TEE POULTRY RUN.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 550, 15 March 1913, Page 7

TEE POULTRY RUN.

THE IMCUBAIVft THERMOMBTE».

Th« incubator thermometer is responsible to a very great extent for the ultimate results attending the operation of artificial hatching. Should the instrument be inaccurate to the extent of a couple of degrees either day, the eggs in the machine will either be spoiled or rendered weak in their embryos. It is by the aid of the that the regulator governing the heat in the egg chamber is set so that the necessary temperature may be ensured. If the instrument is inaccurate, it means that the heat in the incubator will 5e inaccurate, and the ultimate results a failure. When procuring an incubator thermometer, it is unwise to consider cheapness by investing in an instrument of foreign origin, but one should be procured from a maker of good repute. It sometimes happens that, in transit, the mercury column of the thermometer becomes divided, and should this occur the instrument should have its bulb inserted in water heated to about iaodeg. When it is seen that the mercury lias risen to the air bubble in the top of the tube, the instrument should be quickly taken out of the water to prevent the bulb from bursting through internal pressure. Sometimes without dipping in water the mercury can be joined by giving the tube a sharp jerk, to throw the mercury towards the bulb, or by holding the instrument upright and tapping the palm of the hand gently with the bulb. In using the instrument in the incubator the bulb should be arranged so as to rest a quarter of an inch above the top of the egg placed immediately under it. If it is placed directlv upon the egg there is a risk of operating the machine at too low a temperature, owing to the fact that such an egg may be an infertile one, and severel degrees cooler than what a fertile one %vould be.

CHICKS DEAD IN SHELL r Apart from the causes of "dead ifl shell" trouble being attributed to unreliable hens or poultry incubators, there are several pre-disposing causes of chickens failing to develop fully during the process of incubation, and the chief of these is, perhaps, due to the male side of tho breeding stock being in an unfit condition for reproductory purposes. When a batch of eggs hatches out badly or fails to hatch out at aIL and many of the shells contain dead embryos, whilst other hatches from the same breeding stock produce a high percentage of strong chickens, one may reasonably conclude that the failure lies with the sitter or the incubator, whichever is used, but when a high percentage of dead in shell appear in every hatch of eggs set, there is likely to be something wrong with the breeders. Should the females in the breeding pens be in full lay—a sign of good health and condition —as likely as not the fault of the eggs failing to hatch properly is traceable to the males used. The male bird is looked upon by expert poultry keepers as forming half the breeding pen, and such he is so long as he properly fertilises a good percentage of eggs, and too much importance cannot be attached to him. Many poultry keepers are forgetful of this fact, and males are picked up and turned into the breeding pen without due regard being paid to their condition or age. The cocks or cockerels used for breeding should be in hard muscular condition, and the cockerels should be matured. EGGS THAT SHOULD NOT BE SET. Dead in shell may be caused through setting eggs from very old hens, or hens in a too fat condition, or from pullets that have begun to produce eggs at an early age. Old hens are naturally unfit for breeding purposes, as are also hens in too fat a condition. The eggs from pulleta that have begun to lay before full physical development is reached seldom, if set, result in anything but dead in shell. To avoid the pre-dis-posing cause of dead in shell traceable to faulty breeding stock, the poultry keeper should select the breeders with great care, and should! use nothing in the breeding pens but young, fully developed, and healthy male birds, and these should be mated to two-year-old hens in full lay at the time they are mated up, when the eggs should prove fertile within ten days, and yield strong chickens when incubated. OUTSIDE INFLUENCES.

But apart from faulty breeding stock, there are other reasons why chickens die in the shells during incubation. Sometimes the hens are set in draughty places and in foulsmelling nests, or the sitters are not systematically attended to, and the nests become fouled, all of which would account for dead in shell, owing to the fact that the shells of eggs, being extremely porous, are not impervious to outside influences of a deleterious nature. One cannot be too careful in arranging the sitting nests and their location. The sama remarks apply to the operation of incubators.