Page Fourteen
THE CAROLINA UNION PARMER
[Thursday, January 16, 1913.
Poultry Department
Conducted by Uncle Joe.
RAISING CHICKS.
As the hatching season Is about
due, for those who operate incuba
tors at least, a few thoughts along
this line may prove interesting to
those who have bought, or contem
plate buying a machine this season.
Years ago, like many a novice, I
thought I “knew it all” when I or
dered my first incubator and brooder,
but as seasons came and passed, I
began to realize that ’’theory” was
one thing and practice another, and I
found that only by adhering to “na
ture’s laws” could I successfully
hatch and rear chickens at any sea
son. To hatch them was the simplest
thing about the business, but after
they were placed in the brooder and
began to droop and die by the scores,
the majority from bowel disorders, I
found that this business required ex
traordinary care and observation. I
found, however, that the fault laid
entirely with the incubator. A vary
ing temperature in the out-building
where I operated my first machine
caused a varying temperature in the
incubators and while the regulators
would during the day work properly,
I found many mornings the ther
mometers registering 106 and some
times 106, sometimes 107, and I fur
ther found in almost every hatch my
birds came out on the nineteenth and
never later than the twentieth day.
These birds would never do well;
few of them would live more than the
period it took to hatch them. I al
ways count on raising any that live
twenty-one days; in fact,' now count
on raising 76 to 80 per cent of all I
hatch and in a few hatches lose none
By carefully watching my ma
chines, and keeping the thermom
eter at 102 first week, 103 second
week, and third week, or 103 second
the whole period^ I succeed in hatch
ing almost every egg that is alive on
the eighteenth day, when I make my
final test. These birds come out al
most invariably on the tw'enty-first
day—as nature intended they should
—strong, hardy, and vigorous. For
thirty-six hours during very early
spring, they are left in the lower tray
of the incubators, brooders being pre
pared in the meantime with a litter
of finely cut straw or chaff, a tin of
grit, another of fine granulated char
coal, and another of clean, fresh wa
ter into which is placed a few rusty
nails. Iron gives the chicks vigor,
After a few hours—a total of about
forty since they first broke the shell
—they are fed oat flake or rolled
oats. This is fed for the first week
two hours in small quantities, and
also give them fresh water at each
feed.
Second week feed every four hours,
beginning at 7 a. m. and giving them
a good fill at 6 p: m. I also give
them very finely cut peavine leaves in
lieu of clover daily after the third
day—a necessity chicks as well as
hens must have bulk. After they have
passed their fourteenth day they can
be fed any good wholesome grain
provided it is not too large. I neg
lected to say that after the first week
I give them a tin of beef scrap, and
always keep this with charcoal and
grit before them at all times. Clean
liness is another essential, hence
brooders should be opened up every
day that is favorable so that the sun,
than which there is no better disin
fectant, may pierce its rays into every
corner of the brooder, and should be
thoroughly cleaned every second day.
Chicks thus attended to almost
invariably attain maturity—a mar
ketable state—and in quick time. In
incubation there must be close atten
tion paid to the moisture problem,
this “being the rock on which many
an incubator is wrecked,” if I may
use the phrase in these words—the
point on which they are condemned,
but this problem soon becomes a
science” where careful observation is
exercised. Every person operating an
incubator has seen a chart of an egg;
they now come with most incubator
instruction books, and should keep
one close at hand always as they show
the correct amount of air cell needed
on the fifth, tenth, fifteenth, and
eighteenth days. It is a very easy
matter to obtain this when a man,
or woman, becomes competent to
manage his or her incubator. I al
ways start mine with ventilators wide
open, if air cell is of correct size on
the day; when first test is made I
leave ventilators open. Every day as
I turn the eggs I look at a few with
the tester, and if air cell is right
again on the tenth day, I do not touch
ventilator. If it is too large, I close
the ventilator about half and then
watch the air cells each night. If
the air cell is too small, the only
way to increase it is to cool the eggs
longer, never allowing them to be
come chilled. Most of my machines
are hot air and it is seldom that I
have to add moisture in the egg
chamber. I simply watch the air cell
which is the only certain “moisture
gauge” and keep open or closed, but
never at any time wholly closed—
the ventilators—or cool the eggs
longer. Of course, if the air cell be
comes too large and closing ventila
tion does not do reduce the develop
ment of its enlargement, moisture
must be added, and this is best done
by placing a saucer of warm water
in the machine w'hile the eggs are
cooling, taking out when eggs are
placed in.
I might also add that on the eigh
teenth day I always take a cloth, cot
ton cloth, dip it in water of about
105 temperature, wrung fairly well
out, spread it over the eggs and shut
these up for five minutes, after which
I open and quickly lift cloth off eggs
and shut the door. By following
out these suggestions, the result of
costly and embarrassing experiences
I have little doubt but that those
who adopt my plan of work will suc
ceed, not only in hatching but rear
ing their feathered pets.
I have omitted to say anything
about cooling, another important
feature of artificial incubation. I
place my eggs in the machine in the
morning after I have satisfied myself
the machine has run the night pre
vious at 100, the first day do noth
ing with the machine but time the
lamp and fill it, second day the same,
third day the same, but on the even
ing of the third day I take the eggs
out and cool them for ten minutes,
and then turn each carefully and put
it back in. On the morning of the
fourth day cool them fifteen minutes.
Every ten minutes, fifth day, cool
them twenty minutes in the morning
and test them at night, taking out
every egg that does not show a strong
living germ. On the morning of the
sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and
tenth day, I cool them half an hour,
and in evenings fifteenth minutes,
testing out again on evening of tenth
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