THE POULTRY RUN.

Waikato Independent, Volume XXIII, Issue 3006, 11 January 1923, Page 3

THE POULTRY RUN.

$ HATCHING IN WINTER So far as winter hatching is concerned, tide broody hen is a thing of the past. It is true she never whs of very great service, for it was comparatively rare for a lien to Grille @ any desire to sit during the cold -weather, and even when one was obtained she often forsook her nest, and so spoilt the eggs. The rapid increase of the non-sitting breeds and the remarkable improvements which have been effected in the construction and manipulation of the incubator have, to all intents and purposes, done away with the broody hen. There are still a few ■ people, but a very few, who have a prejudice against the artificial methods of hatching, but every season sees a decrease of this small band, and we may reasonably expect that in the course of a few years everyone will have adopted the modern method oi hatching.

SOME OBJECTION TO INCUBATORS.

One of the reasons urged against the use of incubators is that they do not hatch so large a percentage of chickens as does a hen. Of course; this sometimes happens—it is no use saying it does not. In many instances apparently strong and virile eggs have been placed in an incubator, and notwithstanding the fact that the utmost care and attention have been bestowed upon the working of the machine, very few chickens, sometimes none at all, have made their appearance, mos* to the disgust and pecuniary loss of the operator. Invariably, in a case of this description, blame has been heaped upon the artificial method of hatch- ! ing as a whole, and no amount of arguing to the contrary will ever causa the owner to change his views in regard to incubators. Sometimes, of course, it is the machine, and the machine alone, that is .«& blame, butmore often than not it is due to some fault in the management of the parent stock or in the actual running of the incubator. After a good many years’ experience with both methods of batching, I feel quite confident that there is little or nothing to choose between the two systems, so far as hatching results are concerned. Some seasons the hen scores, some seasons the incubator, according to the weather and other circumstances, hut talcing the results over .several years there is little or no difference. Then, toe, some think artiiicially-hatched chickens are not so strong as those brought out under a hen. This, again, is a mistake, for, provided that the management is right, and thai the machine is a good one, there/ is no difference whatever between the two methods.