FAULTY INCUBATION

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 36, 11 August 1934, Page 14

FAULTY INCUBATION

Several complaints of . poor results from eggs -under artificial incubation have recently reached the writer. In nearly ,all cases the.fault rested with the incubator. It certainly does not pay. to use old second-hand machines whose history is uncertain, and seldom do home-made machines give as good results as thoso sold by specialislf. If the temperature, has :iiot varied, try using three or four thermometers in different places amongst the ogees. If there is much variation, the.machine is Sot satisfactory. Then the question of ventilation and moisture plays an important pnvf. The contents of llip rjjfrs must: lie dried down well during incubation, yet nclii-

ally at hatching time 'a high moisture content is required in order that the chicks may have uo difficulty-in getting out of the shells. Too much draught will dry down tho.eggs too quickly, and too much moistuio will drown the chicks at hatching time.

Another point needs attention, and that is the position in which the eggs arc- placed in tho machine. They .should be tilted with tho thick end slightly elevated, but on no account must' they bo stood on their thin ends in an upright, position. All tho eggs should be rolled around periodically, not left in exactly tho same position in the tray; this is best done when testing tho eggs nn tho seventh and fourteenth days. Infertile eggs must be.removed, and so must those germs which have died, otherwise really good results cannot be expected.

General advice is for cooling the egg once daily until they are just warm to the feel of the arm. Some maintain that cooling is not necessary, but it must ho remembered that whilst cooling the contents of tho eggs shrink and fresh air is absorbed. If the maker's advice is against cooling, accept his ruling ahvays.