Second, the Egyptian incubator of ancient origin, which is a large
clay oven holding thousands of eggs and warmed by smouldering fires
of straw.
Third, the Chinese incubator, much on the principle of the Egyptian
hatchery, but run in the room of an ordinary house, heated with
charcoal braziers and used only for duck eggs.
I have no accurate information on the results of the Chinese method,
and as it is not used for hen eggs, we will confine our attention to
the first two processes only.
I do not care to go into detail in discussing makes of box
incubators, but I will mention briefly the chief points in the
development of our present machines.
The first difficulties were in getting lamps, regulators, etc., that
would give a uniform temperature. This now has been worked out to a
point where, with any good incubator and an experienced operator,
the temperature of the egg chamber is readily kept within the
desired range.
These are two principal types of box incubators now in use. In the
earliest of these, the eggs were heated by radiation from a tank of
hot water. These machines depended for ventilation or, what is much
more important, evaporation, upon chance air currents passing in and
out of augur holes in the ends or bottom of the machine.
The second, or more modern type, warms the eggs by a current of air
which passes around a lamp flue where, being made lighter by the
expansion due to heat, the air rises, creating a draft that forces
it into the egg chamber. There it is caused to spread by muslin or
felt diaphragms so that no perceptible current of air strikes the
eggs. This type is the most popular type of small incubator on the
market. Its advantage will be more readily seen after the discussion
of the principles of incubation.
Hazy tales of Egyptian incubators have gone the rounds of poultry
papers these many years. More recently some accurate accounts from
American travelers and European investigators have come to light,
and as a result, the average poultry editor is kept busy trying to
explain how such wonderful results can be obtained "in opposition to
the well-known laws of incubation."
The facts about Egyptian incubators are as follows: They have a
capacity of 50 to 100 thousand eggs, and are built as a single large
room, partly underground and made of clay reinforced with straw. The
walls are two or three feet thick. Inside, the main rooms are little
clay domes with two floors.
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