Hatching eggs before incubators

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

So i have been reading Holderread’s book, it talks about many things but it got me wondering about hatching eggs before incubators, currently i am dealing with a broody pekin who keeps collecting a clutch but doesn’t stick with it, got me wondering about the breeds that are poor mothers, how were eggs hatched? Pekins for instance came here in a very small quantity, and aren’t known to be great sitters... suppose you dont have chickens or a broody chicken to put them under? Incubator temperatures and humidity levels are so fine tuned it seems amazing any ever hatched at all without the temperature control and monitoring equipment we have today.

 

[ducklings10]

Maybe breeds of ducks that are not good sitters only lost it when incubators became common place.

 

[BlueBaby]

I don't have any duck's, but this was how they hatched them in hatching oven's before:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/egypt-egg-ovens

 

[MadamContrary]

After the invention of the lightbulb they made crude incubators, just a bulb in a box near the eggs.