National Agricultural Library

The Incubator and Its Use

Fanciers' Review Print. Chatham, NY

I am induced to place this little work entitled "The Incubator and its Use," before the public for various reasons. One is, that we are constantly flooded with letters from all parts of the country asking innumerable questions on the subject, of which the following are specimens: "Which is the best incubaator?" "What is the proper degree of heat to run?" "Is electricity a good regulator?" "How much moisture shall I use, and when?" "Is a hot-air machine as good as hot water?" "What is an incubator?" "How does it look?" "How often do you turn your eggs?" "How do you manage when chicks are coming out?" "Please give me the whole thing in detail?" "What is your percentage of hatch?" Of course, with a correspondence of from fifty to seventy letters per day, the detail business is out of the question. Another reason is, that there is a great deal of ignorance and prejudice prevailing regarding the use and utility of incubators. Many never heard of one and are plodding quietly and contentedly along with the old hen. Others say that it is an unnatural way of doing the thing and never can succeed. Others still have had bitter experience in the use of machines and have lost their chicks through the use of still more worthless brooders; they have become skeptical and denounce the whole thing as impracticable. Many are groping in the dark, wishing to know and anxious to learn all they can of the business and are willing to pay well for the knowledge, but there is no work in existence, as yet, that will cover it; and it will be years before the subject will be mastered in all its details. For more than thirty years I have been carefully experimenting with incubators and the system of incubation. It has been to me a long course of patient study and scientific investigation, with a gradual gain and steady improvement for the better; with the dark places showing a glimmer of light; obscure points being made plain. But the end is not yet. I am no longer young. The infirmities and decrepitude of age are slowly creeping upon me and admonish me that my days of research are nearly over and I find that life is all too short; but there is a satisfaction in knowing that others will take it up and carry it on to the end. I predict a great future for the incubator. With me it has been a decided success; and if the rehearsal of my experience will make the business of growing poultry of all kinds as profitable to the reader as it has been to me, I could wish him no better fortune.