Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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