ie tray, rolling the other eggs gently
with the hand to the ends of the tray.
This shifts the eggs from the warmer
to the cooler spots of the tray twice
a day and this is of great importance
in helping to keep all the eggs as near
as possible to the required h^at
. 2. Temperature—Of all the causes of
poor hatching with incubators, failure
to maintain the correct temperature for
all the eggs Is the most usual and fatal.
Failure In temperature during the
first week is sufficient to ruin a hatch.
I rely only on contact thermometers.
Starting the. first day at 101 degrees,
my effort is to run at 1011-2 to 102
degrees for one week; at 102 degrees
the second week, and at* 102 degrees
the third week. The suspended ther
mometer. If it is kept constantly at
103 degrees, will not give the above
temperatures in the eggs. But to rely
upon the contact thermometer after the
thirteenth day. all infertile and dead
eggs must be removed from the incu
bator, so that the thermometer shall
touch fertile eggs only. I warn the
beginner that the animal heat of the
chicks will perceptibly raize the tem
perature in the Incubator dally from
the thirteenth to the nineteenth day,
so that he must adjust the regulator
frequently to meet this influence. Tn
my 600-egg'Monarch this rise of heat
is about one and a half degrees a
day for the six days mentioned.
The Thermometer.
And becausethe temperature is the
one motter of supreme importance,
the usual cause of all our incubator
woes is the insignificant looking ther
mometer.
Here is the often unsuspected little
sinner that ruins thousands of good
eggs and blackens the reputation of
many a good Incubator. This is the
hardest incubator problem: “Why do
manufacturers handicap a good incu
bator with a cheap untested thermom
eter?” It cost me |25 worth of eggs to
find out that the usual incubator ther
mometer is worthless. I trust only to
tested clinical thermometers and never
attempt to hatch without at least two
good thermometers lying on the eggs.
An untested clinical thermometer la
no better than an untested incubator
thermometer.
It has been often said that it is
easy to control the temperature and
“a child can run it.” I beg you not to
believe either statement. To control
the temperature is the extremely diffi
cult part of the whole business, and
Continued on Page Two.
‘
THE GREAT CENTRAL SHOW OF THE SOUTH, JANUARY 8 TO 13, 191
GEORGIA POULTRY ASSOCIATION. C.-O. HARWELL
2, ATLANTA, GA. j
secretary j
