The easiest way to make a large hatch all at one time is with an incubator.  There are a number of very excellent makes advertised in the farm papers and other magazines and the prices are quite reasonable.  An incubator holding about a hundred eggs will cost ten or twelve dollars.  There are many objections to incubators which we can learn only from practical experience.  We shall not average more than 50 per cent. hatches as a rule.  That is to say, for every hundred eggs we set we must not count on hatching more than fifty chicks.  Incubators are a constant care.  The most important objection to an incubator is that it is against the rules of most fire insurance companies to allow it to be operated in any building that the insurance policy covers.  If the automatic heat regulator fails to work and the heat in our incubator runs up too high we may have a fire.  At any rate, we shall lose our entire hatch.  The latter is also true if the lamp goes out and the eggs become too cool.  I have made a great many hatches with incubators of different makes and my experience has been that we must watch an incubator almost constantly to have success with it.

The sure way to hatch chickens is with a broody hen, but at the same time incubators are perfectly satisfactory if run in a room where the temperature does not vary much (a cellar is the best place).  With an incubator there is always a temptation to attempt to raise more chickens than we can care for properly.  Overcrowding causes more trouble than any other one thing.  It is better to have a dozen chickens well cared for than a hundred that are neglected.

Eggs for incubators will cost about five dollars a hundred.  Of course if they are from prize-winning stock the cost will be several times this amount.  Before placing any eggs in an incubator it should be run for two days to be sure that the heat regulator is in working order.  The usual temperature for hatching is 103 degrees and the machine should be regulated for this temperature as it comes from the factory.  Full directions for operating, as well as a thermometer, will come with the machine and should be studied and understood before we begin to operate it.  As the hatch progresses, the heat will “run up,” as it is called, and we shall need to understand how to regulate the thermostat to correct this tendency toward an increased temperature.  The eggs in an incubator must be turned twice a day.  To be sure that we do this thoroughly it is customary to mark the eggs before we place them in the machine.  The usual mark is an “X” on one side of the egg and an “O” on the other written in lead pencil.  In placing the eggs in the trays we start with all the “O” marks up, for instance, and at the time of the first turning leave all the “X’s” visible, alternating this twice every day.